Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Whale by Cheon Myeong-kwan

30 reviews

livres_de_bloss's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Well, this was a ride. 

I don’t know how a book can have this much violence and excessive mentions of sex organs and still have a dreamy, flowy vibe but here we are. Props to the author for managing to win me over despite all the penises. 🤷🏼‍♀️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Rape

Moderate: Transphobia and Excrement

rabzia_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Child death, Blood, Grief, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Classism, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Murder

yaporfavor's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Ableism, Sexism, and Physical abuse

Minor: Incest

nerwenie's review

fast-paced

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

2.0

The more I read the more I lowered the rating which is a shame as it is well written. It feels like the author put anything that crossed his mind when he was writing. This book is full of sexism, rape, lots of description of women’s bodies, saying that when you get close to your 30s your youth and prime has passed and you are basically already old. 
I finished it completely but it wasn’t what I was expecting at all for a “bestseller and masterpiece in the Korean literature “.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Child death, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Infidelity, Death, and Abandonment

sorajo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Incest, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Gore, Rape, Murder, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, and Emotional abuse

merlinmaeder's review

Very unpleasant read, disappointed. So much rape, random  ridiculous focus on women's bodies and a lame side-story of a guy that then ends up with one of the protagonists. I rarely disliked a book this much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, and Violence

mxjacknelson's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Death of parent, Rape, Child death, and Animal death

sawyertaylor's review against another edition

challenging dark sad

• Loveable characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Infidelity, Suicide, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury

christy_lorraine's review against another edition

dark funny reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Torture, Rape, Death, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Murder

Minor: Suicide, Child death, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Incest, Pedophilia, Self harm, Pregnancy, Animal death, Confinement, and Alcoholism

rachelmaria's review

adventurous emotional funny fast-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

A great plot and very colorful characters that I really enjoyed reading about. Good pace, really great story telling with a strong sense of humor. However, the descriptions of women's bodies in this book serve as a constant reminder that this book is written by a man. Lots of casual mysogeny "people were impressed by her unwomanly capacity to boldly persue new opportunities" and there is very casual reference to rape throughout. 
I would score the first half of the book 4* and the second half 2*, as my interest started to dwindle the more cruel and capatalist Geumbok became, but then ended strong as my heart broke for Chunhui.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Ableism, and Rape