Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Shelter

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

melliferamel's review

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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sjp8987's review

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

2.75

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sdchibro's review

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dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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yv_tte's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

From the book’s get-go, I loved the writing. Even the most mundane day-to-day descriptions felt real and easy to visualize. It was immersive. You could see the cracks in the water-stained ceiling and hear creaking footsteps and the jingle of keys in the locks.

THE REST OF THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

Written from the perspective of 36-year-old Korean man Kyung, this book tells the story of trauma passed down from one generation to the next. While the story begins by centering his family’s financial problems, it quickly becomes clear the main center of this book is Kyung’s complex relationship with his parents.

His parents were supposed to be his lifeline, but in a turn of events, he has to be the one to treat them with care and look after them. At first, we learn he resents his dad for hitting his mom. He resents his mom for being a victim. He resents himself for letting his relationship with his parents deteriorate in a way where he feels out of place helping them recover from such a traumatizing event. This couldn’t have happened at a worse time for him and his family. The world has shifted underneath his feet. Their dynamic can never be the same. He has never forgiven them for his childhood and doesn’t understand why he has to give back to parents he feels he should selflessly love but has never forgiven.

When you find out Kyung’s mom hit him and took out her powerlessness in the face of her abuse out on him, it explains his strained relationship with her. You think this book is about the horrible tragedy that happened to his parents, and it is, but it’s also about the horrible generational effects of abuse.

It’s a punch to the gut when Kyung realizes his father beat his mother the day of the attack as punishment for trying to leave him. It’s a punch to the gut when he realizes his parents were never the robbers’ intended targets. If his mother hadn't had to ask the wrong people for help, they wouldn't have ever been harmed. Kyung learns he has to mourn more than his mother's death. He has to mourn the potential relationship they could've had and he'll never experience because she's gone.

At the end of the story, Kyung has to decide whether to become the kind of person who abuses others, like his father, or free himself from the cycle and try to heal. The end of the book wasn’t a satisfying conclusion that wrapped up all loose ends, but it was an end that preceded a new beginning. It ended with hope.

All in all, I really did enjoy this book and would recommend it to others.

(.25 off bc i wasnt sure gillian was as fleshed out as she should have been she felt like a very placeholder wife, (which might kinda be the point considering how ill-suited for marriage kyung really was due to his trauma. it felt like she could have been interchangeable and she just happened to be the woman he settled for) & kyung was… very… strange about marina and i didn't like that.)

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