koreanlinda's reviews
191 reviews

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This is a realistic depiction of refugees fleeing Africa in precarious conditions. It's captivating even for an adult reader. I strongly recommend it.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in September 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

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If Anything Happens I Love You by Michael Govier, Will McCormack

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was another lucky find in the library, the graphic novels section. I was already feeling sad that day. It was overcast, I felt quite sick, and I couldn't get much work done. My heart was full of sorrow, seeking a way to release. Then I read this book and bawled my eyes out.

My maternal grandmother in Korea suffered from chronic illness and then suffered more from suicide attempts before she died. I live with the fear of dying by suicide with a history of mental illness in my family and my fair share. What makes me not want to depart yet is the separation from my loved ones: the heart-aching love that this book describes.

I recommend this book to anyone who is grieving. I also recommend the 12-minute animation on Netflix by the writers with the same title. It carries the same story but the reimagined graphic in motion is quite beautiful in a different way.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in September 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

Content Warnings

The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today Vol. 1 by Hitsuzi Yamada

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Did not finish book.

Look Back by Tatsuki Fujimoto

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

A fascinating story in a stand-alone manga. It's a story of two teenage manga artists, but their time warps and intertwines beyond imagination.

Chéri, My Destiny! by Okoge Mochino

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funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The plot is rather simple and predictable; however, the characters are adorable. It has a few pages of explicit sex scenes.

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Fifteen Seconds without Sorrow by Shim Bo-Seon

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

I read this book twice, once in its original language, Korean, and another translated into English. Although some poems, such as "A Poem in -ing," partially lost the beauty of wordplay through translation, the translation sufficiently captures the tone of the poems: deep sorrow.

When I discussed the book with two of my friends (my attempt to understand the poems better through their thoughts), we all confessed to its difficulty in comprehension. Shim, Bo-Seon's poems feel like one hand reaching down to the earth to grasp the escaping reality and the other hand floating above into a fictional world. Often they feel dreamy. One of my two friends described it as looking at a beautiful piece of art through an opaque window.

Instead of struggling to understand the poems completely, I settled with feeling the emotions they evoked: again deep sorrow. If you are looking for a book of sad poems, this would be it. Shim's poems don't fall flat as a whine or a helpless cry. There is stoicism in dealing with the sorrow in daily life. Also, Shim's sorrow originates from various sources including past love, loss of father, and societal issues.

A side note:
Be aware. The way Shim describes his female ex-lover and his feelings for her can seem misogynistic. As a man who was born in 1970 and grew up in South Korea, it is not surprising. "South Korea has the worst gender pay gap among the 38 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development according to 2022 data... This marked the 27th year straight that Asia's fourth-largest economy recorded the most severe gender pay gap among the member states." (Source: The Korea Herald) In addition, gender-based violence against women is rampant.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in October 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

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To Strip the Flesh by Oto Toda

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.

The story was too simple for me. The only reason for the protagonist to resist SRS was to be the daughter their parents wanted them to be. It was not quite believable.

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Ashes by Álvaro Ortiz

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adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

What a fascinating story! Ortiz is not only good at drawing unique illustrations but also at telling an imaginative yet believable story. They especially excel at showing the characters' psychology and dynamics among them. It is a story of friendship, life challenges, poverty, loss, and grief. All this hard stuff is portrayed in a comic style lightheartedly so the readers can access it without getting too absorbed. I read it in one sitting, which made my evening a pleasant one.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in June 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

Content Warnings

The Book of Bunny Suicides: Little Fluffy Rabbits Who Just Don't Want to Live Anymore by Andy Riley

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adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.75

This book was a pleasant surprise from a library bookshelf. Two people I showed the book to were aghast at its content, but I found it refreshing and amusing. All the pages in this thin graphic novel are filled with various ways the bunnies find to kill themselves. They get sliced in half and exploded into pieces, but none of the methods succeed. Yet they keep trying one after the other.

I found the book amusing because it reminded me of traditional slapstick cartoons where the characters are invincible such as Tom & Jerry. They experience extreme violence inflicted by each other, but it doesn’t leave unscathed. That is part of the fantasy that makes cartoons and comics, far from our real world.

Suicide is a topic of my interest in my daily life. I often get suicidal thoughts, and what I can do is sit with the ideas, observe them and study. I write about them and read others’ writings about them. For people with suicidal thoughts, suicide is a knife that we carry around to protect us from the worldly sufferings. If not careful, it can cut into us at any moment.

Bunny’s pursuit of ending their life resonated with me. It made me question. “What is causing you pain? How are you coping? May I help you?” The bunny’s endless trial at committing suicide all turn out futile. But that’s how I sometimes feel with my attempt at continuing to live. The world seems to be turned against me, blocking my way all the way around except for a backdoor for escape. Don’t we all sometimes feel that way?

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in June 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

Content Warnings

The Future of Silence: Fiction by Korean Women by Bruce Fulton, Ju-Chan Fulton

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Phew, that was a lot. This anthology of nine stories written by Korean women from various periods in modern Korean history will blow your mind with its diversity and depth. I had to take breaks between stories because there was plenty of emotional substance to take in and process. Living in South Korea as a woman is quite difficult. I knew it already from my own experience of living there until my adolescence and later visiting and working there briefly. What I learned anew from the first half of this book is what my mother and aunts would have gone through in their times.

Since I am sensitive to the quality of translation, I looked up information about the translators beforehand. The married couple have been working together translating Korean literature for many years, and I was able to see their expertise in this book.

I'd be happy to exchange thoughts on any particular story if anyone would like. Feel free to message me on Instagram below.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in June 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

Content Warnings

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koreanlinda's reviews 191 reviews

koreanlinda's reviews
191 reviews