Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Human Acts by Han Kang

33 reviews

amna_a's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Child death, Death, Police brutality, and Genocide

Moderate: Rape, Torture, and Violence

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.

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Content Warnings

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

katiemcgregor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

To call Human Acts heart wrenching would be a misnomer. This book shook me to the very core of my soul. Kang does a magnificent job of introducing her readers to a historical event, they very likely haven't heard before, not through a dull recount of names and dates, but through the grief and destruction left in it's wake. The stories of those who live are just as tragic as of those who die and the whole book feels eerily close to non-fiction.

My main misgiving with Human Acts is the switches in perspectives. I found the second person perspective so jarring that, ironically, it was difficult to put myself in the shoes of the characters whose stories were told from this point of view. Along with the fact that I read a translation, the book is simply stilted in some places where it likely isn't in the original transcript.

I wouldn't say these issues prevent Human Acts from being effective in it's mission. Kang asks questions about humanity that are impossible to answer, but still left me steadily weeping through every section; not the intense type of crying that leaves you dehydrated, but the silent tears that can't be stopped because it feels like there's no other way to grapple with the unimaginable cruelties of this world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

emmaoswald's review

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gun violence, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, and War

seasidess's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

cowboyvelma's review

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Excrement, Genocide, Gun violence, Infertility, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, and War

alessamonroe's review

dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Infertility, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Torture

lola_lab's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Suicide, Violence, and War

sisa_moyo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

A moving and wonderful story on the Gwangju uprising. It's focus instead on the humans on, the death and the bodies, and the psychological impact on those of Gwangju instead of the action and the tanks and the resistance is moving.
though slow at times, it was still by the end an undeniable 5 stars.

There philosophical questions of death and what happens to us when we die, what is a soul, where does it come from where does it go, of forgiveness of self of humanity of other humans.

and how this one young boy, this one life affected these people to the ends of their life into death, is heartbreaking and soulcrushing, how in these fragile, mundane these they remember this boy who wanted to find his friend

The exploration into the trauma of the generations thereafter from Gwangju and the delicate way that Han Kang with her lyrical prose crafts their stories, how a people recover when their own government kills them, makes them less than human. It reminds of the translators' note in the book 'One Left' paraphased: is it possible for an entire nation to experience PTSD.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Genocide, Gun violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Torture, and Violence

jaelabi's review

challenging dark emotional informative 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault