Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim

11 reviews

777elia's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? N/A

4.5

This book was beautifully written. The story and characters were captivating and it really tugged at my heart strings. However, there is a lot of detail and introduction of characters who simply aren’t relevant to the plot. I wish it followed only 2-3 characters and stayed more focus. It really differed from the synopsis, but not entirely in a bad way. I think the historical aspects were much much stronger than the romance or relationships, but nonetheless I highly recommend this book. One of my top reads so far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, War, Death, Incest, Infertility, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Self harm, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Animal death

juliloops's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.0

One of the most poignant novels about Asian history I have read. The characters are precisely, delicately, and humanly crafted, and they touched me with the sincerity of the ancestors I never knew. Truly a brilliant literary debut by Juhea Kim, I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, War, Racism, Violence, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, and Classism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Addiction

Minor: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

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

applezing's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Trafficking

mahaofhyrule's review

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, War, Rape, Sexual assault, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Sexism and Death

Minor: Infidelity and Adult/minor relationship

charleyroxy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

cakrolik's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Classism, Grief, Drug use, Sexual violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Rape, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death, and Emotional abuse

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

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