Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

148 reviews

a_wren_that_reads's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Blood, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual content, Misogyny, Self harm, Eating disorder, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Vomit

heycloehere's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Self harm, and Animal death

hannaheinhorn's review

challenging dark sad tense 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

1.5

because many people with mental health are already silenced when telling their own stories, this book rubbed me the WRONG way. i disliked the author’s choice to describe various violent instances (specifically the multiple rapes) by gratuitously showing it through the brother-in-law’s perspective and the husband’s perspective. i’ve read far grimmer stories but this one grossed me out, especially because of the pedophilic overtones when describing yeong-hye’s emaciated body. i feel like the author did exactly what she was trying to critique, which is ridiculous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Vomit, Physical abuse, Self harm, Mental illness, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Misogyny, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

dawntin's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.5

What a dark and devastating book! I read this for a class, and was told it would go well with the ecofeminist analysis of literature. It did, though definitely not in the way I thought things would go. The plot was a bit hard to get through at times because of how violent it was: full of family/marriage issues, mental illnesses, and trauma. The narrator changing with each section of the book was interesting. I did not like

the main character’s husband or her sister’s husband’s perspectives

at all, but the drama that unfolded was like a wreck I couldn’t stop looking at. The narrator was never who I wanted to hear from (Yeong-hye gets her small snippets in the form of dreams, but nothing else). I guess that’s a part of the book’s main point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Rape, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Child abuse

anenome's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

scifi_rat's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Misogyny, and Self harm

Moderate: Vomit, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Rape, and Sexual assault

benthewriter's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Rape, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

leic01's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Violence, Misogyny, Rape, Mental illness, Vomit, Eating disorder, and Infidelity

saturnsaz's review

dark reflective 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? Yes

3.5

Quite unsettling but also poetic. There were a few times where I had visceral reactions of disgust. I dont know how to feel right now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual assault

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Violence

mbhcad's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I’m not entirely sure what this novel is about, but that doesn’t stop it from being gripping the entire way through. Han Kang creates a subject whose very existence upends the lives of those around her, laying out like spilt entrails the inescapable violence of patriarchy. Yeong-hye, the titular housewife-turned-vegetarian, is constantly manipulated and violated by the men around her who have decided her expression of autonomy is an unbearable offense. A spectacularly written read that left me feeling hollow, but not in a bad way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexism, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Body shaming, Blood, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Rape, Gore, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Eating disorder, Body horror, Suicide attempt, and Forced institutionalization