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birdafterdark's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Medical content, Mental illness, and Misogyny
Moderate: Infidelity, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Vomit
monserrot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Grief, Sexual content, Sexism, Self harm, Mental illness, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Blood, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Confinement, Body shaming, Animal death, Body horror, Animal cruelty, and Alcoholism
emily_journals's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I think the first segment of this book was my favorite, I enjoyed the commentary that the author was making about gender and family roles in Korea through the husband's perspective. I also enjoyed the snippets about Yeong-hye's dreams that were included in this segment, and I really wish this was continued throughout the rest of the book.
The second segment of the book is told from Yeong-hye's brother-in-law's perspective and this segment deals a lot with struggling with the failure to live up to expectations, and also with the exploiting and taking advantage of mental illness. This one was a bit weird to me, as the themes seemed to be working against the brother-in-law while the tone tried to make the audience empathize with him. I'm not sure if this tonal vs. theme discord was due to translation or if this was the way it was meant to be, but the discord was very off-putting and made me confused and unsure of what the author was trying to convey in this segment, so I didn't like this segment as much as the first.
The final segment of this book is told from Yeong-hye's sister's perspective and the main themes of this segment deal with the duties of those in proximity to mental illness and the grief of losing someone while they're still alive. The themes of this segment are probably the most interesting in the book, but the sister's voice and inner monologue are quite strange, which might be due to translation but I'm unsure. The way that she switches between different feelings and trains of thought quite suddenly detracted from the story for me and made it really difficult to immerse myself in this portion of the book.
Overall, I think the themes of this book were quite interesting, but I think either the author or the translation didn't have a clear vision of what voice they wanted to portray to the audience in the later two sections of the book. I also really missed Yeong-hye's short interjections in the later two sections that were present in the first section, I thought they added a lot to not only Yeong-hye's character but also to all the characters reacting to Yeong-hye in the first section.
Graphic: Vomit, Body horror, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Blood, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, and Alcoholism
alygoel16's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Eating disorder, Blood, Rape, Dysphoria, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Mental illness, Infidelity, and Gaslighting
tiernanhunter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Eating disorder, and Rape
Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Confinement, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Physical abuse, and Sexual content
Minor: Ableism
renegadegrocerycart's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Yeong-hye is reminiscent of Anna of The Wonder by Emma Donoghue in her obsession to purify her body in response to trauma; it’s interesting to read them side-by-side.
Graphic: Sexual content, Animal death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Grief, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Rape
All of the aforementioned trigger warnings are integral to the story. If you are sensitive to any of them, consider taking a pass on this story.baileyt2424's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Body horror, Confinement, Dysphoria, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Violence
bugfriend's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Blood, Body horror, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Sexism, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Self harm, Grief, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Misogyny
Moderate: Physical abuse, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Child abuse, Animal death, and Abandonment
Minor: Confinement and Alcohol
caitlindoesntread's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Mental illness, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Animal death, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
jay_hobday's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Vomit, Violence, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Body shaming, Confinement, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Rape, Infertility, Self harm, and Sexual assault