Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim

49 reviews

ceedy's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Violence, War, Murder, Rape, and Torture

Moderate: Colonisation, Classism, Blood, and Cursing

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

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

hootreads's review

emotional informative slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Violence, and Rape

Moderate: Addiction and War

alexhaydon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, War, Gun violence, Violence, and Death

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

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

kelsseiff_99's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Rape

lizflynn's review

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

I thought this was a very good debut novel. Writing a narrative that spans decades is no easy feat. This isn’t the best attempt I’ve read, but it’s solid. Sometimes I felt like things got skimmed over, and it was kind of disorienting to revisit a character years later. I felt like we got so much of Lotus and Luna in the beginning, but then they dropped off when I wanted to glimpse more of their stories. 

Overall, this story is beautiful, heartbreaking, and bleak at times- fully reflective of life. There are some gorgeous, gorgeous sentences and paragraphs throughout. I will totally read more of Juhea Kim’s work in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Grief, War, Violence, and Sexual violence