Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

My Year Abroad by Chang-rae Lee

8 reviews

machenn's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Self harm, and Violence

aliy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Physical abuse

Moderate: Murder and Suicide attempt

prettycloud's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What a thoroughly odd and extraordinary piece of writing. This novel is witty and fun and thoughtful but also dark and disturbing. It does not seem to relish in its violence, but rather to pull the reader in to understand what the violence is made of. It asks a lot of questions and is a great beginner of discussions, but beware! It is not for the faint of heart or stomach.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Rape, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Vomit, Body horror, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Grief, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, Alcohol, and Suicide

Moderate: Infidelity, Child abuse, Incest, Abandonment, and Death of parent

Minor: Colonisation, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, Dementia, Medical content, Sexism, and Xenophobia

This book features some pretty gnarly dubious consent (there seems to be a lot of rationalizing going on—I'd classify it as rape, but it's unclear if the victim would). There's also a pretty messed-up murder and a lot of bodily and societal weirdness. It's not all suffering, but it's one of those books that you want to read slowly or sit out entirely due to the nastiness of some of its content.

bootsmom3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Slavery, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cancer, Torture, Violence, Misogyny, Alcohol, Medical content, Terminal illness, Death, Grief, Confinement, Blood, Physical abuse, Murder, and Sexism

jkbrx's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Cancer, Confinement, Rape, Terminal illness, and Sexual assault

k_kiefer's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Abandonment, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt

mdelcol's review against another edition

reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Torture

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Infidelity

wordssearched's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.0

This is the perfect book to explain the distinction between “It’s bad” and “It’s not for me.” It’s not a bad book. I mean, yes, it is way too long and the editor clearly took a long vacation in the middle third of it. The pacing is terrible. It’s overly dense, and bordering on pretentious. But it’s not bad. Chang-rae Lee writes gorgeous prose. His command of language and character is up there with the best writers of contemporary fiction. The novel’s structure, jumping back and forth between two periods of time, months apart, is intriguing and sets up a series alternating cliffhangers that kept me from giving up on the book entirely even while I took multiple long breaks while reading it. 

So why did I have to talk myself into that third star? Because, it is quite simply not for me. If there is a demographic for this beautiful, bloated bildungsroman about a directionless 20 year old whose generic New Jersey life takes an abrupt turn when a local entrepreneur takes him under his wing, I don’t know what it is. Don’t be fooled by the title. This is not a pat little story about an American traveling through pretty foreign landscapes in search of self. There is travel, there are beautiful foreign landscapes, and there is  a college kid, “Tiller,” finding himself, but the slog through which he (and the reader) must endure is raw, visceral, right at the edge of believability and just plain bizarre. I wanted to connect to this book but never quite did. To say “I didn’t get it” feels like a cop out, but by the end I was just happy for it to be over.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship