Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Flux by Jinwoo Chong

12 reviews

kbsumms's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

erikagibson126's review

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Dementia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Deportation

wordsareworlds's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I enjoyed Flux and thought it was an interesting debut, but I think the pacing was rather off and wanted to get into more of the spec-fic and interconnectedness much sooner than the book got there.

I really liked the exploration of being mixed race, and the complicated feelings of being diaspora, specifically around language. I related so strongly to the portrayal of anger and isolation of grief after losing a parent, along with how the MC latches onto this one tv show so much that it is simultaneously embarrassing and heartbreaking. The nuance of his relationship with that fictional TV show was so good, and I saw so much of myself looking desperately for representation and connection in the media of a place that so often felt like it tolerated me at best. The last 40% or so is a whirlwind of time loop chaos, and Chong's writing really lends itself to the cinematic style there and in the TV show "recaps." 

Onto the downsides. The pacing is rather choppy and slow. Some of that's on purpose but also obvious information is withheld for way too long and I think Chong could have gone further into the spec fic elements a lot sooner. There are some elements in this that felt very "written by a man," especially when it comes to Min and their relationship. Side characters overall are flat, although ymmv on how much of that is purposeful because of the MC's self-absorbtion and disconnects from reality.  The main company in this book is a thinly-veiled Theranos, complete with renamed Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani. The plot hinges on the specific consequences of their actions much more than the overarching ones, and I wanted a lot more from the Blue storyline on that front. 

Overall, I enjoyed the book and I'll definitely be looking for more from this author, with the hope that it gets a blurb that much better fits the actual contents.

 Recommended for people who enjoy a character-driven scifi that explores grief and how much that can warp a person's life, and fans of movies like Vanilla Sky or David Lynch.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Racism and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse

mirandyli's review

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.25

This was a great, trippy, dystopian read with a bisexual Korean male lead. Confusing at times but quick to get through.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

If you know the movie

Groundhog Day (1993)

you will be familiar with the order of some events within this book. It is particularly easy to lose your place during the audiobook and then be confused until the events start to wrap up. There are some really poignant moments between characters, especially towards the end of the book. It may be easy to predict how certain characters are connected together throughout the events of the story, and the 'villain' is also very apparent well before the big reveal.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Racism, Medical content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Drug use, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Bo has a scene where there is a stick stuck in his hand and his wrist is also broken. Brandon and his boss have a toxic faux friendship where drug use is common. Blue and his family have a history of verbal aggression, if not abuse, and he struggles to maintain/fix his connection to his family- there is a tense Christmas Dinner scene. Blue is nonverbal but this is "fixed" with some sort of implant in his neck.

alienguy's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Blood, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism and Toxic friendship

pond_newt's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I really loved this book. It took me a while to get into it and I was quite confused for the first quarter of the book but it brought it all together very well by the end. There were some really emotional scenes throughout the book, especially from the POV of Bo, which hit very hard. Although it's sold to be about time travel the main focuses are grief and family, with the sci fi elements largely taking a back seat. Massively recommend, particularly if you enjoyed the show Severance as they share similar tones and themes.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Dementia, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Racism, Violence, and Pregnancy

birdiestitching's review against another edition

Not my thing. Jumps to a different character each chapter with nothing really to connect them and it feels jarring.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

kurumipanda's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

A unique and disorienting story, with three narratives that switch without warning, with nested stories within them. Despite the odd events and storytelling method, it feels grounded and the themes feel clear and consistent. Focuses on Asian American identity, family grief/relationships, capitalism/corporate corruption, and separating art from the artist. Criticisms of society and culture are spot on and quite funny, and the story is moving and fascinating to unravel. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Medical content, Dementia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, and Gaslighting

anxiousnachos's review

4.5

4.5 stars. I do so love books that play with structure. This was very very cool!! This is a topsy-turvy scifi time-travel literary thriller (though heavier on the more experimental, literary side of things). It follows the story of three people: a child whose mother just died, a man who was just made redundant, and a man giving a tell-all TV interview about a tech company; interspersed with a snippets of an 80s noir TV show. It’s queer and explores Asian American identity and has such a brilliant depiction of the way grief and trauma haunt your entire life that made my currently very tender heart absolutely crumple. It’s a very difficult book to summarise and it’s absolutely one of those books you should go in knowing as little about the plot as possible, so if a queer, Asian, sci-fi literary thriller sounds like your thing, definitely check this out!! 

Content warnings: death of a parent, grief, mild blood/injury detail, dementia, sexual content, drug and alcohol use 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Dementia

Minor: Drug use, Sexual content, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail