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annaemilia's review against another edition
2.0
The only thing worth mentioning about this book (and why I don't give it a 1-star rating) is it's extremely important subject matter, the fact that women from all over Asia were forced to be "comfort" women for Japanese soldiers during WWII. If you've never heard about this part of history or are interested to learn more I'd encourage you to watch documentaries and interviews of comfort women on youtube and read on historical facts, but skip this book completely.
The writing is extremely rudimentary, the dialogue is unnatural and the storytelling is like straight from a bad wattpad-novel. I'm sorry, but from the first few pages I was cringing hard and the only reason I kept going was hoping the story would prove the read worthwhile. It did not. Rarely have I read stories as badly written and told as this one, which is a shame. Looking at the average rating, this story has still resonated with people which I don't see as a bad thing at all, because more people should know about this particular time in history. It's still jarring to see such a high rating on a historical fiction novel that has one of the worst writing I've ever read.
Apart from the sloppy and lazy writing I was also taken aback by subtle cultural inaccuracies throughout the novel. Misspelled Korean words (romanized) and used in weird context or altogether wrong, and completely missing the actual cultural atmosphere in 1940-1970s (it's evident heavy googling was involved). The novel is not historically inaccurate per-se, but clearly shows little understanding to the historical and cultural aspects of Korea.
The writing is extremely rudimentary, the dialogue is unnatural and the storytelling is like straight from a bad wattpad-novel. I'm sorry, but from the first few pages I was cringing hard and the only reason I kept going was hoping the story would prove the read worthwhile. It did not. Rarely have I read stories as badly written and told as this one, which is a shame. Looking at the average rating, this story has still resonated with people which I don't see as a bad thing at all, because more people should know about this particular time in history. It's still jarring to see such a high rating on a historical fiction novel that has one of the worst writing I've ever read.
Apart from the sloppy and lazy writing I was also taken aback by subtle cultural inaccuracies throughout the novel. Misspelled Korean words (romanized) and used in weird context or altogether wrong, and completely missing the actual cultural atmosphere in 1940-1970s (it's evident heavy googling was involved). The novel is not historically inaccurate per-se, but clearly shows little understanding to the historical and cultural aspects of Korea.
thecolorsofboredom's review against another edition
3.0
While the story itself was interesting, and one that deserves to be told, I wasn't a big fan of the writing style. It was written in first person, but was suck somewhere between a descriptive and conversational style that didn't seem to flow well. I also didn't like the frame story format. I would have enjoyed the novel more if it was only from the grandmother's point of view, as nothing that the granddaughter did seemed all that important or additive to the story.
This book was given to be my NetGalley.
This book was given to be my NetGalley.
bagreening's review against another edition
5.0
What a fascinating story!!! I loved everything about this book! Everyone must read. I can't believe I've never heard of comfort women.
thefool's review against another edition
4.0
The characters within are fictional, but the story of the Comfort Women itself is real.
Disturbing.
What's even more disturbing is not acknowledging a part of history that happened. Sure, it's unsavory. Sure, the Japanese wouldn't want that poor part of their past tacked onto their future, but sorry, it is. It needs to be seen and heard, acknowledged and rectified.
I had no idea about any of this. So I'm glad I read it so I can be more educated.
Disturbing.
What's even more disturbing is not acknowledging a part of history that happened. Sure, it's unsavory. Sure, the Japanese wouldn't want that poor part of their past tacked onto their future, but sorry, it is. It needs to be seen and heard, acknowledged and rectified.
I had no idea about any of this. So I'm glad I read it so I can be more educated.
nyne's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Torture
marinels's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
ladyr's review
3.0
3.5 stars.
The history behind this story is one I am ashamed to say I knew nothing about and I am very glad I now know about this horrific part of history. The first 200 pages or so make for some brutal reading.
However as a novel something just didn’t gel for me - I didn’t like the present tense narrative sections and Anna as a character just seemed naive and immature.
I also thought the comb part of the story was over-hyped.
Maybe - because it was written by a man - it lacked some of the subtlety and more emotional nuances required to really make this story ring true for me (although I admire the author massively for his passion and dedication to his research of the subject).
The history behind this story is one I am ashamed to say I knew nothing about and I am very glad I now know about this horrific part of history. The first 200 pages or so make for some brutal reading.
However as a novel something just didn’t gel for me - I didn’t like the present tense narrative sections and Anna as a character just seemed naive and immature.
I also thought the comb part of the story was over-hyped.
Maybe - because it was written by a man - it lacked some of the subtlety and more emotional nuances required to really make this story ring true for me (although I admire the author massively for his passion and dedication to his research of the subject).
ellik6612's review
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-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? No
3.0
Haunting and deeply sad inspired by true events. Not particularly well written but not awfully so, the modern day part was weak. It seemed well researched (?), but I felt uncomfortable reading this deeply personal, emotional and graphically violent story that affected Korean women, written by a white American man. I feel that stories like this should be written by the people who experienced them or were affected by these events. The author seems well intentioned but I'm not sure it was his story to tell.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder
danyb's review against another edition
3.0
I had never heard of comfort women before I read this book.
It was eye opening and distressing, especially since proper reparations have still not been made to this day - this is appalling.
The book was easy to read despite the heavy topics. The characters were compelling and I read it one sitting.
Definitely a book that people should read.
It was eye opening and distressing, especially since proper reparations have still not been made to this day - this is appalling.
The book was easy to read despite the heavy topics. The characters were compelling and I read it one sitting.
Definitely a book that people should read.