Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong

19 reviews

clairebonney's review against another edition

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3.75


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nadir's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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lindsloveslit's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

2.25

I should preface ALL of this with: I don't read many horror, mystery, or thriller books. So, take everything I say with a grain of salt! 

"The Good Son" shook me within the first ten pages, and caused me to jump at every unfamiliar sound I heard for the remainder of the book. 😅 It immediately grips you, with the narrator Yu-jin waking up to Mother's body at the bottom of the stairs. He doesn't remember anything, and for the next three days he pieces together the mysery. 

I really enjoyed the writing of this translated thriller/crime for the first 40% of the book, but the remainder ended up being pretty predictable and more gory than I'm used to. 🙈 To add, reading a book from this perspective ended up feeling so haunting and claustrophic. There were sentences that made me really uncomfortable and I'm not sure if I love or hate the book... what i am sure of is that it is the darkest, most creepy book I've ever read. The dreams it caused and sleep it stole was REAL. 🤣 

P.S. This was my first ever buddy read through @the.storygraph and I LOVE IT (shout out to @majreads for joining me). It was really helpful for me to bounce questions and thoughts back and forth.

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akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

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dark sad fast-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

3.75

Very well written but the ending made me so mad/sad. In like, a semi good way.

HAE JIN DESERVED BETTER. I will forever be pissed off at that he was so kind ;3; *cries*

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madarauchiha's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-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? Yes

2.75

 ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜  my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡 ❤️

Ok interesting. You can kinda see how this is going to play out before the book telegraphs it. I don't think the mc was, like, actually psychotic or whatever. The writing and translation was very smooth and enjoyable to read.

I'm agreeing with storygraph user 'historysoverture': " People with mental illness are significantly more likely to be the victim of a crime than the perpetrator. And there's already so much stigma around people with mental illnesses, so why make it worse? Not a terrible book, but not for me. "

content warnings: 

minor suicide ideation, dogs, parent death, religion catholic, 

medium childbirth, pregnancy, alcohol use, death, medical content, 

major ableism, incest, sexual harassment, medical abuse, child abuse, child death, drowning, femicide, stalking, toxic relationships, gore, murder, parental death, blood, mental illness, violence, sharps, car accidents

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incigiru's review

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dark 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? Yes

4.25


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jayisreading's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

The Good Son is a great book to pick up if you’re a fan of twisted revenge and diving into a murderer’s psyche. What I particularly liked was Jeong’s structure of the novel. Rather than a build-up to the murder, it happens from the get-go, leaving the rest of the book to be an exploration of motive and consequences. There were a few things that I felt weren’t answered, but I also can’t tell if that was intentional or not, especially considering that this is a translation.

On that note, I would have loved to have read the original, especially to get a feel for the nuances in how these characters are speaking to one another. Unfortunately, that’s something that can’t be translated from Korean to English, but I think it would have made a pretty big impact on the overall tone.

There isn’t anything phenomenal about The Good Son that would merit it a must-read, but it kept me engaged and interested enough to get through it in a few days. 

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internationalreads's review

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dark fast-paced
  • 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? Yes

5.0


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escapinginpaper's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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