bookninas 's review for:

Human Acts by Han Kang

4.0

---

Through a collection of eight different perspectives, Han Kang crafts an emotional and intense reading experience centered around a young boy simply caught in the crossfire. With a deft but succinct hand, she unpacks the grief and trauma that are weaved and ripple throughout the fabric of Korean society through a human lens. 

At first, the switching of tenses and perspectives made it difficult to follow. It wasn’t until the midpoint of the book (and a brief glance at wikipedia) when the narrative started to connect. Before this book, I didn’t know much about the Gwanju Uprising of 1980. I was vaguely familiar with the South Korea’s history against authoritarianism after following the December martial law crisis, but this book helped me understand how deep and scarring that history goes. 

Overall, Han Kang (supported by her talented translator Deborah Smith) is an exceptional writer and I’m excited to read more from her. The next Han Kang novel I plan to read is We Do Not Part, which a friend gifted me for my birthday!