Reviews with content warning for Classism - Human Acts

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Human Acts by Han Kang

5 reviews

kenyoncannotread's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

One of the hardest reads for me, emotionally, ever. Check the content warnings first, but this will be one of the best books you’ll ever read if you pick it up.

Content Warnings

wong_jyi's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

It is stunning in its ability to weave the darkest and cruellest aspects of human nature with truth and brutal honesty, but also, with hope.

Content Warnings

ka_cam's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A beautiful and emotionally challenging read, and informative if you like me don’t start with much knowledge about the Gwangju Uprising. The method of exploring voices of different people connected to the uprising and a death of a child, including a spirit voice and the child as well as those more loosely connected, ended up feeling very tender rather than the loose-ends feeling that Can come from that style. Very moving and upsetting content. Highly recommend checking content warnings, highly recommended read.

Content Warnings

feranmi's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

wellfedpages's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

‘Conscience, the most terrifying thing in the world’

Conscience creeps in

sometimes unexpectedly

It comes calling out of the blue

Forces itself like a squatter

in a corner of your heart

Refusing to budge

Asking you to speak up

Stand with the truth

Do what’s right

Do what’s needed

Not because you are

Braver

Or Better

Or Kinder

But simply because it’s the right thing to do

As Atticus Finch said about courage

‘It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway‘

Try

Fight back

Raise your voice

Refuse to be victims

Refuse to lie down quietly & be mowed over

Dignity

the most basic human right

Yet the one most trampled upon everywhere

Why do people in power think it’s ok to grind some people to the ground

tire them to their bones

work them to death?

Greed

Capitalism

Imperialism

Snatching the bread out of hungry mouths so they can build their mountain of gold

Or bitcoins

Drain the energy out of the world

Drag humanity to the precipice

And push it over the edge

Falling

Forever

So a few can fly

Around the world

Or to outer space

Kang sheds a light on this through a set of people broken by the Gwangju uprising in S Korea

Interconnected like nerves

Throbbing with the same corrupted life

Dying with the same trauma

Or sometimes becoming worse than dead

Surviving can be a curse

As a character in the book says

to die instantly is a blessing

To live & be

Isolated

Humiliated

Tortured

Have your humanity stripped away

Or to live with the ghosts of grief pain & trauma

is far more excruciating

Then memory becomes a landmine

One wrong step can blow up your heart

Your life

Then survival is an act of endurance

Dripping down like helpless rain drops

Into the puddle of life

Muddy

Murky

Morbid

Or a mirage?

Sadness

leached out of their bones & seeped into the pages

Into my fingers

Staining my mind

Yet this book has an ephemeral beauty

A weave of words so fine

That the poetry of death floats in our hands

Then hits us with the unwavering truth

Sticky like tar

Heavy like lead

But is it just that?

An ode

to the slain

the mutilated

the brutalised

the living echoes of the dead

An unsung song of hardship

Or is it more?

Was there hope?

For those who choose to remember?

For those who can’t look away?

Do the dead walk in the dark?

Chained to earth

‘Why are we walking in the dark, let’s go over there, where the flowers are blooming.’

Are there flowers blooming?

Will they ever?

‘I read in an interview with someone who had been tortured; they described the after-effects as ‘similar to those experienced by victims of radioactive poisoning.’ Radioactive matter lingers for decades in muscle and bone, causing chromosomes to mutate. Cells turn cancerous, life attacks itself. Even if the victim dies, even if their body is cremated, leaving nothing but the charred remains of bone, that substance cannot be obliterated.’

Flickering amidst the shadows of history

these blackened souls leave their imprints on time

This book reminds us to not desecrate their memory

Remember

Never Again

Discovering Han Kang’s writing last year was the most serendipitous find. She is my favourite South Korean writer.

Loved The White Book and The Vegetarian, but this book makes me respect her even more.

Not only her range in writing is expansive and amazing, she has treaded this broken terrain of history beautifully, dredging out the past from little known depths and laid bare the truth with clarity and empathy. We are horrified but also see the humanity of these people

Recognise

Their erased value

Their dignity

Also a wonderful translation by Deborah Smith

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