Welcome to Litsy!

My intro to Korean fiction. Different kind of patriarchy and yet exactly the same. Girl power!!

#12Booksof2024

My favorite book in February was Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 which tells the story of a woman‘s struggle in the face of unrelenting misogyny—at work and at home. Fantastic translation of a powerful, compelling story that was a bestseller in South Korea before becoming a worldwide sensation.

I also really enjoyed The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden.

@Andrew65

There‘s a lot of story packed into this slim volume which tells the story of a young mother who starts to speak in the voices of other women. What follows is a narrative of her life in which the everyday pervasiveness of sexism & misogyny, the weight of familial & societal expectations, & the confining limits of gender rolls takes center stage. It‘s a story that will be familiar to many women. An excellent book & my first 5 star read of 2024.

4.5⭐️/5⭐️

3.5/5 🌟

This book chronicles the life of Kim Jiyoung. It is told in a very straightforward manner, which I didn't mind, but it lost me at the statistics and facts relating to her work life etc. I skimmed over those facts as I just wanted to find out what was wrong with our main character, who had a very interesting problem.

You don't really have to even turn to the first page before this book hits you with some heavy topics. It's already on the other side of the front cover. 😱

Salad as a dinner and some reading to go with it. 😁

At first glance, this is a clinical and narrative account of the life of Kim Jiyoung, a daughter, wife, and mother in South Korea. But as she chronicles the mundane, everyday sexism she experiences, it all builds into a howl of anger and frustration at a system that constantly insists that women are the problem. A quick read but one that will stay with me.

My #bookspin read for January @TheAromaofBooks

#AlphabetGame #letterK

Kindred by Octavia Butler was a good read but I‘m choosing the tagged book - insightful, infuriating and perfectly captures misogynies in modern day South Korea.

Short, simple and jarringly real!!

You're right. In a world where doctors can cure cancer and do heart transplants, there isn't a single pill to treat menstrual cramps.' Her sister pointed at her own stomach.
'The world wants our uterus to be drug-free. Like sacred grounds in a virgin forest.'
Jiyoung hugged the bottle to her stomach and cackled despite the pain.

Jiyoung was number thirty on the roster of forty-nine. Boys were numbers one to twenty-seven, and girls were twenty-eight to forty-nine. The numbers were assigned in order of birthdays. Jiyoung's birthday was fortunately in April...[but] the girls with late birthdays were only able to sit down to lunch around the time the lower-number students were done. Naturally, the students who were routinely told off for eating slowly were mostly girls.

Cho Nam-Joo's prose is clean and dry, detailed yet efficient. I loved the inclusion of footnotes with data from various studies and articles to offer a pivotal and insightful read.

This was amazing! A wonderful look at the female experience in South Korea with some horrifying statistics.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The prose is pretty matter of fact but effective. There‘s a lot here about modern women in society and motherhood. Not being a mother (or from Korea for that matter), I still identified pretty strongly with this book. The ending was perfect. I definitely recommend!

This was a #gettbr recommendation.

“The world had changed a great deal, but the little rules, contracts and customs had not, which meant the world hadn‘t actually changed at all.”

That is essentially what this book is about; misogyny still prevails in many parts of society. I loved the minimalistic, to the point style in which it was written and the final paragraph, although bleak, summed up the novel. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Alfie‘s with his grandparents and I‘ve got the day off work, obviously this is how I‘m spending my day 😁

Almost finished this one and I‘m really enjoying it!

Christmas decor down and a book read. Yay for weekends! This book is powerful but uncomfortable reading. It's hard for me to decide if I liked it or not. I think it should be read widely as the message is important but the format of a report from Jiyoung's therapist was strange. Bottom line, I'm glad I read it.

Taking a look back at 2021 in reading, and the tagged book was miles away my favorite of last year. Second place went to the Bridgerton series, if I'm honest; I binged it in about a week and it was the most silly reading fun I've had in some time. Solid honorable mentions include two #PersephonePicks (The Fortnight in September will be a yearly read for me) and Wintering, a wonderful reminder to slow down sometimes! #FavoriteReads #YearInReview

I am so late in posting my list for September 😖 had weddings the past two weekends and am in the middle of a move! So I didn't feel like I was cheating, I didn't randomize my list at all and simply inserted new books in place of the ones I read in August. Hope that's okay @TheAromaofBooks

“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?”

Set in South Korea, this is the story of Kim coursing through different phases – each steeped in gender bias/patriarchy – of her life and how this discrimination affects her mental state. Who are the responsible parties? Not just men and women outside (at jobs, university, civic amenities etc.), but also the 👇🏽

A thought provoking read which I‘m sure women around the world can relate to. As a mother myself, who has had to make sacrifices such as those in this book, I could relate to Jiyoung, although I wouldn‘t change my situation for the world, it can be hard to accept the role that is expected of women still in this day and age.

Times are changing and I can only hope when my daughter is my age she will be facing a more equal and accepting world. 🌍

#WindsOfMarch Day 8: For #InternationalWomensDay, I feel that this should be required reading for all. My weekend read while at the beach in Abu Dhabi.

Found this to be really interesting read about gender inequality in Korea. Especially as I was born at a similar time to Korean 'every woman' Kim Jiyoung so it was particularly interesting to compare my own experience of school, university, job hunting with the ones experienced in this novel. Definitely worth a read and hopefully it will open up discussions on equality and opportunity for women in Korea (and elsewhere)

Looking for a horror story. One that will keep you up at night?

Look no further!
Seriously though, the truth is the scariest. And this is terrifying.

Read it.
#feminism #women #Korea #AroundTheWorld

The form of this is something you don't see much, a clinical telling of an average Korean mother and how her life lead to a psychiatric break. The unemotional telling mixed with the facts (footnoted) of averages in Korean life give a well rounded look into modern Korean life, in a short and interesting way. The story does not lack from the formatting and is instead enhanced.
Korean women have quickly become one of my favorite novelists.

Loving the book that you chose for #jolabokaflodswap @batsy ! Am attempting to do #readingasia2021 next year and this will definitely be in the rotation.
@MaleficentBookDragon

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

1. Kim Ji-Young, Born 1982 (tagged), Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, and And Chaos Died by Joanna Russ... Plus like 4 others that I'm pretending I'm actively reading but really they're hibernating... Too many books on the go again 😅

2. Network Effect by Martha Wells! Murderbot ❤️❤️

3. Hmm... A Christmas Carol, I suppose.

It was a deal on Kindle. 😁

@Reggie

One of those books where I kept wanting to shout, “that‘s not fair” over and over. The realities of being a woman. We still have a very long way to go. Deserved all the hype.

#kindledailydeal
Got this one this morning 👍🏻

Our new episode of Books On The Go is up now! 🎧 Amanda and I loved this book. 🥰 Have you read it? #womenintranslation

Almost done Big Friendship so I‘m already looking into what‘s on deck. Shout out to the public library for coming through once again.

I listened to Kim Jiyoung‘s story in audiobook format and for me it was just okay. The author Cho Nam-Joo uses this story to illustrate a really important message though and I think this is worthwhile read, especially as it‘s so short. This was 3 stars for me, but I‘d definitely still recommend it and may try reading, rather than listening, to this one again soon.

My full review is up on my blog now 📚

Asian Readathon prompt=book by Asian author. Readathon was on May, still reading books to complete the challenges🙄Also book was part of Hogsmaed Readathon-visit to Madam Puddifoot's Tea & Cake-prompt=read book with a cup of tea. Love this cover. Fascinated because if gives facts about discrimination against Korean women in various scenarios with a no happy but real ending.But, as a novel, I felt that I needed more.An unpopular opinion here 3.5⭐️

Can a book be mundane, yet thoroughly terrifying at the same time? “Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982” has become the feminist rallying cry of contemporary South Korea. Detailing the life of one Kim Jiyoung, who on the surface appears to live an unremarkable life, Cho‘s book presents a real picture of what it means to be a woman in this century. The themes are universal; every woman will see herself in Jiyoung and the women around her.

Thanks for the tag @Bklover and @NeedsMoreBooks ♥️

1. Kim Ji Young, Born in 1982
2. I can read in Korean and I‘ve been trying to read more books in that language. I wish I had more options here in the States.

Tagging a few people to play! @Mitch @wanderinglynn @ImperfectCJ

I‘m looking forward to reading this one.

#YellowCovers #MarchMadness @Eggs

Judging from my rant these past few days, no doubt it is a pick! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

P.S. That‘s my sister, a typical Asian working woman.

OMG I internally screamed at this book about a hundred times. It‘s the kind of book you need to pause every other chapter to take in. And you‘ll need many coffee for that.

I guess all Asian countries have similar roots of patriarchy. Though Korean are far more sexist, each and every situation told from Ji-Young‘s POV is eerily familiar to me. It‘s relatable to a point that it‘s almost uncomfortable.

Gosh, I need a short break!

My BFF was in a toxic relationship and just got out. She read this book and said it helped her see her worth. A feminist take on a dark patriarchy side of South Korea. She was so deeply impressed she lent me this for a week. Gonna start the journey now!