Author: Cho Nam-joo
Translated by: Jamie Chang
Publisher: Scribner, 2023
Original title: 우리가 쓴 것, 2021
Link to online store *
A woman is born. A woman is filmed in public without consent. A woman suffers domestic violence. 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.
Written in Cho Nam-Joo’s masterful, razor-sharp prose, Miss Kim Knows brings together the lives of eight Korean women, aged 10 to 80. Contained in each of these biographies is a microcosm of contemporary Korea, and the challenges and injustices that women face from childhood to old age. As with Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, the fates of these eight women are the fates of women the world over. And under Cho Nam-Joo’s precise, unveiled gaze, nothing and nobody escapes scrutiny–not even herself.
Source: publisher’s website
The book includes the following stories:
- Under the Plum Tree
- Dead Set
- Runaway
- Miss Kim Knows
- Dear Hyunnam Oppa
- Night of Aurora
- Grown-up Girl
- Puppy Love, 2020
LKL says:
The eight stories in this collection look at the life experiences of women of all ages. Some of them are angry, campaigning stories like Kim Ji-young Born 1982; others are more gentle. All of them are beautifully crafted and none of them outstay their welcome.
LKL rating: 
External links:
- Review by Paul Fulcher (PF rating: ).
- Entry on Goodreads.com.
* Where the book is available from a number of sources, they are prioritised as follows: (1) Amazon UK site, or Bookshop.org for the more recent uploads (2) Amazon US site (3) Other sites in US or Europe, including second-hand outlets (4) LTI Korea, where the title is advertised as available from there (5) Onlines stores in Korea. Links to Bookshop.org and Amazon UK site contain an affiliate code which, should you make a purchase, gives a small commission to LKL at no additional cost to you.