[Book Review]Kim Jiyoung born in 1982 by Cho Nam Ju (1 Viewer)

[seungfloral]

Last time i wrote that u couldn't continue my book for the life of me, SOOOOO i picked up a book that i also didn't finish and read it in 2 days (it's also shorter than my original reading assignment).
And here i am now, trying to explain what this book has been for me, finishing it after a year of leaving it on the shelf. A HUGE MISTAKE, might i add right away.

I wanna prefice this review by a quick summary of the book:
"Kim Jiyoung is a girl born to a mother whose in-laws wanted a boy. She is a sister made to share a room while her brother gets one of his own. A female preyed upon by male teachers at school. A daughter whose father blames her when she is harassed late at night. A good student who doesn’t get put forward for internships. A model employee but gets overlooked for promotion. A wife who gives up her career and independence for a life of domesticity.

Kim Jiyoung has started acting strangely. She is depressed. She is mad. She is her own woman. Kim Jiyoung is every woman.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is the life story of one young woman born at the end of the twentieth century raises questions about endemic misogyny and institutional oppression that are relevant to us all.. " (Goodreads)
As you can read it's a book about women and their experiences in society, korean society precisely. However seeing how the book sold more than 1 million copies and was translated into multiple languages we might actually realize how universal these experiences are for other women. It started a bigger MeToo movement in Korea and people began to call it a feminist novel. While it garnered some popularity, it also gained "haters" in people that thought there was nothing wrong with the current situation of society and criticized the book for promoting misandry. Not only was the book criticized, but also their readers. A famous example being Irene from Red Velvet, whose male fans upon hearing she read the book began to unstan her and burn her photocards. Even going as far as saying: “She should know that most of her fans are male, She has virtually come out as a feminist, and I’m no longer her fan.” (KoreanHerald) In an ironic twist male celebrities like Yoo Jae Suk or other male politicians who read the book were instead PRAISED for it. I wanna talk more about the plot of the book so i'll do that in spoilers, but i wanna warn anybody reading that it might be triggering. So TRIGGER WARNING ahead of ( abort*on, se*ual ass*ult)

Spoiler: Will try to be short

The story starts with Jiyoung a 33 year old woman, married and with a new daughter acting strange and impersonating women from her life. Her husband takes her to a psychiatrist, and the story unfolds as a tell all by the doctor, with statistics and all. This detail is very interesting to me, a reader of a translated copy of this book. I thought these were footnotes of the translator, but no, these were footnotes from actual studies conducted in 2008 to 2014 or even 2016. Why is this important? This show how recent these happenings are, or could be.
All these strange actions of Jiyoung aren't a sudden sickness according to the doctor, but an accumulation of influences in her life. The pressure put on women has been going on since her mother's generation and probably even before. Her mother never had the chance to study, that only being given to her brothers. She had to work all day to help her brothers pay their tuition not getting anything in return years later. As a mother of two daughters, Jiyoung's mom was desperate to have a son, but when her third pregnancy was shown to be a girl, she aborted it and only had a son years later. A son that was loved and praised his whole life by their parents and the grandmother of the family, even tho he dropped out from university. The two daughters became successful, the oldest becoming a teacher and Jiyoung working at a marketing company. However her success never seemed to grow, while her male colleagues were always chosen for promotion. Female workers were always seen as unreliable because they could go on maternity leave any time, but young mothers were equally judged if they didn't come back to work fast and also shamed if they relied on nannies.
What struck me the most in this story was the incident of the secret recording camera in Jiyoung's last work place. A security guard put a secret camera in the female bathroom and put the pictures on pornographic sites, where other male employees of the company saw and began to share among themselves. It was shoking to know that the girlfriend of one of these men didn't immediately reveal it either, but was caught by another female employee. This made me realize that the opression of women have been so systematic that even other women are afraid to stand up against it.

It is a very good read for women and men. I realized myself that i have had some prejudice in me, that has been cultivated by generations and generations before me. What is a funny coincidence that after i finished this book i heard my colleagues discussing our country's low birth rate and the fact young ppl don't have as many children these days. Literally hearing : "Women have these things, they give birth and get depressed. That didn't happen in my grandmother's generation. I asked her and she doesn't know what that is. People are just getting too comfortable these days." Then giving me personal advice "You should marry before 30, it's better quarelling together than alone."
Well, yeah...
There is also a film, maybe i'll do a comparison one day :)
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[Wingfrost]

I read this last year I believe, I remember really liking it but actual details about the story I forget tbh. But thats generally how I am with all books. I’d definitely recommend it to others.

 

[seungfloral]

I read this last year I believe, I remember really liking it but actual details about the story I forget tbh. But thats generally how I am with all books. I’d definitely recommend it to others.

It's definitely a good read, infuriating but good. I highlighted a lot of parts, but if i quoted them i would make ppl angry for sure.