By Nandini Narkar
Cho Nam-Joo’s third novel dubbed the “Korean #MeToo bestseller" draws a thin line between fiction and reality as her protagonist navigates the patriarchal Korean society from birth to adulthood. Kim Jiyoung was the most common name in 1982, establishing her role as the common Korean woman. Kim Jiyoung is a 33-year-old wife and mother who used to work at a marketing firm. The book starts with the various lifelong misogynistic microaggressions, finally catching up with Jiyoung and wearing her mental state down. She starts to adopt the different personalities of the prominent women in her life, making her husband concerned for her mental health. As the story continues the reader is exposed to the various sexist instances in Jiyoung's life perfectly catalogued in the stages of growing up.
From the narrative that boys like to tease the girls, they like the most, outrageous dress codes, victim-blaming and the gender pay gap, Cho Nam Joo’s chronological way of writing and portraying Kim Jiyoung illuminates the everywoman experience in Korea. The sexism encapsulating Jiyoungs childhood and adolescence leaves the readers frustrated and empathetic . The story does not shy away from the systematic problems, ingrained and inherited through each successive generation, present in every ecosystem around Jiyong. Mature concepts like sexualisation and gender disparity are so blatantly incorporated in the protagonist and her peer's lives, so young, that it is not astonishing to one that girls tend to mature emotionally faster, than boys. They had no choice.
Cho's detached third-person perspective not only highlights the absurdities of lifelong misogyny but also leaves the reader with an unsettling feeling, through its apathetic and monotonous tones. All instances of sexism are conspicuously laid out in the pages without any glitz or glamour. You can feel the discomfort exuding from the text. The author ensures that all types of readers leave with a sense of sympathy, curiosity, and frustration. The book left me heartbroken, sympathetic and benignant. But reading it as a young female, kindled questions about my future and made me draw parallels not only with my life but with those around me too. I saw how double standards affected my female classmates and the sacrifices my mother made once she entered parenthood. The journey you take with Jiyoung is not a pleasant one, and Cho Nam Joo wants you to know that.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is not a raging feminist novel but a social commentary on how women have had to live their lives in the archaic constructs of Korean society. It sparks a conversation about the primitive situation of gender disparity in Korea and the globe. It was a conversation that women needed as it was released during the peak of the Korean #MeToo movement. Jiyoung's experiences allow her to be replaceable with almost any female reading the book who can resonate. That is the point of Kim Jiyoung, she could be anyone, she is anyone, she is the everywoman.