Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Orphan Master's Son

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

10 reviews

leticiasmugala's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I had to take my time with this one. It was dense, and I felt a lot of conflicting emotions, being Korean myself. I remembered my own introduction to both Korean and US propaganda of the North when I was in middle school and being filled with compassion and so many unanswerable questions. I remember my trip to the DMZ too. So I had a lot to sort through while reading this book.

It was also one of the strangest and most haunting books I’ve ever read. It will stay with me for a long time.

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palaris's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense 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

4.25

I read this book because it was Pulitzer prize winner, and I'm fascinated by North Korea. I've read a lot of non-fiction accounts of life in North Korea, but I'm surprised I'd never heard of this book before.
It was a great read. Really glad I stuck with it, because it's slow to start, but by the end, especially once you get to the second half, it picks up steam and the pieces start coming together.
It definitely felt like a drama book, I feel like some of the aspects of North Korean culture were dramatized for the book, based on my reading of non-fiction accounts, but I think that's fair.

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bethw009's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious 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

4.75

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wifeslife's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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jonmayb's review against another edition

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challenging sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a truly enjoyable read. The story was compelling and engaging, however it was tedious and dragged on at times, and it wasn't always clear what was going on. Additionally, my main qualm with this book is that Johnson based it off of a tour he took of North Korea. Kim Jong-Il is even a prominent character in the book. It can be nearly certain that Johnson's depiction of North Korea isn't entirely accurate, nor is his depiction of Kim Jong-Il. While for the most part, I enjoyed reading it, I found myself having to pretend I was reading a story about a man living in a fictional country with a fictional dictator to not feel slightly uncomfortable reading it.

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