A Review of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo

Claustrophobic is the word that keeps on echoing in my mind when thinking about this book.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is about the plight of women in South Korea. The modern plight. Kim Jiyoung is a normal woman going about her life who runs into obstacles due to her gender. Weather that is getting her own room as a kid, getting tuition assistance from her family, getting a job post grad, dealing with sexist coworkers, or manuevering the world after having a child. Her gender makes it so people treat her poorly. She ends up taking on other people's personalities in the very beginning of the book and we don't hear about it again until the very end when it turns out this book is written as an almost patient history book from her psychiatrist.

Claustrophobic first popped into my mind when she was at her work dinner with a group of clients. One of the clients is an older man who was very drunk and kept on pressuring Jiyoung to drink. I was worried where it would end up and due to the seating arrangements and the pressue Jiyoung had on her to tow to line at the dinner for her company the whole thing felt claustrophobic and like she couldn't leave. Luckily she made it out of there before anything bad happens.

I see some similarities between Korean culture and American culture is the raising of children. I am not saying that they are 100% alike but there are similarties. The dad with the trope of saying "I'll help out" in regards to the child and the mom being the one to stay at home with the kid.

I feel bad for Korean women. They are more likely to be aborted, less likely to be hired or promoted, and once mothers they are judged when they are out with their child grabbing a coffee and are considered a "mom-roach" aka moocher off their husbands by some.

Very good book. The prose was simple and easy to follow and the book didn't contain anything that wasn't required for the story. Reccomend.