Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park

61 reviews

risemini's review

reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Death, Outing, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Alcohol

sky143's review

dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicide

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

el13's review

medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Terminal illness

savvylit's review

emotional funny reflective 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? Yes

4.0

This novel discusses the ups and downs of multiple types of love - platonic love, familial love, toxic love, queer love, and true love. Being as this book's timeline begins while he is still in university, Young is a (self-aware) hot mess for much of this novel as he figures out what kind of adult he wants to be. Spoiler alert: like most of us, he never really lands on one path for life guidance. Rather, Young remains unabashedly himself while continuing to ride the ups and downs of life, bouncing from job to job and romantic relationship to romantic relationship. His narration is delightful, relatable, often heartbreaking, and reflective.

Overall, Love in the Big City is a millennial new-adult novel about how simultaneously difficult and beautiful it can be to give your love to another person.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Outing, Grief, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Homophobia

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

nenaveenstra's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-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

3.75

Ik vond het interessant om te zien hoe herkenbaar sommige aspecten van dit boek waren, terwijl andere dingen een totale cultuurshock vormden. Ook in de Nederlandse vertaling is het Zuid-Koreaanse gevoel gebleven, en ik had echt even het gevoel alsof ik ergens anders was. Ik vond het mooi en verdrietig om te zien hoe erg de hoofdpersoon worstelde met zijn eigen identiteit, en de liefde die hij niet van zijn ouders had gekregen leek te zoeken bij willekeurige mannen. Ik moest af en toe echt even het boek wegleggen om te reflecteren op mijn eigen leven.

Een minpuntje vind ik dat het boek is opgedeeld in vier verschillende delen, en dat die delen lijken geschreven voor een publiek dat de andere delen niet gelezen heeft. Daarmee bedoel ik dat er soms dingen overbodig worden uitgelegd, omdat je dat letterlijk tien bladzijden geleden nog gelezen hebt. Misschien zijn ze eerder in een ander format gepubliceerd?

Ook vind ik het taalgebruik soms wat simpel. Dat ligt niet aan de auteur, maar aan de vertaler - die heeft ongetwijfeld zijn best gedaan om zo trouw mogelijk te blijven aan het origineel, maar daardoor voelde het soms wat clunky. Ook stonden er heel veel referenties in naar dingen uit de Koreaanse popcultuur die niet werden toegelicht voor de lezer, dat vond ik jammer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Homophobia

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Abortion, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual content

himangi's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Homophobia, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Blood, Body shaming, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit and Stalking

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, and Sexual content

Moderate: Medical content, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Cancer, Gaslighting, and Terminal illness

Minor: Abortion, Cursing, Child abuse, Vomit, Death, Classism, Outing, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Suicide attempt, Grief, Infidelity, and Blood