Reviews tagging 'War'

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

4 reviews

fkshg8465's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

I had to take my time with this one. It was dense, and I felt a lot of conflicting emotions, being Korean myself. I remembered my own introduction to both Korean and US propaganda of the North when I was in middle school and being filled with compassion and so many unanswerable questions. I remember my trip to the DMZ too. So I had a lot to sort through while reading this book. 

It was also one of the strangest and most haunting books I’ve ever read. It will stay with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child abuse, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Animal death, Confinement, Violence, Physical abuse, Classism, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Sexism, Slavery, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Xenophobia, Bullying, Infidelity, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Self harm, Torture, and War

palaris's review

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I read this book because it was Pulitzer prize winner, and I'm fascinated by North Korea. I've read a lot of non-fiction accounts of life in North Korea, but I'm surprised I'd never heard of this book before.
It was a great read. Really glad I stuck with it, because it's slow to start, but by the end, especially once you get to the second half, it picks up steam and the pieces start coming together.
It definitely felt like a drama book, I feel like some of the aspects of North Korean culture were dramatized for the book, based on my reading of non-fiction accounts, but I think that's fair.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Death

Moderate: Violence, Animal cruelty, Murder, and War

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, and Homophobia

nessazee's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicide, Police brutality, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Violence, Torture, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

alyssathorn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Moderate: Sexism, Trafficking, Sexual content, and Violence