Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

202 reviews

fallenquills's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

three main takeaways:
1. the way that people can percieve a single person is based entirely on their experiences both with said person and without
2. the role of a woman and the views men have of them in societies so dominated by patriarchy and conform are ones that are profoundly oppressive as much as they are structural
3. i wasn't ready for this book.

largely, my rating comes from the third point - i wasn't ready for this book. yes, it was written in a way that was very curt and confronting until you get to the third chapter. yes it was really interesting to see the different perspectives of yeong-hye from other people and purposefully not from yeong-hye herself, but i went into it only knowing The White Book/Huin by Han Kang and i wasn't ready for what this book presented to me. perhaps one day i'll read it again, but knowing what i know of it, i need to be in a very solid mental place for it. 

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nailingtheshoreline's review

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4.75


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ibtireads's review

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dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75


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m_a_j's review

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challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5


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46jjsg's review

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


The Vegetarian- 3.5/5 

I don't even know what to say about this one. the wife definitely has a mental illness, but with her husband and her family I'm not surprised she ended up this way? You kinda of have to infere what caused her to spiral, but if you have any idea what's it's like to be a woman in Korea I'm afraid it's not that difficult to imagine. I was absolutely shocked and disgusted when her husband (the narrator) described her as a comfort woman and him, and Japanese soldier.

Mongolian Mark 2/5 

oh this one was sicker than the previous one

Flaming Trees 4/5 

As an eldest daughter, I thought Inhye's perspective was enlightening. I don't know really what to feel except my chest feels stuffy? This entire work was unsettling, but the 3rd short resonated with me the most and I thought it was a fitting conclusion to wrap the entire message of the collection. 

When a person undergoes such a drastic transformation, there's simply nothing anyone else can do but sit back and let them get on with it.

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amberelizmann's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

2.25

Well, I liked it, but I sure as hell don’t know what happened at the end. Beautifully written and definitely evocative, but I’m left feeling…sad. 

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blueshirt's review

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dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I thought this was a horror book, and it definitely is not. It's just a sad, mildly boring story about
a lady with schizophrenia who goes vegetarian, is taken advantage of by her brother-in-law, and then starves herself to death (or nearly so).
Not my cup of tea.

And I can only assume that the reviewer on the book jacket who compared this to Kafka doesn't understand that cultural norms vary between cultures. This wasn't Kafkaeqsue at all....

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vexatiousbird's review

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emotional reflective sad

5.0

Captivating. Beautiful and ugly at once.

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jg93's review against another edition

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3.25


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bookareawesome's review

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adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.75

Spolier 


Kinda werid, i wanted to "Did yeong hye lived ?"
If she lived how she gonna react on the things happened to her by husband divorce and brother in law

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