A review by andreeavis
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I love feminist Korean literature! I’ve read this book with @rebelreadsbookclub and we had such a great conversation around it. The novel packs a serious punch into the Korean patriarchy. Through sharing Jyyoung’s story, Nam-Joo created a cultural phenomenon, building a narrative that shares every woman's story in Korea, becoming a potent critique of the systemic gender inequality in South Korea. 

Jiyoung is a young mother, having abandoned her carefully built career to care for her newborn daughter. She starts to act strangely: sometimes she impersonates her mother or a female friend. While at first, her husband blames it on the stress of being a new mother, the gradual deterioration of Jiyoung’s mind becomes worrisome.

To understand Jiyoung’s current struggles and mental state, we need to go back into the past and explore the relentless microaggressions she had to put through even 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 she was born. She was the second daughter in her family, which brought pain and suffering to her grandmother (who expected a grandson) and her parents. “Don’t worry, the next child will be a boy” said her grandmother to her mother, who will go ahead and try again. 

Jiyoung’s struggles continue through elementary school (when bullied by a male colleague, she is told by her teacher that he likes her), high school (where she has to suffer the abuse of teachers and colleagues), college (where she is stalked on her way home by a stranger and her father asks her what she did to cause it), to getting a job (where she is constantly rejected because it’s not worth investing in women), throughout her career (where she is regularly passed for promotion because the boys will stay longer and are worth more), until the moment she has to stay home to raise her new child. Jiyoung is not sure she wants a child and is certain she wants to work, but there are not many options for her and her husband  (who does his best but has no knowledge or resources to change the status quo). 

Misogyny is constant and so deeply interwoven within the system that it’s difficult to get rid of. Nam-Joo supports every step of the story with statistical data, showing that Jiyoung’s struggles are every other woman’s struggle in Korea (unequal pay, lack of childcare options, discrimination and abuse, and the societal pressure to prioritise family over career, etc.). Even Jiyoung’s “disease”, her inhabiting the bodies of other women who faced her struggles is a strong symbol of the collective female experience. It speaks to the idea that her story is not unique, but represents a large societal issue. The fragmented narrative style further emphasises this, giving voice not just to Jiyoung but to the silenced voices of mothers, daughters, and sisters.

While the novel is set in Korea, I believe it resonates with women around the world. In our @rebelreadsbookclub conversation, the book sparked conversations about gender roles and expectations in Malaysia and Romania. This book is an important contribution to contemporary feminism and is very relevant today. This is a powerful novel, of raw honesty and socially significant and a must-read (by women but, more importantly, by men!). It is a compelling story of one woman, but also a rallying cry for change that transcends geographical and cultural boundaries.