Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Human Acts by Han Kang

100 reviews

petudc's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

It happened in Gwangju just as it did on Jeju Island, in Kwantung and Nanjing, in Bosnia, and all across the American continent(...)


Estoy llorando. Llorando de bronca, la tristeza es secundaria. Es que, cuando me enojo, lloro.
"Human Acts" es un libro que te recuerda que por mucha distancia cultural y geográfica que haya entre países como Argentina y Corea del Sur, las atrocidades que los seres humanos pueden cometer son algo que tenemos en común. En especial cuando se trata de milicos y Dictaduras.
Este libro nos narra el levantamiento de Gwangju de una forma no lineal y enfocada en un pibe de 14/15 años.
A lo largo del libro, la narración pasa por 1era, 2da y 3era persona, lo cual es bastante peculiar, pero no confuso. El libro se entiende perfecto, es de comprensión bastante amigable, muy claro y directo. Gráfico. Y eso lo hace una lectura terrible, que no te endulza nada, te dice las cosas como fueron y como son.
Y lo recomiendo. Pero no para cualquiera en cualquier momento. Porque es duro, muy duro de leer. Como ya dije, me tuvo llorando de la bronca durante el 95% del libro. De todos modos, lo vale.


I felt the blood of a hundred thousand hearts surging together into one enormous artery, fresh and clean…the sublime enormity of a single heart, pulsing blood through that vessel and into my own. I dared to feel a part of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Sexual harassment

boomwormbrittany's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-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? No

5.0

Trigger Warnings: Death, Death of a child, sexual assault, physical violence
I want to say that I will be basing this book purely off how it made me feel and how the story was told. I am not a Korean historian and thus cannot speak on the historical context of this story though I am sure that Han Kang did a fantastic job.
Human Acts takes place in Gwangju, South Korea in the 1980's during a student uprising. This story follows many people after a young boy is killed in the uprising and the impact it has upon them. 
Have you ever had a book emotionally devastate you and you fall completely in love with it? That is me with this book. I have been studying Korean for about four years now and wanted to expand my knowledge of Korean history. I had heard fantastic things about this book and knew I had to pick it up. I will admit that I was a little scared going into this as it is such a heavy topic we are following. 
I don't know what to say beyond throwing this book at people and screaming read it. This book was so amazing in such a short page count. Han Kang's writing was astoundingly beautiful. I love how she told this story and the way she used narrative. She would switch narrative positions with each person we followed so you would have first person, second person, third person, etc. Each chapter was structured differently according to the character which made them so distinct. 
She managed to capture not only a time of people's lives but also the after effect of what happened. She was able to show that the scars the characters carried didn't end when the violence ended, it continued on for the rest of their lives which I really appreciated. I was absolutely blown away by this book and how Han Kang seemed to perfectly know her characters and the story she was telling. This had a lot of philosophical questions about death and life and how we treat our dead. It was so interesting to read. 
Han Kang did a fantastic job of showing the emotions people felt during this uprising. There was fear and anger and so many different emotions piled on top of each other. There was layers to this tragedy and I think she did an amazing job showing how it affected the characters and the greater community that went through this horrific event. 
Honestly, I could gush about this book forever but I don't want to spoil it. Just know that this book is a fantastic look into how tragedy and trauma lives on inside of us even when its over. This was such an interesting read and I will be educating myself more on the uprising that happened. Definitely read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol

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

pvid's review

challenging dark reflective 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

kranfka's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

mxpringle's review

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

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, Infertility, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

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

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

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