Cho Nam-Joo - Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

Praise for Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

I loved this novel. Kim Jiyoungs life is made to seem at once totally commonplace and nightmarishly over-the-top. As you read, you constantly feel that revolutionary, electric shift, between commonplace and nightmarish. This kind of imaginative work is so important and so powerful. I hope this book sells a million more copies.
Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot
(shortlisted for The Womens Prize)

I imagine the million Korean copies of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 as a kind of membership card or printed creed proof of a collective experience too often demeaned.
New York Review of Books

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 has much in common with Han Kangs The Vegetarian .
Los Angeles Review of Books

Though shes a fictional character, Kim Jiyoung is a symbolic figure in Korea. It seems her status will be even more elevated as novel Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 recently became a million-copy bestseller.
Korea Herald

Not only a riveting read, but a mirror to society that is daring enough to portray us as faceless as we truly are.
Korean Literature Now

It has touched the hearts of readers of diverse backgrounds across Korea for its subtleness. Rather than depicting extreme situations for the sake of the plot, the book calmly describes common experiences that happen in the everyday lives of Korean women things that have always been there, but have never been thought of as problematic until recently.
Korea JoongAng Daily

Kim Jiyoung is thirty-three years old, or thirty-four in Korean age. She got married three years ago and had a daughter last year. She rents a small apartment on the outskirts of Seoul with her husband Jung Daehyun, thirty-six, and daughter Jung Jiwon. Daehyun works at a mid-size IT company, and Jiyoung used to work at a small marketing agency, which she left a few weeks before her due date. Daehyun usually comes home from work around midnight and goes into the office at least once on weekends. Daehyuns parents live in Busan, and Jiyoungs parents run a restaurant, making Jiyoung her daughters sole carer. Just after Jiwon turned one in the summer, she started daycare as a half-day infant. She spends her mornings at a converted ground-floor apartment daycare centre in the same apartment complex where she lives.

Jiyoungs abnormal behaviour was first detected on 8 September. Daehyun remembers the exact date because it was the morning of baengno (white dew), the first night of autumn when the temperature drops below dew point. Daehyun was having toast and milk for breakfast when Jiyoung suddenly went to the veranda and opened the window. It was quite sunny out, but the cold air rushed in as soon as the window was opened and reached the kitchen table where Daehyun was sitting.

Jiyoung returned to the table with her shoulders hunched and, as she sat down, said, I knew there was a little nip in the air these past few mornings, and todays baengno ! White morning dew on fields of gooold , on baengno when the nights grow cooold .

Daehyun laughed at his wife, who was talking like a much older woman.

Whats up with you? You sound like your mum.

Take a light jacket with you, Jung seoba-ahng . Theres a chill in the mornings and evenings.

Even then, he thought she was just joking around. Her imitation of her mother was flawless, down to her signature right-eye wink when she was asking for a favour, and the elongated last syllable of Jung seobang . He had found her staring off into space or crying over sad songs, but Daehyun figured she was just exhausted from taking care of the baby. She was basically a cheerful person, full of laughter, who often made Daehyun laugh by doing impressions of celebrities. So Daehyun shrugged off Jiyoungs imitation of her mother, gave her a hug and went to work.

When Daehyun came back from work that night, she was sleeping next to their daughter. Both were sucking their thumbs, looking cute but absurd. Gazing at the two side by side, he tugged at his wifes arm to pull her thumb out of her mouth. Jiyoungs tongue stuck out a little and she smacked her lips, just like a baby, and then settled back into sleep.

A few days later, Jiyoung said that she was Cha Seungyeon, a college friend who had died a year before. Seungyeon and Daehyun started college the same year and Jiyoung had been their junior by three years. All three were members of the same university hiking club. However, Jiyoung and Daehyun didnt know each other in college. Daehyun wanted to go on to graduate school, but had to give up due to family circumstances. After he completed his third year of university, he took time off to belatedly fulfil his military service, after which he returned to his home in Busan to work part-time for a year. Jiyoung had entered college and was an active hiking club member during his time away.

Seungyeon had always been good to her fellow female club members, on top of which she and Jiyoung had something in common: they didnt actually enjoy hiking. They became friends and kept in touch and met up frequently even after Seungyeon graduated. In fact, Seungyeons wedding reception was the very occasion on which Daehyun and Jiyoung met for the first time. Seungyeon died giving birth to her second child due to an amniotic fluid embolism. Jiyoung was suffering from postpartum depression when she heard about Seungyeons death, and the shocking news on top of everything else made it hard for her to handle everyday tasks.

After their daughter had gone to sleep, the couple relaxed and drank some beers, something they hadnt done in a while. When Jiyoung had almost finished a can of beer, she tapped her husband on the shoulder and abruptly said, Hey, Jiyoung is having a hard time. Raising a toddler is emotionally draining. You should tell her every chance you get: Youre doing great! Youre working so hard! I appreciate you!

Are you astral-projecting, hon? Fine, fine. Yes, youre doing great, Kim Jiyoung. I know that youre going through a tough time. I appreciate you and I love you. Daehyun lovingly pinched her cheek, but she swatted his hand away, irritated.

You still see me as the lovestruck twenty-year-old Cha Seungyeon? Who shook like a leaf in the middle of summer confessing her feelings?

Daehyuns heart stopped. That was almost twenty years ago. In the middle of the day in the middle of summer, in the middle of the university athletics field, yards away from the tiniest spot of shade. The blazing sun was beating down on the two of them. He couldnt remember how they ended up there, but hed run into Seungyeon who suddenly said she liked him. She liked him, she had feelings for him, she had said, sweat pouring, lips trembling, stammering. Daehyun gave her an apologetic look, and she instantly folded.

Oh, you dont feel the same. Got it. Forget what I said. Forget this whole thing happened. Ill treat you the same as before, like nothing happened.