This book is credited with starting/influencing the 4-B in South Korea and it’s clear why. I felt so so angry while reading this. Jiyoung grows up during this push for feminism time period in the 90’s and 2000’s, where her mother had to give up schooling to work but where Jiyoung and her sister were able to go to college even though their younger brother is the best treated in the family. 

The misogyny that she dealt with from a young age, in school, at home, in the workforce permeated her entire being and the way she interacted with men and women throughout her life. She spent her life having to show men, especially when working that she was “one of the good ones” infuriated me. This novel touched my heart deeply. I didn’t quite understand why she began acting like other people post-partum but otherwise I think this was an important insight into Korean gender bias.