Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Whale by Cheon Myeong-kwan

7 reviews

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

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

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

etherealsuju's review

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Torture, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Physical abuse, Cursing, Death, and Mental illness

lorenag5's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Child abuse, Colonisation, Mental illness, Animal death, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Torture, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault

vb_marie's review

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

2.5

This book is unratable... I both loved and hated it. It's creative, gripping, and thought-provoking. It is also very provocative and crude, which isn't my fave. If you like Kurt Vonnegut, you might like this book. I especially recommend reading it in the view of analyzing it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Rape, Torture, Suicide, Death, Confinement, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Murder, Bullying, and Child death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Abandonment, Car accident, Excrement, Animal death, Gore, Sexual content, and Violence

paulap's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was a ride. It mainly focuses on two women, Geumbok is the mother and Chunhui is the daughter. We follow first the mothers story from running away from her town to establishing herself as a business woman. Then, we follow Chunhui, growing up being different and learning the family business of making bricks, up to her last days. It also has glimpses on how the Korean society was changing throughout all this time.

This book also makes a commentary about misogyny by exaggerating and almost twisting it to a point in which it almost felt non-sensical. I am not sure how successful it was at that, although I fond some of the commentary quite poignant. Other times, it was just too brutal to a point in which it was not furthering anything and I wanted to stop reading.

In terms of the writing style, it feels very whimsical and detached. We do not get to know the thoughts of the characters in detail (I think intentionally), and therefore the book does not try to make an emotional connection with the reader by sharing feelings and thoughts. There is a lot of foreshadowing throughout the book as well, which sometimes worked but sometimes didn't. There is also touches of magical realism, which increase the feeling that it almost reads like a fairy tale. And mostly, the book was violent and brutal from beginning to end, so if that is not your thing, maybe stay away from it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Death, Child death, Violence, Animal death, and Rape