Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

103 reviews

epruta's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Grief, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide, and Alcohol

palejandro's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and War

jayneejohnson's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Miscarriage and Rape

melbell016's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

This is a sad and heartwrenching story. The atrocities are nausea-inducing. But it is also a beautiful story of friendship, strength despite immense loss, courage, and the difficulty and pain of finding forgiveness. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer

lady_grey_with_honey's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

Lisa See does an amazing job of writing about relationships that span a lifetime and what it's like to live through traumatic events that impact someone's life forever. The way she wrote about the haenyeo culture and everything these women lived through from childhood to old age made me feel like I was right there - atmospheric, visceral, and emotional. Incredible story and incredible writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Rape and War

jlworley's review

adventurous informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This one wasn’t what I expected, delving into how the politics of the time affected the women in the story. Heart wrenching but also a story of forgiveness.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Grief, Death of parent, and War

pbuzzard's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Blood, Abortion, Abandonment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and War

minireader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Whilst I've given many trigger warnings to this book, it is fascinating. The horrors that Jeju suffered is not entirely untouchable. It's still happening today in other countries. Its an important read and an incredibly heart wrenching story. I can't recommend it enough!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, and War

hannahfaith25's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Colonisation

zoegg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.75

my goodness this story. i actually dropped this book previously because i really struggled with the pacing and the lack of connection i felt to the characters in the first third of the book, but i am SO GLAD i decided to give it another chance.

this story so beautifully depicts the ebbing of trauma not just on an individual level, but across a whole community. i was so heartbroken for jeju as a whole, and for young-sook and mi-ja — it felt like there was always too much time (for more hurt) and never enough (to learn to overcome it). watching young-sook grow from a teenager to eventually be a grandma was spectacular, and i felt so connected to her at the end that i could not believe that her story ended with this book. 

if the pacing was a bit better, this would be an easy 4 (if not 4.5), but i am still so so glad to have finished this and highly recommend others give it a try :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation