Cho Nam-Joo

In a country called Town, a doctor named Su is found dead in an abandoned car. There is only one place the police intend to look for her suspected killer: the Saha Estates. Controlled by a secretive organization of ministers, Town is the safest, richest nation in the world. But it is a society clearly divided into the haves and have-nots, and those who have the very least--who aren't even considered citizens--live on the Saha Estates. Residents of Saha must squat in moldy units without plumbing or electricity and can only find work doing harsh labor. For many, the apartment complex is a bleak haven for escaping even bleaker pasts--as it was for Jin-kyung and her brother, Do-Kyung, who showed up one day sopping wet and shivering. No one is shocked when a lowlife like Do-Kyung becomes the main suspect in Su's--a citizen's--murder. But then Do-Kyung disappears. Isolated in a barren Saha unit, Jin-Kyung makes a choice: she will finally confront a system hellbent on erasing her brother's existence. To find him, she must rely on her tightlipped neighbors, from the mysterious janitor known as "Old Man," to Granny Konnim, the community gardener and reluctant midwife, to Woomi, an unwitting test subject at the local clinic. On her quest for the truth, Jin-kyung will uncover a reality far darker than she could have imagined. Written in Cho Nam-Joo's signature sharp prose, brilliantly translated by Jamie Chang, Saha is a chilling portrait of what happens when we finally unmask our oppressors.

From the author of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 comes a bold and ambitious novel set in a dystopian future that is all too believable. Parasite meets 1984.

A National Book Award Finalist hailed as "a social treatise as well as a work of art" (Alexandra Alter, New York Times), Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 announced Cho Nam-Joo as a major literary talent. In her signature sharp prose, brilliantly translated by Jamie Chang, Nam-Joo returns with this haunting account of a neglected housing complex in the shadows of Town: a former fishing village bought out by a massive conglomerate. Town is prosperous and safe--but only if you're a citizen with "valuable skills and assets," which the residents of Saha Estates are not.Disenfranchised and tightlipped, the Saha are forced into harsh labor, squatting in moldy units without electricity. Braiding the disparate experiences of the Saha residents--from the reluctant midwife to the unknowing test subject to the separated siblings--into a powerful Orwellian parable, Nam-Joo has crafted a heartbreaking tale of what happens when we finally unmask our oppressors.

Kim Jiyoung, född 1982 är berättelsen om en helt vanlig kvinna i Sydkorea. Hon föds in i en familj där brodern alltid går först, tvingas acceptera orättvisa villkor i skolan och möter sexism på varje arbetsplats hon sätter sin fot. Som dotter, syster, student, kollega, hustru och mor reduceras hon ständigt till sin roll – aldrig fullt ut till en människa. Hon arbetar hårt, men förbises vid befordringar. Hon älskar sin familj, men får skulden när hon blir trakasserad. Och till slut förväntas hon ge upp sin karriär för hemmet. När Kim Jiyoung börjar bryta samman blir det också en spegel av en större verklighet: hennes erfarenheter är inte bara hennes egna, utan delas av otaliga kvinnor. Detta är en skarp och kompromisslös roman om könsroller, vardaglig sexism och de strukturer som formar våra liv. En bok som skakat om Sydkorea, blivit en internationell bästsäljare och som med sin enkelhet och styrka ger röst åt en hel generation kvinnor.

Written in Cho Nam-joo's signature razor-sharp prose, Miss Kim Knows follows eight women as they confront how gender shapes and orders their lives. A woman is born. A woman is filmed in public without consent. A woman is gaslit. A woman is discriminated against at work. A woman grows old. A woman becomes famous. A woman is hated, and loved, and then hated again. As with Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, these microcosmic stories prove eerily relatable under Cho Nam-joo's precise, unveiled gaze, offering another captivating read from an essential voice in fiction. "There is mischief and glee to be found in these pages, along with the kind of laughter that sets two women over 50 rolling in snow with tears streaming down their frozen cheeks and the aurora borealis dancing above them." --Hephzibah Anderson, The Guardian

One of the most notable novels of the year, hailed by both critics and K-pop stars alike, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 follows one woman's psychic deterioration in the face of rampant misogyny. In a tidy apartment on the outskirts of Seoul, millennial "everywoman" Kim Jiyoung spends her days caring for her infant daughter. But strange symptoms appear: Jiyoung begins to impersonate the voices of other women, dead and alive. As she plunges deeper into this psychosis, her concerned husband sends her to a psychiatrist. Jiyoung narrates her story to this doctor--from her birth to parents who expected a son to elementary school teachers who policed girls' outfits to male coworkers who installed hidden cameras in women's restrooms. But can her psychiatrist cure her, or even discover what truly ails her? "A social treatise as well as a work of art" (Alexandra Alter, New York Times), Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 heralds the arrival of international powerhouse Cho Nam-Joo.

Kim Jiyoung is a girl born to a mother whose in-laws wanted a boy.Kim Jiyoung is a sister made to share a room while her brother gets one of his own. Kim Jiyoung is a female preyed upon by male teachers at school. Kim Jiyoung is a daughter whose father blames her when she is harassed late at night. Kim Jiyoung is a good student who doesn't get put forward for internships. Kim Jiyoung is a model employee but gets overlooked for promotion. Kim Jiyoung is a wife who gives up her career and independence for a life of domesticity. Kim Jiyoung has started acting strangely. Kim Jiyoung is depressed. Kim Jiyoung is mad. Kim Jiyoung is her own woman. Kim Jiyoung is every woman.