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Graphic: Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Kidnapping, Abandonment
Minor: Mass/school shootings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Kidnapping, Grief
Graphic: Bullying, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Kidnapping
I'd like to note that I didn't know this was a piece of translated fiction so maybe certain concepts that were supposed to be more prominent were lost in translation.
Okay, I'd like to say the first half was promising and then it just went "downhill" for me. Which is not to say the story was bad, but I just felt like it could've been more emotional, more impactful, more promising.
The friendship between Yunjae and Gon felt so lackluster to me which renders Yunjae's gesture towards Gon idiotic to me
Also, Dora's characterization also felt lackluster to me as well. I understand her purpose but in my opinion, her presence was very much so unimpactful and didn't bring much to the story at all. Honestly, because I've consumed a decent amount of ya coming of age stories, I honestly thought there was going to be something between Gon and Yunjae. It's fine that there wasn't, but I was just expecting more.
The way Yunjae introduced Gon and Dora I thought they were going to impact the main character in a life-altering way and it was going to be this epic, emotional story about the binds of friendship and family and illness and sadly it all just fell so flat for me. And the ending. I hate reusing adjectives, but again, lackluster and felt kinda like a cop-out. And felt like a forced "HEA".
I know I keep harping on about my qualms about this book, but it honestly wasn't a bad book by any stretch of the phrase. I really enjoyed learning about alexithymia and the way the main character thinks and views things. It was nice to get a glimpse into another type of human experience that I didn't even know existed so learning about Yunjae and his struggles was nice. And getting to witness the relationship between his mother and his grandmother and their past lives. As well as Yunjae's relationship with Dr. Shim.
Overall, again this is not a bad book. It has so many 4 and 5 stars ratings. It sadly just didn't hit for me and that's okay!
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Cursing, Violence
Minor: Child death, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Abandonment
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent