Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

Published 2016 · 176 pages · 40,000 words · about 3 hours at an average pace · Feminist Literature, Literary Fiction

How hard is Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 to read?

Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 scores 23 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 15 out of 100
Plain, report-like vocabulary. No literary flourish.
Sentence structure: 18 out of 100
Abstraction: 28 out of 100
Concrete life events illustrating structural inequality.
Information density: 40 out of 100
Dense with social data, statistics, and documented discrimination.
Narrative indirection: 22 out of 100
Case-study frame. The therapist's perspective adds an interpretive layer.
Symbolic density: 20 out of 100
The common name as symbol. The multiple voices as dispossession.
Ironic distance: 22 out of 100
Clinical tone creates ironic distance from the injustice described.
Resolution withholding: 25 out of 100
The therapist's final note undercuts any hope of resolution.
Structural complexity: 22 out of 100
Case-study frame with chronological life history and statistical interludes.

How Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 is regarded

Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 holds a literary regard score of 42 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

About the author

Cho Nam-Joo