Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

La vegetariana by Han Kang

90 reviews

lisaearley's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Blood

breauseph's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

melodramaticbotanist's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.0

 I devoured this book parallel to the way in which predators prey on meat as described in the book. Yeong-hye seemed difficult to understand yet all too familiar to me. She reminded me of someone in my own life and reading through the different perspectives of the book, I could see myself in their thoughts and monologues. To live a non-conforming life in a strongly collectivist society as Korea was incredibly eye-opening. As a Westerner, it's difficult to understand why such a lifestyle change like vegetarian or veganism might be difficult but reading this book helped to paint a better picture of why this may be so. I couldn't help but want to believe in Yeong-hye's narrative so badly as I even got sucked into it, but as the story got stronger and her actions became more extreme, I began to see the intricacies of mental illness creep through.

  Throughout the entire novel, there is mention of a dream from Yeong-hye and the book ends with In-hye whispering in her sister's ear of having to wake up from the dream or else an unmentionable consequence will occur. In-hye quietly confesses to herself of her past suicidal ideations but inability to carry out the act for her son recounts a dream of a white bird in tears -thus, she continues to carry the burdens of others and not let her so called dreams become a reality. The ending scene has In-hye defiantly looking at the trees as she whispers this to Yeong-Hye. 

  Powerful, primitive, reflective. I will think about this for a while, I can tell. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence

gladiolus17's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

emilymay_reads's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Confinement, Infidelity, Rape, and Medical content

jayne's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

therowdypi's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Self harm

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

sneako's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

remainsofabook's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Vegetarian is a very interesting and unique book in terms of it's storyline and execution. While reading it, the book feels like magical realism and reminded me of Murakami's Kafka on the Shore. Maybe it's because of the dream element in the plot as this book isn't magical realism. Though "surrealism" is really the best word to describe it. Honestly I do think this is an interesting book and worth the read but there is just something about it that makes me unable to give it a higher rating. There are three POVs. The three POVs are very different. All of them exude a different vibe and reflects the specific narrator. I think the first and last POVs worked really well. The second POV kinda fell flat.

The flow of the writing feels odd and confusing to me at times. To better explain how I felt while reading, the entire book reads like an artsy short film with jump cuts between paragraphs that sometimes throw me off. I'm not sure if it's the translation or the stylistic choice of the author. Probably the biggest reason why I couldn't give this a higher rating. No doubt this is an interesting read, it's subtle and open to interpretations. I might actually enjoy it a lot more the second time I read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

emilistevenson's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Miscarriage and Misogyny

Minor: Alcoholism