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lanid's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Colonisation, Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, War, and Xenophobia
Minor: Classism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Bullying, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Police brutality
jkunke's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship
accidentalfolklore's review against another edition
- 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
Minor: Suicide and Sexual harassment
emmaopaline's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicide, Racism, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Torture, Physical abuse, Infertility, and Police brutality
scrapeen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Xenophobia, and Grief
kenzieburns's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Suicide, Xenophobia, and Bullying
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
jkull_10's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Xenophobia, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Violence, Stalking, Alcoholism, Grief, Classism, War, Medical content, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Hate crime, and Death
dee_dreams's review
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Instead of whining about what I disliked, which is a lot, I wanted to be constructive and offer some lessons I took away instead.
When characters die or disappear, it should matter. The characters who knew the dead person should care on some level (even if it's shallow or self-serving.)
The more characters you kill off, the less empathy the reader will feel for random new characters that are introduced.
Misery is not the same as depth. Trauma is not the end of the story. Focus on the characters' humanity rather than their victimization.
Use writing for good. We already know that evils like misogyny, racism, ableism, and grooming exist. Don't simply portray them for trauma porn. Use your writing to challenge them and provide a different perspective. Nudge the reader towards empathy and a belief that change is possible. Nobody needs more despair.
Stop introducing random, dehumanized sex workers and then portraying graphic violence against them. It's been done to death.
If you've already described a character as "plain, unattractive, never lovely," you don't have to do it three more times. You especially don't have to make the sexist, male-gazey descriptions more disparaging as she ages.
Don't try to take on a huge amount of unrelated themes. Or, do - just decide to make it a collection of short stories, rather than a novel. And follow up on those themes.
Last but not least, think about whether or not a "family saga" spanning 4 generations really needs a chapter about a minor character, unrelated to any members of said family, discovering pansexual orgies in the forest during the Summer of Love. And if you decide, yes, it does, make it hot. Please.
Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, and Misogyny
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Alcoholism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, War, and Death of parent
sakisreads's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Although the trauma for Koreans living in Japan is evident, and what many of the characters went through was undeniably terrible, there were a lot of words for not much being said. I felt like I would be getting excited about one character’s journey then we’d go back to the same old pattern their parent felt about something going on in their life (e.g. I got more intrigued when Mozasu’s character was being shown to us, but we’d often go back to Sunja’s feelings towards Hansu time and time again). I felt myself having to put the book down quite often because I felt a bit bored 🙈
I’ll include the content warnings below because there are quite a few needed.
All in all I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. I thought some of the imagery and the love portrayed between Sunja and Isak, or even Sunja and Kyunghee, were stunning 🥰 But I felt that the storylines dragged on for so long and it could get tricky to keep up.
Thank you ✨
Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Sexual harassment, Violence, War, Racism, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Classism, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Colonisation, Death, Misogyny, and Suicide
reading_for_pluto's review against another edition
- 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
2.25
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Grief, War, Toxic friendship, and Xenophobia
Minor: Car accident, Police brutality, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, and Sexual content