She lives a fairly middle class existence in South Korea, and because she follows the set path for her gender, without complaint, her life becomes a shell of what she intended, shadowing the men in her life while she struggles with the new, towering expectations of motherhood.
Kim Jiyoung is an ‘every woman’, the English translation of her name is basically “Jane Doe”, and nothing about her life is extraordinary. It’s debut in North America was highly anticipated, and now that I’ve read this slim novel, I see what all the fuss was about. Translated from the Korean by Jamie Chang, this novel has sold over a million copies worldwide, and was also made into a movie.
Most recently, this happened when I turned the last page of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo. Because I read so many books, and consciously pick ones that I think I may like, this doesn’t come as a shock, but still, I sometimes feel as though they find their way into my hands as an act of fate, and these coincidences propel me forward when I feel my reading resolve lacking. Every once in a while during my reading travels, I unknowingly pick up a book that speaks directly to me in that particular moment in my life.
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