Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim

15 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

materiality's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Violence, Rape, War, and Racism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Toxic relationship

andreeadicu's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, Racism, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Pregnancy, War, Trafficking, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

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

maidinnah'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? Yes

4.0

Epic yet intimate, Beasts of a Little Land beautifully captures a very specific type of melancholy, one that comes from the passage of time and the tides of change, doing so with a vivid cast of characters surviving through tumultuous early 1900s Korea. Fates intertwine across socio-political divides and relationships ebb, flow, fall apart, and come back together in ways that both devastated and moved me to tears. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Pregnancy, Addiction, and Confinement

oh_neens's review

dark emotional informative inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Rape, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Terminal illness, Misogyny, Grief, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Alcohol, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

silodear's review

emotional medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, War, Xenophobia, and Death

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

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