Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

79 reviews

intoshadows's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

This is a powerful fiction take on true events and my goodness it was heartbreaking. It is steeped in culture and wonderful female roles and friendships and community. The island is torn over and over again and the wounds you can feel on the page but still, despite the horrors, you understand character motivations. 

I wish humans were capable of inflicting such terrors upon one another. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, and Murder

smstevens's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

entropyseeker's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

There's so much loss and grief in this book, but to be able to read about what happened on Jeju through the lens of haenyeo was touching, heartbreaking, and beautiful. Definitely read the tw though 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and War

m_maria's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, and Torture

barmatron's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Colonisation

ebba94's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Torture, Alcohol, and War

alisonw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.5

Just realised I never reviewed this, it’s been a few months so I can’t be as clear with the review but I highly highly recommend this book.

Firstly a TW: It deals with extremely heavy subjects of loss, war, corruption, all kinds of abuse, murder including all ages, all very graphically so please be warned if you think you can’t handle that. 

But if you’re unsure, don’t let that put you off. This book tells the true story of the people of Jeju and all they have gone through in the last century through a fictional narrative and the graphic elements are there because they happened, reading them feels similar to the sobering feeling of going to a concentration camp has, it’s horribly sad but feels like a necessity to be able to respect and remember - in my case as a European who was taught nothing about Korea’s history, it felt so important to acknowledge and learn about these events for the first time.

The author is masterful at weaving history and fiction together, none of the fictitious story line feels forced to bring in a historical event, while at the same time the story does not steal from the history, I would actually say it helps give it more blood and feel more tangible rather than cold facts on a page about somewhere far away. 

Highly highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Sexual harassment

entre_fanon_y_weil's review against another edition

emotional informative sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Colonisation

galexy_brain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.5

Sheesh. I've never read a book that's made me cry this much before. This book was an eye-opening look into a world that I'd heard very little about before and left me floored and humbled.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Infertility, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism

naomi_k's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit