Kim Jiyoung- representing all women

 Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo is a blood boiling book for a reader. She manages to make the people realise how problematic our society really is. On the surface, Kim Jiyoung has the perfect life right out of a drama but when one reads further and gets to know Jiyoung, they realise that her life had a lot of struggles. A lot of those are the things that still occur in the lives of women irrespective of their ages. 

Like Jiyoung, a lot of young women face discrimination in their schools, colleges and workplaces. They are pressured into doing things that they don’t want to. Male employees believe that they have more power over their female coworkers and that they can make the latter do whatever they want. They think that women are meek and vulner creatures that they can prey on. 

Cho Nam-joo raises a big question on society with this thought provoking novel. She has criticised society in a very subtle yet impactful manner. 

The book can evoke tears out of the reader because of how the story is close to the reality of one’s life. The helplessness and the anger of Jiyoung hits home every time one reads the story. One can understand the plight of every woman through this book. It provokes the reader to do something to help women out. One feels like screaming at the world to stop this unfair practice of making women feel inferior to men. 

The cherry on top is the ending of the book which shows the people the ultimate reality of the society which will take a lot of time to change. The psychiatrist sympathises with Jiyoung and says that the society treated her unfairly but ends up treating his female assistant in the same way. This basically summarises how society just says that women should be treated better but never do that for the women around them. The last line of the book makes one want to scream at the psychiatrist and makes the reader agitated and anxious. Kim Jiyoung, born 1982 is a real page turner and a definite must read for the present generation.