Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo

20 reviews

redroseses's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Murder, Violence, Blood, and Gun violence

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Sexual assault

Minor: Medical content, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicide, Classism, Cursing, and Dementia

agirlnamedellie's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

Found the beginning half of the book to be quite slow but the second half really picked up in pace and plot. I liked that book was focused on an older women at the point in her life where she wants to retire. I felt like her backstory was really well told and established. This made you understand how she ended up in her job and the decisions she makes. I did really feel for her at times. I enjoyed reading about the relationship she had with her dog. The last few chapters felt like you were watching an action film!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Death

ka_cam's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

3.75

This book’s preside reads like a thriller when the book itself reads more like a character study- I think this set up coming in left me more bored than I otherwise would be. There’s some thriller/action elements but a lot of it is Hornclaw reflecting on her life and working through the last tasks of her career, and how they weave into her past assassinations and entanglements. I’d have liked it to commit more to examining hornclaw, I found the background on her some of the most compelling sections.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Blood, and Stalking

Moderate: Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Medical content, Grief, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Misogyny

Minor: Dementia, Animal death, Suicide, and Death of parent

charliefern's review

dark emotional fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Kidnapping

Moderate: Sexual assault

Attempted sexual assault occurs to the main character

bookwitchva's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I liked reading this own voices book from Korea. I’ve heard very high reviews, and I did like the book but I didn’t find it as gripping and fast-paced as I would have expected a book about a hit-person to be. It was pretty dark, and sometimes the descriptions of violence were a bit more detailed than I wanted to envision. The ending was predictable as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

internationalreads's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Violence

megj23's review

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death

mirr_f's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Death

jayisreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

This was a fun and interesting read from what I normally pick up. What I particularly liked about The Old Woman with the Knife was the particular focus on ageism and sexism, specifically the treatment of aging women, in South Korean society. It was a refreshing change of pace to have an older woman (sixty-five years old) as the protagonist… who also happens to be an assassin. It’s not what you would expect in a book that’s marketed as a thriller, but it was one I welcomed and I thought a lot about the themes.

I will say there were a few things left to be desired in this book. Interestingly, this book could have either benefited from being shorter or longer, depending on how the author wanted to take it. There were a few different plot points that were presented that caught my attention (particularly Hornclaw’s past and her relationship with Ryu), but they were never explored in-depth. As a result, I felt some of this could have been removed altogether to avoid derailing the plot, or Gu could have developed them a bit more. I don’t think it would have made the story unwieldy either and, in fact, would have made Hornclaw’s character all the more interesting and complex.

To end on a positive note, though, I thought the translation was well done. Kim really captured the essence of Hornclaw’s tone and personality in this book, which gets you more invested in the protagonist.

This is worth picking up, just for the uncommon premise. It also isn’t as gimmicky as it sounds.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault and Kidnapping

hardcoverhearts's review

dark tense 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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Torture, Physical abuse, Animal death, Death, Stalking, Murder, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Death of parent, Violence, and Gore