PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewI hated reading Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, The debut novel by Cho Nam-Joo, which is the opposite of saying that I hated the book itself...it laid bare my own Korean childhood — and, let’s face it, my Western adulthood too — forcing me to confront traumatic experiences that I’d tried to chalk up as nothing out of the ordinary. But then, my experiences are ordinary, as ordinary as the everyday horrors suffered by the book’s protagonist, Jiyoung ... Like The Metamorphosis, Cho’s novel is written in an unemotional, almost clinical style ... At first, the footnotes were distracting. Then I realized their purpose was to suggest the degree to which the travails of Jiyoung, a fictional character, are grounded in fact. It’s South Korea’s dirty little secret that, despite its prosperity, technological advances and coolness factor, when it comes to gender equality, it’s no Finland ... Of course, it’s not just in Korea that such problems occur, which may be why Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 has been translated into more than a dozen languages and has become an international sensation. In South Korea, the book’s release led to a powerful backlash ... Perhaps the novel’s international exposure will force South Korea to have another reckoning with what it plans to do about its biggest elephant in the room. I expect threats just for writing this review.
