Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park

53 reviews

cheye13's review against another edition

funny hopeful medium-paced

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

2.0

I can appreciate that this book needed to be written, and I appreciate translations for broadening readers' scope of the world, but it remains that this is a book primarily written for Korean readers. As a translation to English, I wish it was a little more than a stream-of-consciousness, (mostly) low-stakes, fictional memoir. My favorite thing about this book is that Koreans can read a story like this in their native language. Americans (me), on the other hand, have plenty of these.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, and Abortion

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, and Sexual content

minor: experience being HIV positive

skienight's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Cancer

trix_lyn's review

emotional funny sad medium-paced

• 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

5.0

I’m surprised how low the rating is. I think this is my best underrated book of the year so far. I loved Park’s writing, the characters were hilarious and the emotions brought a little mist in my eyes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Cancer, Alcoholism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Stalking

americattt's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-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? Yes

3.75

“I wonder if that ninety-nine-pound, fifty-eight year old woman staring at the fading firmament was feeling the same way I was. That my life could not be summed up like the neat columns of numbers on a chart, that my life could swerve in an unpredictable direction at any time. That the person I thought I knew best just because we had blood ties could actually be the most mysterious and unknown. That there were times in life when you just have to stop holding on. And that was why the only thing I could do now was to cease all thinking, to simply watch her as she smiled and attached meaning to silly things like the rising and setting of the sun.”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, and Medical content

Minor: Suicide attempt

tesschair's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Fatphobia and Suicidal thoughts

the main character lives with hiv/aids

lidia7's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Terminal illness, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Death, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content

Moderate: Abandonment, Medical content, Abortion, Outing, and Infidelity

Minor: Physical abuse, Blood, Vomit, Fatphobia, Sexism, and Classism

annagerman's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• 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

3.0

This book was interesting, unfortunetly it just wasn't for me 😑 
The characters were well-written and authentic. 
The MC's uniqeu voice was definitely the best part of the book, he's flawed, rude and self-absorbed, but also likeable and touching, I couldn't help but root for him.
I really loved the relationships in this book, they were so complex and realistic.
Also I love the depictions of the big city, its energy and presence.

However, the structure and the pacing felt off. It was like a collections of short stories about the same character, but the timelines and emotions didn't always aligne.
I actually had a time getting back into the story after putting the book down, it took me a while to get though it even though it's so short.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, Mental illness, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, and Cancer

bethantg's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Cancer, Homophobia, and Cursing

Moderate: Death

Minor: Abortion, Colonisation, and Fatphobia

saucy_bookdragon's review

emotional reflective sad fast-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? Yes

4.0

I picked this up because someone on TikTok said it was like if Lorde's Melodrama album were a novel and a fun fact about me is that Melodrama literally owns my ass. Though I'm not sure if I would've come to that comparison on my own, I can definitely see where it comes from. Like Melodrama, Love In the Big City deals with passionate yet disastrous relationships written in a cynical, self aware, and snarky voice.

This novel is less a single story, and more a loosely connected collection of four stories detailing the relationships (mainly romantic) of a gay Korean man in his 20s and early 30s named Young who's seeking success and love but failing on both of those. I found it to be surprisingly relatable due to the issues Young deals with around his boy problems, his pessimism, and his experience as a gay man and writer. Despite it having a relatively mundane plot, the melodrama of it all kept me invested. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Body shaming, Drug use, Homophobia, and Alcohol

jazzy_t's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Stunning, was a delight to read. 

Having not particularly read much translated fiction this has really made me want to read more. Reading story's based in diffrent places and cultures, was great.

This book had me gripped from the start, and the end will stick in my head I think. Would highly recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Abortion

Minor: Mental illness