Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

53 reviews

barmatron's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Colonisation

ebba94's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Child death, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, War, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Torture

caedycon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

I would absolutely recommend this book. It's my 2nd book by Lisa See, and she's 2/2 for fantastic stories for me. I loved learning about the haenyeo, as well as life in Korea in general. Such a unique, fascinating culture. I thought it was going to be about a matriarchal society, but it was a matrifocal society - the women do all the work and earn the money, but they still don't have the power. Men own land, men get educated, men are still the heads of the family. The women are so inspiring - the fact that they have all the weight of their family's well-being on their shoulders, and yet are also still oppressed, and how they handle that - seriously badass women in this story. This is a book that was easy to talk about - a unique story, with fictional characters but a real, little-known setting that was fascinating to learn about. I loved learning about the political side of what was going on at that time as well - the Japanese occupation of Korea (and the US's involvement) Mostly, this book is sad. These characters live through some incredible horrors, and there were moments where I had a hard time continuing on through the brutality they suffered. Lisa See writes her characters with such depth - I felt what Young-sook felt when Mi-ja betrayed her, and was convinced I would never forgive her, and yet, by the end, I had. That was impressive to me, to be fully taken up in that emotional journey. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: War and Domestic abuse

alisonw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Just realised I never reviewed this, it’s been a few months so I can’t be as clear with the review but I highly highly recommend this book.

Firstly a TW: It deals with extremely heavy subjects of loss, war, corruption, all kinds of abuse, murder including all ages, all very graphically so please be warned if you think you can’t handle that. 

But if you’re unsure, don’t let that put you off. This book tells the true story of the people of Jeju and all they have gone through in the last century through a fictional narrative and the graphic elements are there because they happened, reading them feels similar to the sobering feeling of going to a concentration camp has, it’s horribly sad but feels like a necessity to be able to respect and remember - in my case as a European who was taught nothing about Korea’s history, it felt so important to acknowledge and learn about these events for the first time.

The author is masterful at weaving history and fiction together, none of the fictitious story line feels forced to bring in a historical event, while at the same time the story does not steal from the history, I would actually say it helps give it more blood and feel more tangible rather than cold facts on a page about somewhere far away. 

Highly highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Colonisation, Grief, Pregnancy, Torture, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Violence, War, Child death, Death, Murder, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, and Rape

Moderate: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Confinement, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, and Slavery

alexis_baldwin92's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Suicide, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Genocide, War, Sexual violence, Death, Colonisation, Child death, Rape, Violence, Racism, and Domestic abuse

naomi_k's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Violence, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Child death, Death, Grief, and Torture

Moderate: Pregnancy, War, Classism, Colonisation, Medical content, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Sexism

annaclaire18's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

This book… is so dark… There are not enough trigger warnings in the world to cover this novel, but it is such an important story. I learned so much from this book about Korea, the Korean War, and a hidden genocide I knew nothing about.

The characters are convincing and complex, and the plot drags you under and doesn’t let you up for air.

I was less fond of the modern timeline that wove in and out of the story, but it did serve to help break up the heavy topic of the novel.

Warning: this is not a light read. Prepare for graphic descriptions of violence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Genocide, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape

abrdoodle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Racism, Sexism, Torture, and War

Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Sexual violence, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

ilana_pop's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

THIS is why i love books. One of the best book I have ever read, no exaggeration. Lisa See is incredible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Torture, War, Colonisation, Mass/school shootings, Child death, Grief, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

claired01's review against another edition

5.0

This book will stick with me for a long time. I fell in love with the characters, the story, and the island! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, War, Grief, and Violence

Minor: Domestic abuse and Sexual violence