---
product_id: 207066445
title: "Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982: A Novel"
price: "HK$176"
currency: HKD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 10
url: https://www.desertcart.hk/products/207066445-kim-jiyoung-born-1982-a-novel
store_origin: HK
region: Hong Kong
---

# Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982: A Novel

**Price:** HK$176
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- **What is this?** Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982: A Novel
- **How much does it cost?** HK$176 with free shipping
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- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hk](https://www.desertcart.hk/products/207066445-kim-jiyoung-born-1982-a-novel)

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## Description

desertcart.com: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982: A Novel: 9781631498671: Nam-joo, Cho, Chang, Jamie: Books

Review: This novel is worth your time. It is more than a collection of archetypes of discrimination. - I think this book is worth your time. But I think it is also worth tempering your expectations against the way the book has been advertised, especially in its English translation. For example, according to the inside of the hardcover dust jacket this is presented as the story of “a thirtysomething ‘millenial everywoman … at the center of our global #MeToo movement.’” I want to gently push back on this marketing copy as I think the novel and the characters rise above that of archetype and stereotype. There can be something flattening about how the everyday indignity of sexism and discrimination is unintentionally smoothed over when described as “universal.” When discrimination happens to you, what can be so shattering is how excruciatingly individual and direct that pain can feel; how hard it can be to put what just specifically happened to you into words, let alone speak of it to others; finally, it is astonishing how difficult it can be for others to truly understand in a meaningful way what you, as an individual, went through: This is the experience that Cho Nam-Joo attempts to capture in this novel and one I feel the author succeeds in doing. You are never left in doubt that this is a novel about Kim Jiyoung, and as you read, you will be told more about her older sister Kim Eunyoung, her mother Oh Misook, her grandmother Koh Boonsoon, and more. The circle of women in her life shape and inform, guide and restrict, challenge and sometimes even seem to possess her as their lives unfold and fold into each other’s. This is not a novel full of exquisite prose and brutal interiority that delves deep into the stream-of-consciousness of our central character. It is not slow or meditative. It is a blunt book. The narrative does not dawdle and is structured to move quickly across several periods of Kim Ji Young’s life labelled “childhood,” “early adulthood,” and (tellingly) “marriage.” In the English translation by Jamie Chang, the plot of the novel carries an urgency and reads as taut like a spring, uncoiling as you read it. The story presents a steady, ceaseless stream of individual, highly personal episodic events from Kim Ji Young’s life as well as the other women in her life: Moments where their status as a woman was used by others to truncate a dream, bring them fear, make them uncertain, to be imposed on them by another as a way to reduce their ambitions or their agency. These moments begin in slow waves at first. And at a certain point, the narrator even begins to cite statistics from the likes of the Economist, or the Ministry of Labor, or Statistics Korea at the end of a narrative event, in the same manner as one might add an underscore or italics for emphasis. By the end, these moments arrive almost ceaselessly, one after the other. I certainly felt overwhelmed as a reader. At 163 pages, I was able to finish the slim, hardcover version in a single sitting, on a quiet Friday. The ending of the novel, which I leave for you to discover, made me feel more acutely than ever the challenges we have in lasting empathy or understanding. The novel shows how easy it is, for anecdotes or accounts of suffering to induce a moment of clarity, and empathy, to bemoan the circumstances. It also shows how easy it is to revert to the mean, to proscribe a platitude, to once more slip into a norm of everyday inequity. I found this book to be a source of many good conversations, and an opportunity to discuss our individual experiences, and made me hope for more lasting awareness of our capacity to discriminate – unintentional or not – but also our ability to be better.
Review: Short in length, long in honesty - This book found me. It reads more like a fact-born, biography couched in a fictional easy chair. Very interesting in that respect. As a woman raised in the US, it gave me significant pause. We moan about our plight but let's consider women in other lands. I've traveled to South Korea several times but as a visitor it is very difficult to truly grasp truth in culture. This book allows for that and its' honesty is both compelling and admirable. It is difficult for a woman to read this book and not consider that humanity is indeed still struggling with significant reform when it comes to gender roles, marriage, workplace equality, and child rearing. How did our species get so lost and confused about such basic aspects of existence? Great book for the instigation of serious thought and potential to spur others towards profound change for the benefit of all.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #58,622 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #809 in Psychological Fiction (Books) #1,637 in Women's Domestic Life Fiction #4,100 in Literary Fiction (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars (9,256) |
| Dimensions  | 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.3 inches |
| Edition  | Reprint |
| ISBN-10  | 1631498673 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1631498671 |
| Item Weight  | 2.31 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 176 pages |
| Publication date  | March 2, 2021 |
| Publisher  | Liveright |

## Images

![Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982: A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61TEpclIRvL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This novel is worth your time. It is more than a collection of archetypes of discrimination.
*by J***N on May 9, 2020*

I think this book is worth your time. But I think it is also worth tempering your expectations against the way the book has been advertised, especially in its English translation. For example, according to the inside of the hardcover dust jacket this is presented as the story of “a thirtysomething ‘millenial everywoman … at the center of our global #MeToo movement.’” I want to gently push back on this marketing copy as I think the novel and the characters rise above that of archetype and stereotype. There can be something flattening about how the everyday indignity of sexism and discrimination is unintentionally smoothed over when described as “universal.” When discrimination happens to you, what can be so shattering is how excruciatingly individual and direct that pain can feel; how hard it can be to put what just specifically happened to you into words, let alone speak of it to others; finally, it is astonishing how difficult it can be for others to truly understand in a meaningful way what you, as an individual, went through: This is the experience that Cho Nam-Joo attempts to capture in this novel and one I feel the author succeeds in doing. You are never left in doubt that this is a novel about Kim Jiyoung, and as you read, you will be told more about her older sister Kim Eunyoung, her mother Oh Misook, her grandmother Koh Boonsoon, and more. The circle of women in her life shape and inform, guide and restrict, challenge and sometimes even seem to possess her as their lives unfold and fold into each other’s. This is not a novel full of exquisite prose and brutal interiority that delves deep into the stream-of-consciousness of our central character. It is not slow or meditative. It is a blunt book. The narrative does not dawdle and is structured to move quickly across several periods of Kim Ji Young’s life labelled “childhood,” “early adulthood,” and (tellingly) “marriage.” In the English translation by Jamie Chang, the plot of the novel carries an urgency and reads as taut like a spring, uncoiling as you read it. The story presents a steady, ceaseless stream of individual, highly personal episodic events from Kim Ji Young’s life as well as the other women in her life: Moments where their status as a woman was used by others to truncate a dream, bring them fear, make them uncertain, to be imposed on them by another as a way to reduce their ambitions or their agency. These moments begin in slow waves at first. And at a certain point, the narrator even begins to cite statistics from the likes of the Economist, or the Ministry of Labor, or Statistics Korea at the end of a narrative event, in the same manner as one might add an underscore or italics for emphasis. By the end, these moments arrive almost ceaselessly, one after the other. I certainly felt overwhelmed as a reader. At 163 pages, I was able to finish the slim, hardcover version in a single sitting, on a quiet Friday. The ending of the novel, which I leave for you to discover, made me feel more acutely than ever the challenges we have in lasting empathy or understanding. The novel shows how easy it is, for anecdotes or accounts of suffering to induce a moment of clarity, and empathy, to bemoan the circumstances. It also shows how easy it is to revert to the mean, to proscribe a platitude, to once more slip into a norm of everyday inequity. I found this book to be a source of many good conversations, and an opportunity to discuss our individual experiences, and made me hope for more lasting awareness of our capacity to discriminate – unintentional or not – but also our ability to be better.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Short in length, long in honesty
*by R***D on February 4, 2025*

This book found me. It reads more like a fact-born, biography couched in a fictional easy chair. Very interesting in that respect. As a woman raised in the US, it gave me significant pause. We moan about our plight but let's consider women in other lands. I've traveled to South Korea several times but as a visitor it is very difficult to truly grasp truth in culture. This book allows for that and its' honesty is both compelling and admirable. It is difficult for a woman to read this book and not consider that humanity is indeed still struggling with significant reform when it comes to gender roles, marriage, workplace equality, and child rearing. How did our species get so lost and confused about such basic aspects of existence? Great book for the instigation of serious thought and potential to spur others towards profound change for the benefit of all.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Countless Realizations are Food for Thought for Everyone of Every Nationality
*by L***Y on November 9, 2025*

I read this book to find out how a therapist would guide a patient to "countless realizations" about themselves to deal with depression. I am glad the author put in the therapists questioning and comments. I also enjoyed reading the reviews to discover that Korean women are so subordinate even to men to this day. One thing I noticed is that the main character has the same coping skill as her father......beating people down (including herself) aka weakening them by attacking them makes her feel stronger. It takes a lot of courage to write a book, and especially one about her journey through her mental suffering and depression. I really enjoyed this book and the many thoughtful perceptions it raised. Most of all, who really cares if I like it or not except me and how I chose to spend my afternoon reading it? What matters is the author enjoyed writing it, and it was cathartic for her to see herself and others three dimensionally.

## Frequently Bought Together

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*Product available on Desertcart Hong Kong*
*Store origin: HK*
*Last updated: 2026-01-27*