Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Beauty Is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan

3 reviews

imaginefishes's review

dark funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

4.75

The story is told non-linearly, with a giant ensemble cast of characters who have someone all been interwoven together into the same family, and yet, the story does not become drab nor difficult to follow. Despite the dark matters (such as rape) described in the book, the tone of writing remains lighthearted and almost cheeky, which makes it for an easy read (though the normalising of violence, sexual or otherwise, towards women may be difficult to stomach at times). The story is entertaining to the end, and seeing all the final pieces fall into place describing the choices of characters from chapters ago was somewhat satisfying, but also mildly disappointing due to the reveal of the central piece.

Overall, this is a story about myth and legend set in a real-life historical timeline, where the Indonesian experience of war, decolonialisation, and post-independence is reflected through a variety of characters symbolising these differing themes. My (brief) learning of Indonesian history in school definitely aided in my following of the timeline, and I would recommend readers familiarise themselves with these topics prior to taking on this book. Besides showcasing the overall population-wide experience, the book also depicts the micro-perspective of Dewi Ayu and the tragic fate of her family, which when combined with the humorous choice of phrases used in the book, somehow allows me as the reader not to feel sympathy for them, but rather, view their demise as consequences of their own actions.

Truly, no character in this story is innocent. Crime, immorality, and violence are the bread and butter of the plot, and there are more than necessary descriptions of fecal matter and death. Though, I did not find these descriptions to be overtly vulgar as this diction fits into the overall tone of the book.

I had no clue what this book would be about when I first read it, but I do not regret picking it up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Sexual content, Gun violence, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, War, Alcohol, Colonisation, Death of parent, Excrement, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Grief and Bullying

shainalite's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

baca buku ini kayak main game ular-ularan

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Deadnaming, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Excrement, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Vomit, Body horror, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, and War

st0bbit's review

Appreciated the references to mythology and local terms used, especially the fact that this is the first book I've read by an Indonesian author – the history, folklore and culture of Indonesia genuinely shines through here and feels compelling to me.

However, this book seemed to rely on shock factor to draw readers in, and I only got increasingly uncomfortable as the story went on. I've read a few other reviews where they noted that this book was a critique behind Indonesia's misogynistic and sexist colonial history, but that was never very clear to me, I guess. I'm not familiar with this author's work and know nothing about him/her, so I'll do more research about that to see what this book was supposed to be, exactly. People are reduced to animals who crave sexual gratification, women are sexualised and written from a very heterosexual male gaze perspective, and I'm not hooked onto the book enough to want to read the whole thing to the end when I could google it. Would rate this 2 stars if I could.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Incest, Infidelity, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence