Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

32 reviews

nekomata's review

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

7.71 avg score

This book was challenging to read. Lots of heavy themes and darker tones.
The main theme for me was autonomy; is it truly ours or do we have to make decisions still thinking of how it'll affect those around us? 

The physical and bodily violence is not as horrendous as the violence that goes on within our mind. Most of which are self-inflicted, which is that much sadder to admit out loud.

Watching Yeong-hye's descend into madness through the eyes of those around her was fascinating, liberating, yet heartbreaking all at the same time. The last part told from her older sister's POV, In-hye, was the most difficult to read. Overall, this was an amazing experience, but it's not a book for everyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, and Sexual assault

bxnny's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Rape, Dementia, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Medical content, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

arieslofi's review

dark reflective sad fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Medical content, and Rape

Moderate: Child abuse and Ableism

Minor: Abandonment

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

abicaro17's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This is hard because while I enjoyed the symbolism and literary quality of this book, it also contains numerous instances of gratuitous violence, eating disorders, and abuse. I came into this book thinking it was a horror book based on the cover and implications in the synopsis. It is a horror book but not like I thought. The way women are treated in this book is the truly horrifying part. Rape, abuse, sexualisation, more rape etc. I really enjoyed the intentional slow decent for Yeong-hye into having zero control over her life despite every attempt to prevent it. I think the execution is just so violent that this book is soured for any attempt at resolution. Especially when the resolution is the sister abandoning her child?! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Abandonment, Mental illness, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Body horror, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexism, Gaslighting, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Eating disorder, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

samihami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I couldn’t find sense in it. +3 stars for the creative narrative style and the theme of culture, traditions, and going against them. -2 because it seems

like vegetarianism is a sign of mental condition (since Yeong-hye ends up having an ed, attempts suicide, dissociates completely, and exhibits unusual behaviour) and because it just didn’t make sense to me. The dream inputs in the beginning were confusing, the characters seemed to have been quite one dimensional and Yeong-hye’s mental state just felt out of place and a little but silly. 

 
Though I must say I enjoyed the depiction of

marital SA as that rarely gets acknowledged or represented and isn’t commonly shown so realistically as it is The Vegetarian.

Overall it’s okay but wouldn’t recommend it to someone out of nowhere or reread it. 

Keep in mind that this can be triggering for some. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Blood, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, and Body shaming

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Abandonment

thomasdj's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abandonment

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

1.0

i am really trying to think if there's anything i got out of this book, and i'm coming up blank.
i can't even say it was interesting because i was often bored. it was undeniably disturbing, but that alone doesn't make for a good read. it often read like, "they did this. then they did this. this is what they did." the writing fell so flat that i didn't highlight a single passage. and maybe it went over my head but i couldn't extract any meaning from it, either. after reading others' reviews, none of the mentioned themes held any weight for me, except for patriarchy. just an unpleasant, unenlightening slog. it earned one star because the first part of the three was my favorite, and at least i can say i have a favorite, even though i wouldn't say it was good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Infidelity, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, and Blood

Moderate: Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Gore, Abandonment, and Body shaming

Minor: Ableism, Dementia, Alcohol, and Cursing

loustat__'s review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Abandonment

maddeesryan's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit