Reviews

Violets by Kyung-sook Shin

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kdahlo's review

4.0

Continuing my curriculum on modern Korean feminist literature. This book is about a woman living at the margins of things. It's sad, a little queer, with a lot of thoughtful imagery and themes that weave throughout the story. It's mostly a pretty slow, mild story with occasional heights of extreme fear, violence and brutality. I think the balance is handled deftly. Not easy reading, but substantive.

xtie's review

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3.0

Somewhere around a 3.5 but rounding down bc it just didn’t feel like a 4 pointer. I read this as part of the Yu & Me book club and had the honour of meeting and both the author and the English translator - the depth of the conversation is a large reason for why this is very close to being rounded up. However, it fell short for me mainly bc its intention of laying bare the structures of oppression women face(d) in Korea around the 80s definitely felt dated and sometimes, not enough? Also thought queerness would come thru stronger and more overtly from the blurb but it was pretty obscured for the most part

eibhlynn's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

nikireadsstuff's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

llams's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious sad slow-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? No

3.5

I struggled a bit while reading this. The afterword really helped me understand a bit more. This book is definitely sad and slow.

Content Warnings

sakisreads's review

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challenging dark emotional slow-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

3.5

I absolutely adored ‘Please Look After Mother’, so I had high hopes for this book!

Kyung Sook-shin’s books always being translated by Anton Hur makes me feel so cosy. I loved her note at the end as well, saying how Hur had cried reading the book 🥹

This definitely was not Shin’s best book; I still have a soft spot for ‘Please Look After Mother’. But I did still enjoy it and enjoyed some of the emotions I sat with during San’s growth. Her tears and her trauma felt very intimate 😳

I would still recommend reading to anyone who’s a fan of Shin’s stories ✨ 3.5 out of 5 stars for me, thank you!

Content Warnings