Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
In a small, tidy apartment on the outskirts of the frenzied metropolis of Seoul lives Kim Jiyoung. A thirtysomething-year-old “millennial everywoman,” she has recently left her white-collar desk job―in order to care for her newborn daughter full-time―as so many Korean women are expected to do. But she quickly begins to exhibit strange symptoms that alarm her husband, parents, and in-laws: Jiyoung impersonates the voices of other women―alive and even dead, both known and unknown to her. As she plunges deeper into this psychosis, her discomfited husband sends her to a male psychiatrist. In a chilling, eerily truncated third-person voice, Jiyoung’s entire life is recounted to the psychiatrist―a narrative infused with disparate elements of frustration, perseverance, and submission. Born in 1982 and given the most common name for Korean baby girls, Jiyoung quickly becomes the unfavored sister to her princeling little brother. Always, her behavior is policed by the male figures around her―from the elementary school teachers who enforce strict uniforms for girls, to the coworkers who install a hidden camera in the women’s restroom and post their photos online. In her father’s eyes, it
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A new Korean mother starts speaking in the voices of other women: her grandmother, a college friend, her dead aunt. The novel reads as her psychiatrist's report and as a quiet indictment of the system that broke her.
Kim Jiyoung is fictional but presented as a representative case study. Cho Nam-ju draws on real research and statistics about gender inequality in South Korea. The novel is widely cited as a feminist landmark in Korean and global literature.
Yes. The novel sparked significant cultural debate in South Korea about feminism, including backlash against women who endorsed it publicly. The 2019 Korean film adaptation was equally polarizing.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 was written by Cho Nam-ju, published in 2019 by Liveright.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is 176 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 takes most readers 3 to 4 hours to finish.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is a standalone novel by Cho Nam-ju, not part of a series.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
