Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Human Acts by Han Kang

9 reviews

georgw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

It's a well-written novel but it's not my genre. I also think it's a bit weird to mix historical tales of horror and torture with ghost stories and spiritualism. I want to learn more about this event but with the mix of fact and fiction I'd do better just reading Wikipedia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Torture, Gun violence, Grief, Child death, War, Violence, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Genocide, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexism, and Misogyny

Minor: Suicide and Rape

sugarloaded's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was my third Han Kang book (I had read The Vegetarian last year and Greek Lessons a couple of months ago). Han Kang writes magnificently. This is definitely a book that will stay with me. Really heavy on a lot of triggering topics. Please tread carefully. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Violence, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexism, Torture, Gore, Confinement, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, and Sexual violence

seulgireads's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Child death, Confinement, Death, Murder, Police brutality, Blood, Grief, Sexual assault, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Rape, Sexism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Infertility, Cursing, Suicide, and Misogyny

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Terminal illness, Vomit, Self harm, Cancer, and Excrement

madamenovelist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Suicide, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Rape, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Grief, Vomit, Torture, Child abuse, Genocide, Sexism, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Death, Medical trauma, Murder, Blood, Gore, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Medical content, and Mass/school shootings

kia_y_k's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Genocide, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Child death, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Torture

wellfedpages's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

‘Conscience, the most terrifying thing in the world’

Conscience creeps in

sometimes unexpectedly

It comes calling out of the blue

Forces itself like a squatter

in a corner of your heart

Refusing to budge

Asking you to speak up

Stand with the truth

Do what’s right

Do what’s needed

Not because you are

Braver

Or Better

Or Kinder

But simply because it’s the right thing to do

As Atticus Finch said about courage

‘It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway‘

Try

Fight back

Raise your voice

Refuse to be victims

Refuse to lie down quietly & be mowed over

Dignity

the most basic human right

Yet the one most trampled upon everywhere

Why do people in power think it’s ok to grind some people to the ground

tire them to their bones

work them to death?

Greed

Capitalism

Imperialism

Snatching the bread out of hungry mouths so they can build their mountain of gold

Or bitcoins

Drain the energy out of the world

Drag humanity to the precipice

And push it over the edge

Falling

Forever

So a few can fly

Around the world

Or to outer space

Kang sheds a light on this through a set of people broken by the Gwangju uprising in S Korea

Interconnected like nerves

Throbbing with the same corrupted life

Dying with the same trauma

Or sometimes becoming worse than dead

Surviving can be a curse

As a character in the book says

to die instantly is a blessing

To live & be

Isolated

Humiliated

Tortured

Have your humanity stripped away

Or to live with the ghosts of grief pain & trauma

is far more excruciating

Then memory becomes a landmine

One wrong step can blow up your heart

Your life

Then survival is an act of endurance

Dripping down like helpless rain drops

Into the puddle of life

Muddy

Murky

Morbid

Or a mirage?

Sadness

leached out of their bones & seeped into the pages

Into my fingers

Staining my mind

Yet this book has an ephemeral beauty

A weave of words so fine

That the poetry of death floats in our hands

Then hits us with the unwavering truth

Sticky like tar

Heavy like lead

But is it just that?

An ode

to the slain

the mutilated

the brutalised

the living echoes of the dead

An unsung song of hardship

Or is it more?

Was there hope?

For those who choose to remember?

For those who can’t look away?

Do the dead walk in the dark?

Chained to earth

‘Why are we walking in the dark, let’s go over there, where the flowers are blooming.’

Are there flowers blooming?

Will they ever?

‘I read in an interview with someone who had been tortured; they described the after-effects as ‘similar to those experienced by victims of radioactive poisoning.’ Radioactive matter lingers for decades in muscle and bone, causing chromosomes to mutate. Cells turn cancerous, life attacks itself. Even if the victim dies, even if their body is cremated, leaving nothing but the charred remains of bone, that substance cannot be obliterated.’

Flickering amidst the shadows of history

these blackened souls leave their imprints on time

This book reminds us to not desecrate their memory

Remember

Never Again

Discovering Han Kang’s writing last year was the most serendipitous find. She is my favourite South Korean writer.

Loved The White Book and The Vegetarian, but this book makes me respect her even more.

Not only her range in writing is expansive and amazing, she has treaded this broken terrain of history beautifully, dredging out the past from little known depths and laid bare the truth with clarity and empathy. We are horrified but also see the humanity of these people

Recognise

Their erased value

Their dignity

.

Also a wonderful translation by Deborah Smith

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual violence, Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Blood, Classism, and Misogyny

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

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

3.5

harrowing. human acts reveals the horrors and brutality casually waged by the military on gwangju's populace. its nonsentimental and matter-of-fact tone compounds the barbarity, and the impact of the crimes and murders committed by those in power felt even decades later is disheartening. the fact that this book is based on historical facts is truly also disturbing. however, the writing and prose werent anything out of the ordinary; idk if this is just a style adopted by many korean writers, but i find it quite non-affecting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Rape, Torture, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Suicide

patslibrary's review against another edition

dark 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Murder, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Confinement, Mass/school shootings, and Vomit

Moderate: Suicide, Self harm, Misogyny, and Sexism

valpuri's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Torture, Police brutality, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Confinement, Child death, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Infertility, Terminal illness, and Cancer