Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo is a scathing look at the treatment of women in modern Korean life.
Kim Jiyoung starts acting weirdly. She starts saying things that are startling true about the plight of women and girls in society. And then this books goes back through her life, from her start as the daughter of a couple who wanted a son, through all of the harassment that comes from living in the body of a woman, to her unequal treatment at work, and how she had to give up her career to have a family. And then in the end, the cycle begins again.
It's quick, but it's heartbreaking. It points out all misogyny and oppression Jiyoung experiences, but also backs up those experiences with footnotes and data. It's honest, it's powerful, and it's hard to read. It's not even hard to read because Jiyoung is hopeless, sexually assaulted, and paid two-thirds of her counterparts, but it's hard to read because there is no real solution offered here. It's going to keep happening to women, even women who know it's happening to them.
4/5 stars
She truly believed he was a decent husband to her for not sleeping around and not hitting her. (page 16)
How low the bar is for what a decent husband is.
Fortunately, Jiyoung had good colleagues at work and was adjusting relatively well to her first job, which was not as challenging, demoralizing, or exhausting as she had braced herself for. (page 106)
Another very low bar.
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Ugh, this sounds depressing! I'm glad this book was written, but would I be a terrible person if I said I don't want to read it?
ReplyDeleteNot a terrible person at all! I'm not sure I'd recommend it, to be honest. So sad.
DeleteWell, this sounds bleak. This is probably a gross generalization, and I don't know if it's a question of what books are being translated into English and which books come across my radar, but I find a lot of books I read by authors from China, Japan, Korea to be really kind of spare and lonely and sad. But maybe the happy novels aren't thought to be serious enough to merit translation? I think there is this idea that a book has to be heavy and sad to be of merit sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read a lot of books from Korea, but Japanese books are so magical. There's always this element of make believe, but in the real world and I just find them irresistible. I suspect you're right that the comedies and celebrity memoirs of other languages are not being translated, so we're getting the serious contemporary fiction.
DeleteYes, this does sound depressing. The hopelessness of women in Korea is heartbreaking. I've always said/acknowledged that we (American women) are so fortunate to have been born in the United States.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I think what made is so powerful to me is that it's not that different in the US. Women in offices are still expected to do all the "feminine" duties. Not to be to blunt, but I've never once seen a man clean our shared fridge in the office. The pay gap in the US exists, women in the US are frequently sexually assaulted, and rape charges are rarely pursued in the criminal justice system. I mean, we don't even have the mandated maternity leave that the character in this book took advantage of. *shrug* It's a problem everywhere.
DeleteYup.
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