Jiyoung narrates her story to this doctor-from her birth to parents who expected a son to elementary school teachers who policed girls’ outfits to male coworkers who installed hidden cameras in women’s restrooms. As she plunges deeper into this psychosis, her concerned husband sends her to a psychiatrist. But strange symptoms appear: Jiyoung begins to impersonate the voices of other women, dead and alive. In a tidy apartment on the outskirts of Seoul, millennial “everywoman” Kim Jiyoung spends her days caring for her infant daughter. One of the most notable novels of the year, hailed by both critics and K-pop stars alike, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 follows one woman’s psychic deterioration in the face of rampant misogyny. We meet four times a year – in person in Zurich, if possible.A New York Times Editors Choice SelectionĪ global sensation, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 “has become.a touchstone for a conversation around feminism and gender” (Sarah Shin, Guardian). In the Asia Society Switzerland Book Salon, we read and discuss fiction from or about Asia in an informal setting. We appreciate if you let us know that you'll be attending in the Book Salon WhatsApp group chat or via mail to Asia Society Book Salon How to become a member?Īttendance is free. This event is for Asia Society Members only. Reviews: The New York Times, The Guardian, Asian Review of Books This is his clinical assessment of the everywoman in contemporary Korea.

Kim Jiyoung’s husband sends her to see a psychiatrist. In the office, she is an exemplary employee who is overlooked for promotion by her manager.Īt home, she is a wife who has given up her career to take care of her husband and her baby. In university, she is a good student who doesn’t get put forward for internships by her professor. In high school, she is a daughter whose father blames her for being harassed late at night.

In primary school, she is a girl who has to line up behind the boys at lunchtime. Kim Jiyoung is representative of her generation:Īt home, she is an unfavoured sister to her princeling little brother. Kim Jiyoung is the most common name for Korean women born in the 1980s. This time we will read the Korean 'runaway bestseller' Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo.Ībout Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 (publisher's description): This event is for Asia Society Members only. How to become a member? Learn More

Book born 1982