https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/19/kim-jiyoung-born-1982-cho-nam-joo-bestseller-review

This novel by Cho Nam-joo chronicles the life of a woman desperate to escape stifling gender roles

This Korean bestseller chronicles the everyday struggle of women against endemic sexism. Its provocative power springs from the same source as its total, crushing banality: in telling the story of Kim Jiyoung – whose name is the Korean equivalent of “Jane Doe” – Cho Nam-joo’s third novel has been hailed as giving voice to the unheard everywoman.

When we meet Jiyoung, she is 33, with a one-year-old child. Her life is unremarkable, except that she has begun to take on the personalities of other people. During a visit to her in-laws, Jiyoung slips into her mother’s identity and speaks in a manner deemed inappropriate for her place in the age-based hierarchy of Korean society. Her father-in-law is outraged, thundering: “Is this how you behave in front of your elders?”