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frooblie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Torture, Gun violence, War, Sexual assault, Death, Grief, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Suicide
dreamingpages's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
I knew nothing about the Gwangju Uprising or the labor movement in South Korea before reading this book. It was really eye opening to see the hardships South Korea has faced in recent history.
Each chapter of this book takes place from a different character's perspective, each loosely tied to a central character: a boy who was killed during the Uprising. The chapters expand out in time, from 1980 to 2013. Choosing to write the book in this way encapsulates how these events ripple through time and S. Korean society; trauma like this doesn't just go away.
Han Kang examines the sheer staggering human capacity for cruelty and questions the existence of the soul. I cried several times and felt this book in my core.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Grief, Gun violence, Torture, Murder, Rape, Suicide, Police brutality, and Sexual violence
emerentina's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Torture, Police brutality, Self harm, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Rape, Blood, Death, Sexual violence, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Alcoholism, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
krystalgaia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Sufficiently gory, did not overdo the depiction of trauma.
Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Police brutality, Sexual assault, War, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Physical abuse, and Torture
Minor: Suicide
lauren_epub's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Gore, and Sexual violence
kenyoncannotread's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Alcohol, Gun violence, Death, Rape, Violence, Child death, Physical abuse, Police brutality, War, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Sexual assault, Confinement, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Gore
emergencily's review against another edition
5.0
- a set of interconnected stories revolving around different characters as they live through the bloody gwangju student uprisings & subsequent massacres in 1980, and the aftermath of its grief and trauma throughtout the decades.
- extremely visceral & raw, with a focus on bodies -- examining the marks of both physical and intangible violence left on the body, what we do with the bodies of the dead (washing & dressing, family burials, dumping in mass graves), and how we remember those bodies. there's a chapter told from the perspective of a corpse as the soul watches its own body being dumped into a mass grave and beginning to decompose
- all about emotion, memory, grief and loss. the book really makes you feel the loss of these young protestors and the emptiness they leave behind in the lives of their loved ones and in the collective nation
“After you died I could not hold a funeral,
And so my life became a funeral.
Oh, return to me.
Oh, return to me when I call your name.
Do not delay any longer. Return to me now.
After you died I couldn’t hold a funeral
So these eyes that once beheld you became a shrine.
These ears that once heard your voice became a shrine.
These lungs that once inhaled your breath became a shrine.”
Graphic: Police brutality, Sexual assault, Torture, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Child death
wong_jyi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Murder, Genocide, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Grief, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, Addiction, Body horror, Gun violence, Rape, Gore, War, Child death, Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, and Suicide
minary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
romerojoel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Child death, Torture, and Gun violence