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A review by stories_of_the_soul27
Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories by Cho Nam-joo
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I am rating this 5 star not because it is an important book but because I thoroughly loved some of the stories to the heart.
It is a testament of a great writer to be able to evoke emotions and convey important message through short stories. I always feel I won’t connect with characters by reading about them in 20 or so pages. But that wasn’t the case here.
Each of the stories showed women of various ages and backgrounds and lifestyle with the underlying essence of womanhood and its demands by laid out by the patriarchal society. A hardworking underpaid woman is more likely to get milked and washed up rather than her male counterpart. A mother when she becomes grandmother is expected to care for her grandchildren without questions. The expected role of women to forever care (read : spoon feed) her husband, children (even when they have grown up and moved out) and grandchildren (because their kids are busy earning) made me so exhausted thinking that how the patriarchal society had devised the roles for women solely for the benefit of men. A feminist writer is hated and taunted wherever she goes by men and women alike. The complex relationship of mother-daughter-grandmother and how it creates rifts and barriers. A woman who took care of her siblings while growing up, then her own kids & grandkids is now bedridden and has almost no one to look after. The gaslighting story ending with the girl cussing her ex-boyfriend as a rat bastard was so satisfying to read.
But among all these, it made me hopeful to see that in little ways women are realising their worth. The Night of Aurora was such a heartwarming story that I cried reading it. The beautiful relationship of a DIL-MIL was portrayed and they had such a warm acceptance for each other and mutual respect as a woman to woman, a wife to wife and a mother to mother. The realisation that the focus should be on your growth and living life as an individual person and not as someone’s wife or mother was written beautifully.
I loved girlhood. I am loving womanhood. I don’t care if I am shunned for being outspoken and for being a feminist. I love being a woman. I feel for all the women. And days like these when I read books like “Miss Kim Knows” I feel validated and comforted.
It is a testament of a great writer to be able to evoke emotions and convey important message through short stories. I always feel I won’t connect with characters by reading about them in 20 or so pages. But that wasn’t the case here.
Each of the stories showed women of various ages and backgrounds and lifestyle with the underlying essence of womanhood and its demands by laid out by the patriarchal society. A hardworking underpaid woman is more likely to get milked and washed up rather than her male counterpart. A mother when she becomes grandmother is expected to care for her grandchildren without questions. The expected role of women to forever care (read : spoon feed) her husband, children (even when they have grown up and moved out) and grandchildren (because their kids are busy earning) made me so exhausted thinking that how the patriarchal society had devised the roles for women solely for the benefit of men. A feminist writer is hated and taunted wherever she goes by men and women alike. The complex relationship of mother-daughter-grandmother and how it creates rifts and barriers. A woman who took care of her siblings while growing up, then her own kids & grandkids is now bedridden and has almost no one to look after. The gaslighting story ending with the girl cussing her ex-boyfriend as a rat bastard was so satisfying to read.
But among all these, it made me hopeful to see that in little ways women are realising their worth. The Night of Aurora was such a heartwarming story that I cried reading it. The beautiful relationship of a DIL-MIL was portrayed and they had such a warm acceptance for each other and mutual respect as a woman to woman, a wife to wife and a mother to mother. The realisation that the focus should be on your growth and living life as an individual person and not as someone’s wife or mother was written beautifully.
I loved girlhood. I am loving womanhood. I don’t care if I am shunned for being outspoken and for being a feminist. I love being a woman. I feel for all the women. And days like these when I read books like “Miss Kim Knows” I feel validated and comforted.