Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Actos humanos by Álvaro Colomer, Mar Abad, Han Kang

97 reviews

halfblood13's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, and War

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

theroyaltyreader's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

4.75

it doesn't really have a solid plot nor character's growth. it is more on compilation of Gwanju Uprising memories. 

This book is so heavy and dark. The description of people got killed during the protest so raw, realistic and gruesome. It is not twisted but the description of torture and death do really leave me in shook. How can SK rises from the dead? They can build a new life on top of dark memories. To the old generation, these memories still intact but to the new generation, it is unspeakable among them, i think. This book taught me on people are really cruel. They knew life worth of something so other people took it away. Disabled and buried away those civilian's life. What a tense and sad time it was.

It remains as a scar and the bloodiest protest ever in SK. I myself got spook in case the soldier starting to torture civillians. The emotions of this author felt so genuine and manage to reach the reader. I can't imagine if those who read can't feel the pain. I wanted to give 5 stars but I ended up 4.75 stars because I was a bit of confuse with the usage of second POV. I kinda lost at first despite of understand but still unable to focus properly. It does give a big impact to me then. At the early reading, the author emphasizes a strong POV which was the second one where YOU need to imagine if YOU were there. 

Another part is that I want to know further about the politics that lead to Gwangju Uprising. I know the author provided basic knowledge but as a history lover, I want more. I want to weep and cry and let the tears went away for these victims but it got stuck. Must be suprising how tragedy it was this protest. Rather than sad, it left me speechless. Too many violences were executed. Brutal at its finest. 

To Han Kang, I feel this tragedy deeply into my heart. You managed to educate me how dark it was that days. The emotions that you capture and put in here is really touching. To Gwanju residents, I hope that they knew that their stories during the uprising has travelled far across of what they realy expected. We knew, heard and feel and the justice for the victims will always be upheld by the reader.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

marshallkylie's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Grief

savvylit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

"After you died I couldn't hold a funeral, so these eyes that once beheld you became a shrine. These ears that once heard your voice became a shrine. These lungs that once held your breath became a shrine."

In Human Acts, Han Kang paints a haunting portrait of the emotional aftermath of a massacre. Weaved throughout the book are meditations on grief, courage, cruelty, trauma, humanity, and survivor's guilt. Dong-ho, the story's focal point, represents the cruelest casualties of war: just a brave young person motivated by a sense of duty and compassion.

Throughout Human Acts, Han Kang uses repetition to a devastating effect. Characters who were physically tortured all experience the same disassociation from their physical bodies, the same survivor's guilt, the same suicidal ideation. Additionally, by addressing trauma from multiple points of view, Kang masterfully demonstrates the collective nature of grief and the lasting impact of brutality on a single community. 

This book broke my heart. Human Acts is an unforgettable fictionalized account of events that were all too real to so many South Koreans. Much of the content featured in this book is both shocking and horrific - but clearly that is the point. This book isn't another glamorized war story. No, it's the exact opposite: a realistic portrayal of suffering with no happy ending. Sometimes humankind is capable of horrible acts, end of story.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

lookaclara's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad 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? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

ceilingloft's review against another edition

Too graphic for me right now. Will return to it someday though because the writing is also beautiful.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

merle98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

jessiejessj's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was gut-wrenching, heart breaking, uncomfortable, disgusting, and yet? It was beautiful. The way it’s written is stunning, and I loved the way each chapter was written by a different voice connected to the protagonist. It felt like reading the story for seven different points of view, but each point of view was adding to the story as opposed to re-telling the same part. I read this book as a recommendation from Kim Namjoon, and it broke my heart, but I feel better for having read it. I am in awe.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

luman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

A heartache put into prose that deserves to be heard, some places gave me goosebumps, some caused my eyes to feel heavy with the feeling of brimming tears that never really came and just sunk deep into my heart.
I don't feel like I can comment much on this as it is souch a delicate story but I loved everything about the way it was handled: the intertwined different persepctives that connected in one way or another, the usage of 1st person and lastly, the inclution of the writer's experience as well.
In some ways, I could relate these events to Lithuania's own history and the writer's experiences to my own feelings of wanting to keep the memory of all thes brave people alive and the desperate wishing to be able to go back in time and make the suffering go away, to protect everyone somehow or at least let them know that it will all not go in vain.

All in all, I am getting more and more sucked into this topic and also am planning on checking out other Han Kang's works as well, if this was anything to go by.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

dioinysus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual violence