Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim

5 reviews

trailmixraisins's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book is a lot to digest - it'll take me a few more reads to fully understand. Regardless, it's a beautifully written story that follows a young girl and her found family, first love, and best friend as they all grow up and survive under colonial Japanese rule. The romantic subplots were a little hard to follow, mostly because humans are so complicated and emotions are so subjective.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Grief, Misogyny, and Blood

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Violence, Classism, Drug use, Rape, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, and Genocide

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

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

jhbandcats's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-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

4.5

A beautiful, sprawling tale of interconnected lives from the early part of the Japanese occupation of Korea to the decade after the end of the Korean War. It starts with two children, a girl sold to become a courtesan, and a boy who's a starving street kid. As they grow up, their circles of friends expands, as do the connections between them all. By the end, old age has reduced their bodies to shells of their youth, but their drive and determination is undiminished.

In some ways this reminded me of Pachinko and of Memoirs of a Geisha, but it's clearly a singular effort, its own unique story. The book is told more from the perspective of Jade, the young courtesan, but all the other characters have their own points of view. This technique brings a humanity to the otherwise hateful and brutal oppressors as well as fleshing out even minor characters. It enables the reader to understand and empathize with each character, and to feel their anguish and joy.

This vivid tale of a period of history that a lot of people in the US don't know well is a dense and emotional read. Highly recommended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Violence, Death, Addiction, Classism, Colonisation, Genocide, Terminal illness, War, and Xenophobia

kiandrareadsbooks's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Violence, Misogyny, Colonisation, Genocide, Sexual assault, War, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape

Moderate: Police brutality and Addiction

Minor: Abortion and Torture