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mmefish's review
- 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
I took out a low, foldable table from under the bed and wiped the dust with a wet wipe. No matter how much I wiped, there was still dust—how very much like everything else in my life.
Rain still falls during the late rainy season, as do tears even when it's too late.
I have a soft spot for books like this.
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Homophobia, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, and Abortion
Minor: Religious bigotry, Death, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Car accident
scifi_rat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Cancer, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Alcoholism, Medical content, Abortion, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity, Transphobia, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Fatphobia, Outing, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts
icarusandthesun's review
- 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? Yes
3.5
basically a semi-autobiographical exploration of all the protagonist's loves and friends, this was a fun read with a very cynical main character and his cynically realistic views and thoughts.
i thought it was quite a smooth and rather quick read with interesting lore and depth where it's needed. however, it wasn't quite anything extraordinary - special, yes, in the way every autobiographical book is sort of special. but ehh, i don't know. it was profound, but in a sort of goofy way and it was funny and interesting, the way i imagine drugs would be. it's fun when you're doing it but the aftermath always strikes you as a bit silly.
Graphic: Alcohol, Cancer, and Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Emotional abuse
madelinedalton's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Cancer, Medical content, and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual content
claudiamacpherson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Alcohol
Minor: Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, and Cancer
rhysecakes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Medical content, Suicide, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia
thewordsdevourer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
my caveats w/ the novel are its timeline and structure which are confusing at times, and the lack of continuity in characters and points of conflict between all the parts. for the latter, young's strained relationship w/ his mom is an example, as well as jaehee, who for such large a presence she has in young's life initially, basically disappears like 1/4 of the way.
aside from the aforementioned, however, i enjoy all other aspects of the novel. this book is funny and can be endearingly sweet, while also being scarily realistic in its depictions of struggles for one's dream, career, and everyday life. the bangkok setting later in the book's also delightfully surprising, and it's great seeing places from my own life feature quite prominently in a book i rly like.
the main character young has me endlessly rooting for him as he grapples w/ love and life, made doubly more complicated by his queer identity, and w/ reveals that shed more light on him in every part. there are no stereotypes and caricatures here, instead park delves into issues rarely touched upon - a minority w/in a minority - w/ young's HIV+ status and the normality yet ramifications of it, hampering young's life in frustrating ways.
what touches me most is perhaps young's relationship w/ gyu-ho, filled w/ both drama and mundanity that's multifaceted and refreshingly non-toxic. the naksan park scene is one that will stay w/ me, brimming w/ empathy and love. and although the ending is quite melacholic, i like the ambiguity of it. this book squeezes and fills my heart, and i sincerely hope more of park's works will be translated in the future, bc i for one cant wait to read them.
Graphic: Alcohol, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, and Misogyny
Moderate: Infidelity, Medical content, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Abortion, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death, Fatphobia, Car accident, and Abandonment
rieviolet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I didn't like as much the third and fourth sections ("Love in the Big City" and "Late Rainy Season Vacation"). I think those parts just resonated less with me and I wasn't as much captured by the narrative (which sometimes jumped a little confusingly between time lines) and by its style.
The ending felt a little bit abrupt, I wasn't expecting nor I actually wanted a perfect resolution (I think it would have clashed too much with the overall tone of the novel and the narrative line), I just would've liked it to finish at a different point, in a slightly different way.
Also, I really liked the main character's sense of humour, his funny and a bit dry voice made for a very engaging narrative but I think that this wittiness was more evident in the first section and then became a bit more sparse in the following ones.
All in all, this was a really good book and I'm very glad I've got to read about the experience of queerness in South Korea.
I have to briefly mention the "Acknowledgements" section because reading the author's own words made me really emotional. I especially loved and was moved by the very last paragraphs.
When I write - or when I'm going about my day - I sometimes feel as vague and uncertain as if I'm all alone wandering through a cloud of dust, but sometimes I feel a warmth, like my hands have touched something. I want to call that something love. I know all too well how this emotion called love, how the word itself, can easily crumble into nothing, but all I can do is tightly grip this tiny bit of warmth and embrace it with all my might. Just so I can live on as myself. Just so I can live this life as myself and myself alone.
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Medical content, and Sexual content
Moderate: Outing, Mental illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, and Infidelity
Minor: Death and Car accident
emilyacres's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Sexual content
internationalreads's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Alcohol, Infidelity, Medical content, Outing, Terminal illness, Car accident, Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Cancer