‘Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982’ — Book Review
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is a necessary portrayal of the struggles women across South Korea have been battling for decades. The story follows thirty-something Kim Jiyoung who is ambitious and intelligent but is forced to abandon her career aspirations to raise her family. Her story mirrors her mother’s who had to quit a promising career in order to raise Jiyoung and her siblings and unfortunately this is the case for almost all the women in the novel.
Despite the necessity of this story, it is truly heartbreaking. From a young age it is made clear to Jiyoung that there is something precious about her brother and other males her age but she fails to understand what exactly makes them special. We accompany her in finding out why women in Korea rejoiced when they gave birth to a boy and resented having daughters. Kim Jiyoung grows to learn the predestined role of women: motherhood and chores.
The author’s attention to detail highlights the misogyny ingrained within Korean society. Jiyoung’s grandmother is a particularly interesting character, she would smack Jiyoung on the back for eating her brother’s formula. This reaction is of course very extreme but the author conveys the grandmother’s conviction being “how dare you try to take something that belongs to my precious grandson.” The superiority and sacredness of men is consistently established to Kim Jiyoung in all areas of her life.
Once she is old enough for school, Jiyoung faces the extreme dress codes given to girls and only girls. She notices that the roster numbers put boys first and the boys get to eat their lunch first. She is bullied by her desk partner. Jiyoung is brought to tears by his antics and begs her teacher to remove the boy as her desk partner; this leads to the teacher telling her the boy probably has a crush on her. Society’s shortcomings are revealed before Jiyoung is a teenager and the devastation accompanied with this revelation is all too familiar to myself and every woman.
The most heart-breaking part of this novel for me was undoubtedly Jiyoung’s father’s reaction to her almost getting assaulted. He immediately asks “why do you talk to strangers? Why is your skirt so short?” This reaction is not far fetched at all, if anything it feels like a piece of nonfiction. As a woman you are convicted as both victim and suspect yet people still wonder why rape victims often take years to speak out.
I was massively enlightened by this novel; I’m ashamed to say before this read I did not know much about womanhood in South Korea. However leaving this short yet powerful book I am aware of how population control forced women to resent having daughters and the psychological effects this had. I am also aware of the fact that in The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Korea was ranked the worst country in which to be a working woman. Whether you have a degree or not, most women end up unsatisfied working a part time during daycare hours. Beyond the statistics and injustices, I learned that my struggles as a woman are not exclusive to me and if i’m not alone then neither is any other woman.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to any inter-sectional feminists looking for a raw and unfiltered read.
Link to the novel: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Kim_Jiyoung_Born_1982.html?id=ROF_DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Originally published at http://culturetalkswithkim.wordpress.com on May 22, 2020.
