Cho Nam-Joo

Jamie Chang

Kathleen Choe

A Novel

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

THIS JUST PISSED ME RIGHT OFF AFTER THIS LINE. after aaallllll that, the psychiatrist claiming he understands the women’s perspectives after talking with his wife and Jiyoung, he STILL makes all the same comments and complaints about his co-worker that’s leaving for maternity leave saying “i’ll make sure her replacement is unmarried.” i HATE men.

Madelaine Jarcew

“…I wish she’d do something more interesting. Something she’s good at, that she really wants to do, not something she does because there’s nothing else.”

Just as putting the care of your child in another’s hands doesn’t mean you don’t love your child, quitting and looking after your child doesn’t mean you have no passion for your career.

get his ass jiyoung (except she apologized afterwards so…less of a W, but still).

‘Help out? What is it with you and “helping out”? You’re going to “help out” with chores. “Help out” with raising our baby. “Help out” with finding me a new job. Isn’t this your house, too? Your home? Your child? And if I work, don’t you spend my pay, too? Why do you keep saying “help out” like you’re volunteering to pitch in on someone else’s work?’

specifically stuck out to me because of the medicalization of the female body and how relevant it is today.

and of course, the man could never be the one with fertility problems. obviously.

also Daehyun’s a deadbeat. stand up for your wife you asshole.

Jiyoung was sincerely hurt that Daehyun hadn’t said a word while his family treated her like she had some big physical issue, and he said he had kept his mouth shut so as not to ruffle feathers and blow the problem out of proportion by taking her side. … She was saddened that he was dismissing her feelings as an overreaction, and the explanations he came up with turned into more ammunition for her to criticize him.

She mulled over Daehyun’s idea that registering as legally married changes the way you feel about each other. Do laws and institutions change values, or do values drive laws and institutions?

every single line in this book hits like a bullet to the heart. no one will ever understand women the way other women do.

The most demoralizing answer came from the department head himself: ‘Companies find smart women taxing. Like now - you’re being very taxing, you know?’

What do you want from us? The dumb girls are too dumb, the smart girls are too smart, and the average girls are too unexceptional?

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 A Novel

Reviews

Highlights