KIM JIYEONG, BORN IN 1982 presents the story of a woman named Ji Yeong, the most common name for girls born in 1982. As her name  indicates,  she  is  a  typical  woman  in  her  thirties  and  her life  mimics  that  of  countless  other  women  in  her  generation.  As  a  veteran  screenwriter  with  a decade’s worth of experience writing for  investigative  journalism  programs  among  others,  the author brilliantly,  realistically captures the stories of ordinary people. Tripartite in nature, the book is     at once a narrative, a deep culling of statistics, and relevant articles/think pieces. The result is realistic fiction tied inextricably with literary journalism. In  an  age  where  legal  discrimination  is  shown  to  have significantly diminished, this highly relevant title uncovers the ways in which insidious, subtle discrimination  continues  to  limit  and  oppress  women daily.

One day, Kim Ji Yeong starts to speak, as if possessed, in her mother’s voice at a gathering of her in-laws and dumbfounds everyone with her too-blunt observations.  A few days later, she speaks in  the voice of still another woman, her husband’s ex, and shocks her husband. Shaken, her husband arranges counseling for her odd symptoms and Ji Yeong’s treatment begins in earnest. In her psychiatrist’s office, she recounts her life and indeed, the book slyly takes a stylistic page  from  counseling notes. The setting  shifts to  the past and the novel  begins  to  trace  her life  starting  from  her childhood. What troubling reasons could she have for  the  loss  of  her  voice  and  the  apparent vocal possession by others? The answer lies both in the past and in the present.