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lizzie_r's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
A devastating read, tender & keen. Invites the readers into the life, in vignettes, of a Korean woman muddling through childhood & early adulthood.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Sexual content and Sexism
Minor: Child abuse and Alcohol
helenamarijke's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
4.25
This book confused be a lot. For some reason I had grand expectations. It was very slow, very top-layer while still deeply emotional. I was curious all the way through but also got a bit tired of the extreme slow burn and slice of life feel before the twist near the last part. Maybe I should've just read it in one sitting. But even though confusing and a bit tiring at times the ending (or the last third of the book after the twist) for some reason really got me. And the final scene will probably stick with me for a long time. Maybe Oh San's boring daily life was the point in the end
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Self harm
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: Blood, Sexism, Stalking, Alcoholism, and Animal cruelty
biblioghoul's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Abandonment, and Self harm
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual harassment and Animal cruelty
heartcolored's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I fell in love with the beautiful prose as soon as I read the first chapter. The author describes everything so vividly it felt like I was watching a movie. It's a slow burn but it never felt dragging because the writing is so beautiful. It's the kind of book that will linger in your mind for so long even months after reading it.
I was utterly surprised by the ending and this is the first time I've encountered such a bizarre and unsettling way of dying. I feel like I won't be able to forget the ending even if I want to. Also, the ending further fueled my hatred for men. Seeing the photographer and Choi Hyunli live a normal life as if they didn't ruin San's life (who's now buried in the soil like the plants and flowers that she used to tend at the flower shop) angers me so much especially because it really happens in real life.
There are women out there whose trauma (caused by men) are only buried and repressed. They never see the light of day and that's the painful truth for the victims of assault, misogyny, and abuse. Lastly, I like the metaphor of the violets and the author's afterword made me appreciate the story even more.
I was utterly surprised by the ending and this is the first time I've encountered such a bizarre and unsettling way of dying. I feel like I won't be able to forget the ending even if I want to. Also, the ending further fueled my hatred for men. Seeing the photographer and Choi Hyunli live a normal life as if they didn't ruin San's life (who's now buried in the soil like the plants and flowers that she used to tend at the flower shop) angers me so much especially because it really happens in real life.
There are women out there whose trauma (caused by men) are only buried and repressed. They never see the light of day and that's the painful truth for the victims of assault, misogyny, and abuse. Lastly, I like the metaphor of the violets and the author's afterword made me appreciate the story even more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Death, Self harm, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Abandonment, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, and Rape
sonalipawar26's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-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
4.0
Women are second-class citizens. No matter what you say or do, they will continue to be treated so. They'll be abused, they'll be made to feel small, they'll be found on the side of the roads, violated, they'll be made to shrink themselves in spaces that are as much theirs, and they'll continue to be silenced.
Silence. Shin Kyung-Sook's Violets (translated by @antonhur) is about silent women—both who choose to do so and those who are forced into it.
Violet. Violence. Violator.
This 200-odd-page book brims with melancholy. It's small in size but as mighty as they come.
It is about the friendship b/w an overbearing woman and a timid one. It is about obsession where 22-year-old San becomes infatuated with a womanizing photographer, so much so that she puts her life in danger. Violets is about abandonment, sexual identity, loneliness. But it is also about the ways in which men violate women.
I was momentarily blinded by the prose, just like how the flash of a camera leaves you with little sight, forcing you to find your bearings. I found myself breathing heavily as I turned the last few pages, my heart racing, and eyes wide in utter shock. There was a disconnect b/w San and her surroundings; at certain places it felt like she was undergoing an out-of-body experience, watching herself from afar. It was palpable. It felt I was there with her the entire time, watching her from a distance but unable to help. San wasn't alone in her hallucinations.
The prose, detached and devoid of any emotion, as if the author was simply stating facts, certainly stirred quite a few emotions within. And Anton Hur has done a marvellous job translating the book.
This story is not just San's. San depicts all the women out here and everything that comes from being one--the good, the bad, the ugly. But mostly the ugly.
I am certain, the last few pages are going to stay with me for a long, long time.
Silence. Shin Kyung-Sook's Violets (translated by @antonhur) is about silent women—both who choose to do so and those who are forced into it.
Violet. Violence. Violator.
This 200-odd-page book brims with melancholy. It's small in size but as mighty as they come.
It is about the friendship b/w an overbearing woman and a timid one. It is about obsession where 22-year-old San becomes infatuated with a womanizing photographer, so much so that she puts her life in danger. Violets is about abandonment, sexual identity, loneliness. But it is also about the ways in which men violate women.
I was momentarily blinded by the prose, just like how the flash of a camera leaves you with little sight, forcing you to find your bearings. I found myself breathing heavily as I turned the last few pages, my heart racing, and eyes wide in utter shock. There was a disconnect b/w San and her surroundings; at certain places it felt like she was undergoing an out-of-body experience, watching herself from afar. It was palpable. It felt I was there with her the entire time, watching her from a distance but unable to help. San wasn't alone in her hallucinations.
The prose, detached and devoid of any emotion, as if the author was simply stating facts, certainly stirred quite a few emotions within. And Anton Hur has done a marvellous job translating the book.
This story is not just San's. San depicts all the women out here and everything that comes from being one--the good, the bad, the ugly. But mostly the ugly.
I am certain, the last few pages are going to stay with me for a long, long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Abandonment and Mental illness
selfbybee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Cw: abandonment, childhood neglect, domestic violence?, depression, sexual assault & —ape (on page), hallucinations, self harm
“In her heart, whenever she returns home late at night, there’s always the hope that when she looks up from the street, someone will have turned in the lights for her. This has never once come to pass.”
The best way to describe this book is watching your ice cream slowly melt off the cone with absolutely no way to stop it. This incredibly slow burn exploration of grief and childhood trauma around rejection, abandonment, and insecurity.
The short beats of clarity and hope make San’s inevitable spiral into disparity and disillusion that much more heartbreaking.
I cannot fathom reading this in Hangul and can only just barely see I am missing so much of the richness and vivid storytelling in this translation but what a beautiful job nontheless the ending was both grating and also deeply unsettling simple because I wanted her to come out on top at the end. Wow.
“In her heart, whenever she returns home late at night, there’s always the hope that when she looks up from the street, someone will have turned in the lights for her. This has never once come to pass.”
The best way to describe this book is watching your ice cream slowly melt off the cone with absolutely no way to stop it. This incredibly slow burn exploration of grief and childhood trauma around rejection, abandonment, and insecurity.
The short beats of clarity and hope make San’s inevitable spiral into disparity and disillusion that much more heartbreaking.
I cannot fathom reading this in Hangul and can only just barely see I am missing so much of the richness and vivid storytelling in this translation but what a beautiful job nontheless the ending was both grating and also deeply unsettling simple because I wanted her to come out on top at the end. Wow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Mental illness, Self harm, and Abandonment
nini23's review against another edition
4.0
Violets by Shin Kyung-sook has lingered in my mind days after reading. It's left an imprint like afterimages after a camera's flash. I wish San and Su-ae could have used the flower shop as a sanctuary forever. Violet, violence, violator. Unremarkable flowers, unremarkable women. The afterword by the author is very touching, this novel was written in the early 2000s and yet, seeing how the latest South Korean president has been elected in 2022 on promises of fighting against feminism, not much has changed. The aggression and sexual violence toward women has to stop.
I had previously read Shin's Please Look After Mom in translation. While that was from the missing/lost mother's point of view, Violets interestingly takes the abandoned daughter's perspective. I'll confess to not fully grasping the significance of the childhood incident in the minari fields but it ends where it starts with a fitting symmetry. The loneliness in the middle of busy bustling Seoul experienced by San is piercing in its intensity.
Hats off to Anton Hur for the translation, I've read his thoughtful insights on translating Korean on his blog. Each word was carefully considered and I found myself sometimes pondering what the original Korean word was, like for 'darling.'
I had previously read Shin's Please Look After Mom in translation. While that was from the missing/lost mother's point of view, Violets interestingly takes the abandoned daughter's perspective. I'll confess to not fully grasping the significance of the childhood incident in the minari fields but it ends where it starts with a fitting symmetry. The loneliness in the middle of busy bustling Seoul experienced by San is piercing in its intensity.
Hats off to Anton Hur for the translation, I've read his thoughtful insights on translating Korean on his blog. Each word was carefully considered and I found myself sometimes pondering what the original Korean word was, like for 'darling.'
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
sebby_reads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Violets by South Korean writer Kyung-Shook Shin tells a story of Oh San and her lonely and repressive life. It was originally published in 2001 and has been recently translated into English by Anton Hur. I’ve been wanting to read this for quite some time. Thank you so much Feminist Press for a digital ARC.
The story started with San’s childhood in a village. Since her father abandoned them she had been living with her mother and grandmother. She was also neglected by her mother and she was only accompany by her friend Namae. One day, they had a moment of physical intimacy in a field of minari but afterwards San faced a violent rejection from Namae. Unbeknownst to the situation and her feelings at that time, San struggled to get her friend back but Namae continued to reject her.
Years later while working at a flower shop in Seoul, San became friend with Su-ae, the florist of the shop who later became her roommate. At the shop, she encountered a sexually aggressive businessman, and a photographer who came to take photos of violets for a magazine. After another encounter with the photographer, San developed an obsession with him. Since she left the village San never met Namae again but still wondered about that brief intimate incident from time to time.Scarred by her parents’ abandonment and Namae’s harsh rejection, San was traumatised and didn’t know how to deal with her feelings for the photographer Will she ever feel loved?
What a beautiful and haunting story. Through writer’s captivating and picturesque storytelling, I sauntered through San’s lonely life and found a lot to unpack for. The protagonist was shattered by the trauma of being abandoned since her youth and had been internally battling the repeated rejections of her closet people. She had also repressed her queer desire internally for a long time. The book depicted a society where patriarchy is still strongly presence and talked about domestic abuse and violence against women including sexual harassment, as well. It is a heartbreaking read. Kudos to Anton Hur for yet another eminent translation. Poignant and unforgettable.
Violets will be available on April 12th, 2022. This is my first book by Kyung-Shook Shin and I’ve heard or seen many great reviews of her book, Please Look After Mom which won her 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize. I have already put it in my TBR list and can’t wait to read it, too. Anton Hur is longlisted for this year’s International Bookers with two of his translated books, Cursed Bunny and Love in the Big City. I love both books and I would like to read his other translated works, too. This is my second book of #ManseMarch reading. I had very little reading in March but managed to finish this book in the evening of 31st March. Just in the nick of time. 😊
The story started with San’s childhood in a village. Since her father abandoned them she had been living with her mother and grandmother. She was also neglected by her mother and she was only accompany by her friend Namae. One day, they had a moment of physical intimacy in a field of minari but afterwards San faced a violent rejection from Namae. Unbeknownst to the situation and her feelings at that time, San struggled to get her friend back but Namae continued to reject her.
Years later while working at a flower shop in Seoul, San became friend with Su-ae, the florist of the shop who later became her roommate. At the shop, she encountered a sexually aggressive businessman, and a photographer who came to take photos of violets for a magazine. After another encounter with the photographer, San developed an obsession with him. Since she left the village San never met Namae again but still wondered about that brief intimate incident from time to time.Scarred by her parents’ abandonment and Namae’s harsh rejection, San was traumatised and didn’t know how to deal with her feelings for the photographer Will she ever feel loved?
What a beautiful and haunting story. Through writer’s captivating and picturesque storytelling, I sauntered through San’s lonely life and found a lot to unpack for. The protagonist was shattered by the trauma of being abandoned since her youth and had been internally battling the repeated rejections of her closet people. She had also repressed her queer desire internally for a long time. The book depicted a society where patriarchy is still strongly presence and talked about domestic abuse and violence against women including sexual harassment, as well. It is a heartbreaking read. Kudos to Anton Hur for yet another eminent translation. Poignant and unforgettable.
Violets will be available on April 12th, 2022. This is my first book by Kyung-Shook Shin and I’ve heard or seen many great reviews of her book, Please Look After Mom which won her 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize. I have already put it in my TBR list and can’t wait to read it, too. Anton Hur is longlisted for this year’s International Bookers with two of his translated books, Cursed Bunny and Love in the Big City. I love both books and I would like to read his other translated works, too. This is my second book of #ManseMarch reading. I had very little reading in March but managed to finish this book in the evening of 31st March. Just in the nick of time. 😊
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm, Abandonment, and Violence
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