Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

16 reviews

lycheejelly's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Terminal illness, Blood, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Confinement, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Alcoholism, Cursing, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

ioanna_orf's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, Alcoholism, and Blood

k_aro's review against another edition

challenging 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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

i hated this book. i loved this book. i felt great despair and a certain kind of levity; i feel like i'm going insane, and i feel like i'm the most clear-minded i've been in weeks. i feel the way i think people feel when they talk about finishing ottessa moshfegh. it reminds me of junji ito in style and h.p. lovecraft in feel.

meat make woman sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Abandonment, Animal death, Grief, Infidelity, Blood, Body horror, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Moderate: Cursing and Rape

Minor: Alcoholism

uhh... the pivotal character has a sexual encounter which is reacted to as a sexual assault, because the person reacting assumes the pivotal character cannot give consent owing to her mental state. it's really fucking blurry whether it is or not.

scruffie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Edit on August 2023: 5 stars ⭐

A very difficult read for me, unbearably graphic and exceptionally dark. I'll probably find myself thinking about the contents of this book for years to come. Unless I'm seriously deluded, this book is not about vegetarianism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Body horror, Body shaming, Gore, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Rape, Child abuse, Violence, Blood, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism

diedaahh's review

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

That was.... disturbing. 
You could really say I went in blind. I really thought this book was just going to be about a regular South Korean woman that went vegetarian and the societal implication of such a transition. But OH BOY is that not even 5% of the story. The story is split into three parts with a different perspective every time, of which none of them are actually her. This causes us to never really know what actually goes on inside her head making her descent into madness even more horrifying. The only thing we hear directly from her are some snippets of dreams (or rather nightmares) she gets and describes to us. The first POV is from her piece of shit husband. The second POV is from her good for nothing brother-in-law and the last POV is from her older sister. I really wish we had gotten more of the last POV since I find It much easier to relate and empathize with sisterly love and support than with entitled sexist men who were only there to use her and cast her aside as soon as she got difficult :)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Domestic abuse

Minor: Alcoholism and Animal cruelty

emilistevenson's review

challenging dark sad fast-paced

• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Child abuse

Moderate: Miscarriage and Misogyny

Minor: Alcoholism