“How many times do I have to tell you? It’s too much work for women. You brighten up the club with your mere presence.”
“I’m not here to support you,” Seungyeon would say. “If the club needs brightening up, get a lamp.”
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 written by Cho Nam Joo
That day,I was so bored as I only had 6 days left before my internship starts. After 2 weeks of finals, my brain needs an official break from anything career-related. With the pandemic still on-going, I thought I needed to read a few novels I may have missed in 2020, though I’m not a casual novel reader myself. I’m more of a visual person, meaning I usually read comics, webtoons, and all that, but for some reasons I thought I’d give diving deep in words a try.
Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 is an international bestseller novel, written by a Korean writer, Cho Nam Joo. As many summaries described, it’s about Kim Jiyoung who suddenly goes a bit ‘nuts’ by talking as if she’s her mom. She’s taken to a psychiatrist and tells him about her life since day one until present day. Near the ending, the psychiatrist gives his verdict to readers and a bit of his experience as well.
The novel only consists of 99 pages (including cover, table of contents, a page of credit, all those), so I immediately finished it in less than a day. Yet, I’m so drawn, attached to the story. It is a work of fiction, but the experiences, the struggles, the thoughts are all women can relate to. The book tells you a lot about the progress of gender equality in South Korea with research proofs whenever needed (yes… you will find footnotes here and there!) to prove the facts stated. For me, it’s a good thing so that readers know that there’s no BS included in the book. All was written based on real experiences, no exaggeration added. As an Asian woman, I can confirm those.
There’s no way they happen in real life… right?
What I like the most from this book is it describes the situation women had to go through from 1982 until 2016. The way it portrays the classic, traditional “I’m proud of my son because he’s THE son” and how “daughters should support their brothers no matter what and take pride in it” is so simple yet detailed; through series of events and thoughts-said-out-loud, I’m sure readers (especially women, at least some South Korean artists and Japanese women did) will have this “Oh!” in their mind. It’s like a déjà vu, but we know the experiences actually happened in real life. Have I mentioned how they tangled with my emotion strings? I actually let out (tiny) shouts of victory, wrinkled my forehead, rolled my eyes whilst reading the book.
Warning! Spoilers ahead!
“Boys are like that,” the teacher laughed. “They’re meaner to the girls they like. I’ll give him a talking-to. Why don’t you take this incident as an opportunity to become better friends instead of changing desk-mates on unfriendly terms?”
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 written by Cho Nam Joo
Gosh, what a set of freaking-ridiculous sentences those are, just like normalizing husbands to hit their wives “out of love”. I like how Cho Nam Joo succeeds to word every situation and narration in a calm manner yet stabbing. Those words you’ve just read are only a small part of a whole unfair situation for a very-young Kim Jiyoung when she was bullied by her desk-mate who was apparently a boy. Does an experience like this happen? Absolutely. In my case, it was my classmate who was mocked by some boys and a teacher told her the exact same point!
Even in the darkest nights, the Sun shines bright.
Out of all those blood-boiling situations told, I like how Kim Nam Joo put so many strong, outspoken women here and there. As we watch Kim Jiyoung grows up, we’ll meet a few impactful, strong girls and women who are seen as the “less well-behaved” ones by boys and men. One time in Kim Jiyoung’s school life, a group of girls dragged a flasher to the nearest police station after being ridiculed by a teacher in front of their other classmates for calling out the flasher. For such an amazing move any adult wasn’t dare enough to do, they were suspended for one week, had to clean up the school fields and toilets and write letters of apology. The teachers would give them noogies, telling them they’re a “disgrace”, yet the girls remained unapologetic and that’s a queen behavior in my eyes.
We can also see the arc of Jiyoung’s mom throughout the years, from babying Jiyoung’s brother (who happens to be the youngest) to telling Jiyoung’s elder sister, “Think ahead. There’s no better job for women than a schoolteacher,” to “Jiyoung, don’t stay out of trouble. Run wild! Run wild, you hear me?” It’s such a slow-progressing, powerful arc one can have. Changing your mindset isn’t easy, yet she did it.
(I have to say, the arc isn’t possible to happen without Jiyoung’s elder sister, Eunyeong, who had the nerves to verbally protest whenever she sensed an unfairness happening due to gender. I look up to her more than I do to other characters in the story.)
And for the icing…
…read Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 if you have spare time and want to know more about women and how society treats us. A movie made based on the million-seller book already offended so many Korean men for being “too-feminist” and labeled it as “controversial”. A symbol of the #MeToo movement in (East) Asia, the novel is much more relevant than you think it is and hopefully open society’s eyes on how unfair they’ve treated women. If those reasons don’t tickle your curiosity, I don’t know what will. Give it a read and I’m sure you’ll love it as much as I do.
What do you think of the book? Want to talk about comics, webtoons, novels, films? Never hesitate to hit me up!
