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harleyglynn's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy
passionatereader78's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Minor: Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Religious bigotry
epruta's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Grief, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide, and Alcohol
pbuzzard's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Blood, Abortion, Abandonment, and Colonisation
Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and War
smstevens's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
caitlinriach's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Mass/school shootings, and Death of parent
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, and War
alisonw's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Firstly a TW: It deals with extremely heavy subjects of loss, war, corruption, all kinds of abuse, murder including all ages, all very graphically so please be warned if you think you can’t handle that.
But if you’re unsure, don’t let that put you off. This book tells the true story of the people of Jeju and all they have gone through in the last century through a fictional narrative and the graphic elements are there because they happened, reading them feels similar to the sobering feeling of going to a concentration camp has, it’s horribly sad but feels like a necessity to be able to respect and remember - in my case as a European who was taught nothing about Korea’s history, it felt so important to acknowledge and learn about these events for the first time.
The author is masterful at weaving history and fiction together, none of the fictitious story line feels forced to bring in a historical event, while at the same time the story does not steal from the history, I would actually say it helps give it more blood and feel more tangible rather than cold facts on a page about somewhere far away.
Highly highly recommend.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Sexual harassment
imogenrose97's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape
azilisssss's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Vomit and Pregnancy
rieviolet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The sections with historical, social and cultural informations were very interesting (at least for me) but I don't think that they were very well integrated into the narration and I can see how someone might find them a bit too much didactic and dry.
The historical events that are the basis for this story were brutal and certainly they cannot be brushed aside, but I still think that an author can approach the portraying of violence in a way that does not feel gratuitous (as it did for me in this case). I don't think that such a violence was well transposed on the page, at times it just felt like a list of atrocities, just for shock value.
In general, I just didn't get along much with the writing style, I found it eithera bit plain or a bit too much overdone, without much subtlety in terms of both narration and characterization.
Speaking of characters, I have to say that I struggled to connect with them, even when it came to the main character, Youngsook, there were very few moments when I felt really engrossed in her story and her feelings. I think that the characters' emotions were not so well portrayed, they were either too much melodramatic for my taste or kept hidden or just vaguely hinted at, so that I struggled as a reader to actually understand their depth and to be interested in the unfolding of the various relationships.
I wasn't so keen on the big final reveal, the events of the last chapters
just felt like too much for me, too over dramatic, too out of nowhere, just too much. The ending itself was also very abrupt.
I really liked the setting and the historical/cultural background but the story, the characters and the writing style quite dampened my enjoyment of the book.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, and Cancer