Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Concerning My Daughter by Kim Hye-Jin

8 reviews

rachjy's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Excrement, and Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse and Lesbophobia

Minor: Violence

breadbummer's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Being queer, this book makes me wonder how my parents really view my queerness considering how they still talk to members of my family about my girlfriend being my friend; are they trying to protect me, or are they worried about how it will reflect on them? It was a very painful read in this way, but I did enjoy seeing the mother's way of caring for the elderly patients and was heartened (in a way?) by her

Spoiler

ultimately losing her job because she refused to take part in elder abuse

. This also hit me pretty hard, as it reminded me think about how the people at my grandma's nursing home could have possibly treated her the way they did.

On another note, I don't really know how I feel about the ending...it seemed like it was at the right point to stop but, at the same time, felt very abrupt and indefinite.

The book, itself, I think is a great example for how to take on the perspective of a multifaceted character, but the story itself was rather bleak and just alright, I guess.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Dementia, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, and Death

Moderate: Sexism, Police brutality, and Grief

Minor: Medical content, Sexual content, Excrement, and Murder

There was one small section of the book that made my stomach drop. While it wasn't a detailed description of killing one's own child, the mother more or less sympathizes with people who have killed their children for not being the way they wanted them to be (in this case, the mother wants her daughter to be "normal" and not a lesbian). She mentions that if her husband was still alive and had found out about it, he would have killed their daughter.

yasmin_raev's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Violence, Homophobia, Dementia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Domestic abuse

michaelion's review

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

A perfect book for socialist baby lesbians in crisis. No I will not elaborate!

This one hits a lil too close to home for me because I too currently work in healthcare with a woman who has memory loss and I too am gay and have a girlfriend and I too do not like my roommate and I also do not have children. I am all of these characters. So extra points for being relevant to me and the life I currently live but who knows how I'll feel about it next year. I like the way the emotions are expressed. Even though it's a translation of a language I don't know I feel they did the original justice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dementia, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Grief, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

I tagged ableism although it's more like ageism. But in this case it's one and the same.

milesjmoran's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Police brutality, Lesbophobia, Grief, Terminal illness, Sexism, Death, Hate crime, and Ableism

Moderate: Excrement and Vomit

szuum's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Medical content, Confinement, Dementia, and Excrement

Minor: Forced institutionalization

internationalreads's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Grief, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Death, Hate crime, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent

cynicalraven's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The book follows a homophobic mother trying to understand her lesbian daughter. While it does offer a representation of South-Korean society that I appreciated (although it is not in a positive lighting), I really did not need the pov of a homophobe (and sexist too). I expected the book to be from the pov of the daughter 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Excrement, Sexism, and Terminal illness