Jane S. Shim

July 19, 2021

Book | "Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982" by Cho Nam Joo | 82년생 김지영

  • Illustrates the tiny decisions, social pressures, logical rationalizations that lead women down that path.
  • Stories of horrors that women face, illustrated in stories.
  • Helps readers understand this life.
  • Fictional, but sort of autobiographical, sort of research-based.

Fun Factoids: 
  • Praised by several K-Pop idols, including BTS' leader RM
  • Made into a movie (in Korean), 2019 : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11052808/
  • Cho Nam Joo, the author, was a TV scriptwriter for 9 years.  
  • Guardian Q&A with the author: https://tinyurl.com/k5snn5jc
  • Book reads easily and story-led, like a TV show.  Short, quick read.
  • Published in 2016, Bestseller in Korea, addresses gender inequality during #MeToo in Korea.
  • Controversial.  A female member of a K-Pop was targeted for just mentioning that she was reading this book.  https://tinyurl.com/4yk2jsvh
  • Translated into 18 languages.



Notes for Future :
  • Translated by Jamie Chang.  

  • p14:  The combination of tone, expression, angle of head tilt, position of shoulders, and her breathing sent them a message that was hard to summarize in one sentence, but, if Jiyoung tried anyway, it went something like this:  How dare you try to take something that belongs to my precious grandson!

  • to be contd.