Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim

16 reviews

sarahb919's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

This book stabs you in the chest repeatedly. It’s very good and I recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Abortion, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual assault, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Misogyny, Addiction, Domestic abuse, War, Sexual violence, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Ableism, Terminal illness, Violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Colonisation, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

tumbly_weed's review

adventurous dark sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, War, and Colonisation

Moderate: Pregnancy, Police brutality, Violence, Sexual violence, and Rape

Minor: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, and Addiction

heathen's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. The writing was simple but elegant. The author created a vivid world with a cast of characters whose lives intersect. I learned a bit about how life was for folks in Korea during this time period, which I've never been exposed to before. I highly recommend this book! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, War, Violence, Rape, Death, Drug use, Death of parent, Blood, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Animal death, Grief, Pregnancy, Classism, and Sexual content

bookmaddie's review

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

This seemed like the sort of story I'd love, but I just never felt connection to any of the characters, and found the narrative to have too large a scope to really convey anything with emotional strength. What could have been an epic saga was maybe too short to accomplish all that it set out to do, and instead we are left with a book that feels underdone. A lot of the characters felt shallow and not fully developed. I did enjoy the historical setting and events woven into the story. But, overall, I'm sad this didn't live up to my expectations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Abandonment, Rape, and Violence

Minor: Domestic abuse

ruthjenkins's review

dark hopeful reflective slow-paced

3.5

This started out so strongly. The prologue and first chapter were captivating. The story opens with a hunter in the Korean mountains, on the edge of starvation and hypothermia, who chance upon the tracks of what he thinks is a jaguar in the snow. When he discovers the cat, and that it's actually an adolescent tiger, he remembers advice from his father: don't try to kill a tiger unless it tries to kill you; and if you miss, you're already dead. 

When Japanese officials find him, close to death in the snow, the story starts proper, charting the lives of interconnected characters in Japanese-occupied Korea.

That the prologue and first chapter are still so clear in my mind goes to show their quality. But while there were moments of excellent writing, sadly the book is clunky with exposition and does far to much telling instead of showing. Because of this, I never felt connected to the characters, despite ostensibly seeing some of them grow from children to old age. I wish the author had concentrated just on the main protagonists, Jade and JungHo, spending more time in their inner thoughts and following their lives more closely, rather than trying for a more sweeping saga.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Domestic abuse, Infertility, Suicide, and War

rieviolet's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

The historical context was the most interesting aspect of the novel for me.  
I did not feel particularly connected to the characters and that made it difficult to be really invested in their storylines (even more so their romantic plots). I actually liked the portrayal of some of the side characters (Luna and Lee Myung-bo for example) much more than the two main ones. 

The writing style wasn't bad but it never particularly struck me. The constantly switching POV was a bit frustrating, especially because we got a lot of scenes from characters that I did not care one bit about as a narrator and many other more interesting perspectives were barely explored.

Overall, I was never really completely absorbed in the narration. The ending was quite bleak but I guess it is quite realistic in showing how the more opportunistic people are the ones that will get ahead in life and never get their comeuppance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Police brutality, War, Violence, Death, Mass/school shootings, Genocide, Sexual content, and Rape

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Confinement, Addiction, Abortion, Sexism, Racial slurs, Murder, Torture, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, and Infidelity

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Ableism, Cursing, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Infertility

tomoonarmy's review

adventurous dark informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War and Sexism

Minor: Death of parent, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Gun violence, Colonisation, Classism, Sexual assault, Murder, Misogyny, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Rape, Police brutality, Grief, Addiction, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol

doodeedoda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Infidelity, and Suicide

aformeracceleratedreader's review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

A historical fiction set on the history of modern day Korea's inception. The characters go through the time of Japanese imperialism, through WW2, through the Korean War, and into the 60s. There were a lot of characters which can be confusing as more characters and their perspectives kept getting added as we moved through time with them. There were also a ton of slow parts and the characters got so frustrating that I kind of stopped caring and wanted to dnf it. I finished but a lot of the characters didn't get the treatment or end I would've preferred. Some I thought deserved better, some deserved worse but that is life especially during times of active war.
I did enjoy the focus on the cruelty of Japanese imperialism because it seems a lot of people "in the west" don't know about it. My own motherland was also a victim of the imperialism and colonization so what was described I had already previous knowledge of. 
PLEASE LOOK AT CONTENT WARNINGS as this is a historical fiction based on things that truly did happen. Nothing was in too much graphic detail but there are heavy topics within that you should be aware of.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Infidelity, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Abandonment, Classism, Colonisation, and Death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Alcohol, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Torture, and Toxic relationship

jonfivejive's review

dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

For such a difficult subject matter, Juhea Kim delivers a beautiful but dark story of how interconnected and resilient people are. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, War, and Rape

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Domestic abuse and Animal death