I defy any woman to read this brilliant book without seething with injustice at the inequality that persists well into the 21st century. A fascinating insight into a misogynistic world, and completely absorbing from first to last. Recommend unreservedly.

Short and succinct, this is a must read. Kim Jiyoung symbolises all Korean women, looking at the restraints and restrictions that are placed on their lives. In the time of Me Too, it's fascinating to see how women in other cultures are treated. An eponymous hero, Kim Jiyoung is immensely relatable and likeable.

A really well written book about a country and a society that I know very little about. It was an interesting and informative read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

This story has an unusual structure. It seems as though the author has built the narrative and story up from research papers and statistics and our MC is the human face for us to see how they play out in everyday life. While the factoids are enlightening, fascinating and disheartening, the overall story is missing a connection to readers.

Some might feel it is hard to emphasize with the main character who seems to experience so much more sexist discrimination and everyday misogyny just to tell a story and highlight a feminist agenda, but the reality is that this is the harsh truth. Most women don't experience one kind of sexism, sexual assault or chauvinism. It is a vast box of unpleasant assorted flavours that women are consistently exposed to. While the world is slowly waking up and getting on board with equality, there is still a long way to go.

This book is but a single drop of water in the wide ocean of change for a better future. But combining several combined with more drops, you can get a a whirlpool. Even more of them, a storm. We're looking for a tsunami-level storm to wipe out the cycle of male entitlement.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 is an international bestseller - originally published in Korea in 2016, the book has proven to be extremely divisive and for many women in their 20s and 30s, extremely relatable. Kim Jiyoung is one of the most common woman’s names in this generation in Korea, and the basis of the novel is that Kim Jiyoung is not someone special: she is every woman.

It has been hailed as one of the most important feminist texts in Korea by some, but female celebrities who have spoken about the novel have been flooded with hate online for doing so. A film adaptation was made, and the actress who played Kim Jiyoung (Jung Yu-mi) received thousands of hate comments on Instagram in just one day. South Korea is still seen as socially conservative, with some patriarchal views still upheld.

According to the BBC - ‘Women in South Korea earn only 63% of men's salaries - one of the highest pay gaps among developed nations . The Economist also ranks South Korea as the worst developed nation in which to be a working woman, in its glass ceiling index’.

In the UK, we are no strangers to discrimination based on gender, the gender pay gap or patriarchal families. We are lucky in that those who speak out about these injustices are often penalised for doing so.

Kim Jiyoung Born In 1982 is a story that all of us can relate to, in some way whether that is as daughters, sisters, working women, wives, mothers.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this book as I couldn't get along with the writing style. The premise initially intrigued me, but unfortunately I couldn't get into it.

My thanks to Cho Nam-Joo, Simon and Schuster UK and NetGalley for the ARC of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982.

Cho Nam-Joo has written a powerful short novel set in Korea detailing the life of Jiyoung. There is disturbing accounts of discrimination and misogyny supported by relevant references. The writing is superb and unique. Highly recommend.

Cho Nam-ju has written such a strong story of the everywoman in South Korea, highlighting ingrained cultural sexism, institutional oppression and the impossibility to speak out against such unfairness. From birth girls are secondary to their brothers and this whole 'society favours males' mind set impacts her time through school, university and beyond. Women are classes as second class citizens, it's no wonder Kim ji-young becomes depressed with the sheer injustice of it all. Women are not allowed/supposed to speak out against the inappropriate behaviours towards them and that just blew my mind. I found this book to be relatable because discrimination based on one's gender isn't just pigeon holed to one country like Seoul where the story is set, it can happen anywhere. I enjoyed the style of writing, I liked the footnotes and I'd happily recommend this book. Infact I'd urge people to read the book before watching the movie version. 5 stars.

This book didn't grip me - I'm not sure if it is the translation, but I didn't find myself particularly drawn into the story. I think I would have preferred an actual memoir or work of non-fiction, this was too close to that (e.g. with footnotes about legislation and statistics) but still sold as a story. Details of life in Korea were interesting, but not particularly surprising if you have read any other novel or memoirs set in the country from a female perspective. However, this may have been a result of me expecting more of a 'story'. As a quiet, slice of life narrative, it succeeded.

While I recognise the significance and importance of this story, I disliked the style: it's so dry and matter-of-fact that it becomes very boring very quickly. As a result it feels like an informative or educational book rather than a novel. It's still worth reading for the eye-opening account of women's lives in South Korea.

While I whole heartedly agree and understand the issues in this book, about the sexism and misogyny that is especially prevalent in Asian cultures, I found it hard to relate to the character due to how the story was presented.

It was all so removed and from a strange third person perspective like reading case studies. Not sure if things were a translation issue of if it's just a cultural thing, but characters referred to as The mother rather than Her mother, felt unnatural.

I also wasn't aware of the cult popularity of the book and the cultural context of things that happened in Korea around the time of its release so maybe I missed some of its significance. I spent the entire time wondering why I was reading these incredibly dry accounts about this woman.

At least at less than 200 pages, it was a relatively quick read and the last line is so poignant it was worth getting to the end.

**Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for providing access to this book in return for an honest review.

A very relatable book for any young woman growing up today. Examples of misogyny and sexist behaviour grow from subtle to glaringly obvious and all can easily be imagined in today's world. Kim Jiyoung's treatment by others has an almost Big Brother quality to it, she must have done something to attract unwanted attention, family members seem to watch for any slip up of female duty. The atmosphere throughout the book gives you a sense of how trapped and alone Jiyoung must feel and how desperate for equality

I'm not sure whether it is Cho Nam-Joo's writing style or due to the way it has been translated but the narrative is incredibly dry. To call it 'prose' would be an exaggeration as the writing is so flat and impersonal as to resemble a mere list rather than a work of fiction.
Usually I really enjoy translated fiction...in this case I struggled to read the first few pages.

This is the story of the systematic sexism the main character and the women in her family endure throughout their lives, from constant micro aggressions to really shocking revelations, such as her mother choosing to abort a perfectly healthy baby because it would have been a third girl in the family. The beginning reminded me of The vegetarian, as the main character seems to be losing her sanity, but this is a much less oneiric and more straightforward story, which I appreciated given the subject.

Some of the stories are shocking when I think that they so close in time (like when she is asked how when would react to a client sexually harassing her in a job interview), and some others seem uncomfortably familiar, and I see them happen all around me, like the lack of support she gets to raise her child and her own career sacrifices, compared to her husband. The very ironic end is the perfect ending to this overall sad story. I was glad to hear is such a success in Korea.

I wish I could rate this book higher but the grammatical errors really irked me. It was poorly edited and had pretty simple mistake that any editor would have picked up.

As far as translated books go, Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 is not a beautifully written masterpiece. Instead it is a raw and unflinching look at the realities of life for the average Korean woman. Systematic misogyny and unsympathetic relatives seem to be the norm for Kim Jiyoung, the university educated ex-professional who was forced to become a stay at home mother due to the lack of resources for young families. What the book lacks in subtly, it makes up for with the unfiltered truth.

Fascinating, urgent and powerful testimony of the South Korean female experience. A brilliant glimpse into another time and culture, with all too-stark parallels to our own - chauvinism, patriarchy, oppression, violence and all. Little wonder it has become a touchstone of feminist literature both within South Korea and beyond.

This is a heartbreakingly beautiful book about a woman growing up in a country where men are classed as more important in the world. Where women feel the need to apologise for not producing male airs. After growing up and not letting her sex define her or hold her back she ends up having to give her career up and then ends up even more confused and unstable. This book is in some ways shocking especially as this woman was not born that long ago but along the way there are signs of change which is good.

Kim Jiyoung may have been born in Korea in 1982 but she could have been born in any country in the world, any time in the 20 years previous, and still encountered the same obstacles and challenges. This is the story of a modern woman, who will never be as successful or treated as fairly as her brother purely for the fact that she is a woman. She will be judged by strangers and family alike for decisions she does or doesn’t make. She will encounter expectations that society places on her... because she was born female. This book is striking as a account of one womans place in society and how it affects her mental health.

My thanks to Simon and Schuster UK and NetGalley for a review copy of this one.

Kim Ji-Young, Born 1982 is a 2016 Korean novel, now translated into English (besides other languages). This hard-hitting novel has sold over a million copies, and was also adapted into a film that released in October this year. The book traces the story of Kim Ji-Young, the title character, from the year she was born, 1982, to 2016 highlighting the sexism, discrimination and injustice she faces at every stage of her life [The author, a former scriptwriter for television, in fact, said that Ji-Young’s life wasn’t much different from her own]. Ji-Young is the second daughter in the family of a lower-level government servant. Her mother is a housewife who also takes up an assortment of jobs from home to supplement her husband’s income, having had to give up on her own education and work in her youth so that her brothers could get the best educations. Ji-Young of course has a ‘better’ time in that she does get an education, as best as her parents can afford, and even goes to university, and has a chance at a career (though not for long), but at every stage be it as a child growing up, to school, to interviewing for a job, getting one, and having to give it up, she is impacted in some way or other by sexism, having to share where her younger brother doesn’t, having to accept being secondary, being looked over despite being qualified simply because she is a woman, whether for a job or inclusion in a team at work, having to give up her career for her child, and having fingers pointed at her for everything, whether it be her fault or not, mostly the latter. However, there is a little hope too in the story. Ji-Young’s mother, despite and also perhaps because of having faced worse in her life, does stand up for her daughters at times, and tries within her constraints to ensure that they do not have to give up their dreams as she did. Others girls and women who Ji-Young encounters (at school and work) too sometimes take a stand, rather than accepting things quietly, winning for themselves and others small victories. But despite all that, at the end one realises that there is still very long to go before much of this changes, and many will still have to walk the same path, face the same life as Ji-Young. (The final sentences will definitely shake you.)

I found the book to be a very impactful one, and while set in Korean society, some (actually most) of these forms of discrimination and sexist behaviour aren’t restricted to that country, so the truths it brings one face to face with would resonate with many. I was also quite surprised with how fast the book moved—of course, it is a short read (under 170 pages in the edition I had), but still it moves well, and it doesn’t ‘feel’ like a translation at all (The translator is Jamie Chang). Some reviews of the book I read mention how the book uses a rather dry tone. Partly I do agree with this, as it certainly does that, and in addition, the footnotes supporting different facts make it feel somewhat like non-fiction at times, but on the other hand, the tone I felt is explained once one gets to the end of the book and realises who the narrator is, and what it is one is supposed to be reading. Well worth a read, for everyone. Four and a half stars!

I absolutely adored this book and the authors writing style. It was so eye opening to see what life is like for a woman in Korea and how different things are from life at home.

I loved how the chapters were split up into different areas of Jiyoungs life from childhood to adulthood and it felt like we really got to know her well throughout the book.


Would highly reccomend this book to everyone.