REVIEW: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 (Cho Nam-Joo)

Book: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

Author: Cho Nam-Joo.

My rating: 3.5/5.

Premise: Kim Jiyoung is a girl born to a mother whose in-laws wanted a boy. Kim Jiyoung is a model employee but gets overlooked for promotion. Kim Jiyoung is a wife who gives up her career and independence for a life of domesticity. Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is the life story of one young woman born at the end of the twentieth century and raises questions about endemic misogyny and institutional oppression that are relevant to us all.

I call myself a feminist but I'm realising how little I know about the problems faced by women around the world. This book surprised me. I think I'd assumed that since South Korea is developed, modern country that it's attitudes to women were too. Whilst the book is fiction, it reads more like a biography at times, with facts and references to articles throughout. At every stage of her life, Kim Jiyoung encounters sexism and is expected to conform to society's expectations. I was most angered when it came to her having to choose between her career and having a family (if it was really her choice!). Right at the end, it becomes apparent that the book is "written" by her male therapist. We then see this man realise what life is like for women, note how his own family have been impacted, but continue to turn a blind eye. An eye-opener for me!