The girls had strict dress-codes, but the boys got to wear whatever they wanted. Because the birth rate in Korea favored boys, most of the all-girl schools had been converted to co-ed.
In “Adolescence, 1995-2000,” Jiyoung started middle-school. All through school, the boys were given preference-eating first, lining up first, and even having their homework graded first. Her teacher comforted her, but then explained that the boy only liked her and was expressing his feelings by being mean. When Jiyoung started elementary school, she was bullied by a boy who terrorized her. Five years after Jiyoung was born, her mother finally had a son, who became the most important member of the family. She had two daughters before aborting a third. Jiyoung’s mother had wanted to be a teacher, but she got married and became a mother instead, working odd-jobs on the side. In “Childhood, 1982-1994,” Jiyoung always loved stealing formula from her baby brother, but her grandmother scolded her because she did not want anyone taking away anything from her precious grandson. Although she did not remember any of the incidents, she thanked him and admitted that she had been feeling blue. When they got home, Jiyoung booked a therapy session for Jiyoung. Jiyoung embarrassed him by impersonating her mother and scolding him and his family for making Jiyoung work too much and not giving her time to go see her own family. The couple went to Daehyun’s family’s house to celebrate. The strange occurrences continued until the Chuseok harvest holiday.
Again, Daehyun thought she was kidding around until she started to reveal information that only Daehyun was privy to. A few days later, she started impersonating their mutual friend. He noticed that Jiyoung was impersonating her mother, but he assumed she was joking. The narrator transitions into the past tense as, one day in September, Daehyun woke up and had breakfast. While Daehyun works long nights and weekends at his IT job, Jiyoung stays home all day and takes care of their daughter, who attends a daycare for a few hours in the morning. The narrator beings the first section, “Autumn, 2015,” in the present tense by informing us that Jiyoung is 33 and living in Seoul with her husband, Daehyun, and baby daughter, Jiwon. Although it is not revealed until the final section, the whole novel is narrated by Jiyoung’s therapist.
The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Nam-Joo, Cho.
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