Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - Love in the Big City

Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park

32 reviews

charlie_w'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? Yes

4.5

Such a thoughtful book. Thanks to the libtc book club on tumblr, I’ve been able to share some more detailed thoughts there. I think I’ve found another favorite novel.

Content Warnings

beanie_bob's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

2.99/5 ⭐️

Reading Around The World (4/199): Korea

There’s a lot of laughing in this book - a lot of mocking, youthful romps, cynicism delivered through jokes. Makes me wonder if it’s all just a way to cope with how much goes wrong in the narrator’s life. The blurbs on the back use words like ‘electric’ and ‘dazzling’ and ‘delicious’ as if this book doesn’t end with total heartbreak.

There are some things done seriously well in this novel. The narrator’s relationship with his dying mother was sad (everything in this book is sad if you think about it long enough) but filled with nuance. It’s painful for the child to become the caretaker, and even more so when the child was abused.

Loneliness and emptiness are captured with painful accuracy. Loneliness within existing relationships, even.

I had a hard time understanding where the story was going - I kept waiting for characters to renter the narrative but I think the point is that in your 20s/30s people just wander in and out with no fanfare, no chorus to tell you who’s important and who is not.

The writing wasn’t always my favorite but when it worked, it worked.

Was this how the lovers of Pompeii felt when the magma covered them? I was deluged by some thing very hot and the world seemed to stop turning.

he called me in the middle of the night when no one was around because he enjoyed fucking me and lecturing me afterward. He saw me as someone to teach and change, and I was unfortunately not receptive to that.

Lastly, I enjoyed the interview with the author and translator at the end. Their passion and how they identified with the story made elements a little richer and less soul crushimg.

Content Warnings

felicityj's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

Content Warnings

noahsingh's review

Go to review page

medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

Content Warnings

cheye13's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

trix_lyn's review

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

americattt's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.”

Content Warnings