While the story is recognizable to women the world over, it is a damning portrait of South Korean society in particular. Though the granular details may be particular to Jiyoung (born in Seoul, the second daughter in a middle-class family), the milestone events are universal: Gender stereotyping starting from birth in ways both subtle and overt sexualization victim-blaming thwarted ambitions and pressure to stay at home and raise children while fading into ladylike irrelevance. Every woman who reads this strange, extraordinary, and infuriating document (and every woman should read it) will find glimpses of her own life. Cho Nam-joo’s feminist debut novel, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, strikes a deep chord with me, and not only because I’m female.
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