Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Human Acts by Han Kang

4 reviews

seulgireads's review against another edition

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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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sevensableyes's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

I don't really read books with dark content, let alone ones based on real events, so I don't really know how to review this. Saying I 'enjoyed' the book feels wrong.

It's a heartwrecnhing and tragic story about the Gwangju uprising. It was uncomfortable to read. It's beautifully written (another review I read on here goes into detail about the English translation, which was interesting).

I would highly recommend looking into content warnins before reading this book. Some things took me by surprise.

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rieviolet's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I can only say that this book wrecked me, it was a superb and heartbreaking punch to the stomach. 

I really loved the writing style, I think it struck a very good balance between direct/matter-of-fact and poetic. A lot of scenes deeply moved me and I can still picture them so vividly in my mind because the author crafted them with such powerful and evocative words. 

One of the things that I appreciated the most was the choice to include different point of views. It was so very interesting to follow the story through different eyes and I think that the author did a really good job at inhabiting the characters. 
Each chapter includes and expands on a character that we have already briefly met before in the story; I think it is a very artful narrative choice and it will certainly make for a meaningful re-read, once one is already aware of all the interconnections. I also really loved the final chapter from the author's POV. 

As you can see from the long list of trigger warnings, the author does not shy away from the more graphic details of those horrific events. Not once while reading, I thought that it is was overdone just for the sake of it, it is simply an honest depiction of brutal happenings, but please keep that in mind and look after yourself. 

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valpuri's review against another edition

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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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