Claire Kohda

A woman’s lot is not a happy one in Kim Jiyoung’s Born 1982

Cho Nam-Joo’s novel describes the harassment and abuse of women from cradle to grave in South Korea

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  • Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

    Cho Nam-Joo, translated from the Korean by Jamie Chang

    Scribner, pp. 163, £12

‘Buy pink baby clothes,’ Kim Jiyoung, the protagonist of this bestselling South Korean novel is told at the obstetrician’s surgery. Jiyoung’s mother responds: ‘It’s okay, the next one will be a boy.’ There are multiple births in this book. Births of girls are always met with disappointment, while those of sons are celebrated.

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