I read Kim Jiyoung shortly after finishing The Vegetarian by Han Kang last month and found the book equally as interesting and powerful. Kim Jiyoung is not as lyrical and prose driven as Kang's The Vegetarian. However, the lack of lyrical prose did not detract from the power of the message and impact in Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982. I thought the simplicity offered greater focus to the subject matter.
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Kim Jiyoung focuses on the gender inequality that is prevalent in South Korea and the pressure of being a woman. It looked at the life of Kim Jiyoung and how her life differed to her brothers. It jumped through her upbringing, college, her marriage, her work life and finally the birth of her first child. What made this quite powerful were the stats that Cho Jam-Noo managed to slip seamlessly into the narrative that made her arguments so much more powerful.
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The scenes in the workplace I felt for me were the most stark as the women's bathroom was found to be bugged to spy on the women. Kim Jiyoung was passed over for jobs because she was female. She was subject to shame for not working as long hours whilst pregnant, even then when she was judged for being pregnant and working. The double standards and hypocrisy was shouted out throughout the whole book and made for stark reading.
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I would say this book is a must read for those interested in gender inequality in South Korea and more facts based, stark writing. If you're in search for a more lyrical prose driven and metaphorical work I would pick up The Vegetarian. Both great works in very different ways.