Reviews with content warning for Rape - Another Person

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Another Person by Kang Hwagil

9 reviews

minimicropup's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Def not a light read! It’s one of those books you have to be in the mood for (and psychologically prepared to read).

Energy: Abashed. Raw. Resigned.

Scene: 🇰🇷 Anjin and Seoul, South Korea in the 1990s/2000s.

Perspective: We follow multiple perspectives giving their experiences around feminism, sexual abuse, misogyny, domestic violence, and unhealthy relationships. Sometimes we know who is speaking and other times they are peripheral to the main story. For example, a medical worker, a professor, a high school friend etc. Told in three parts.

🐕 Howls: Hyper-focus on trauma with repeating (not repetitive) exploration and commentary made this feel so long and dense sometimes.

🐩 Tail Wags: The snapshot essay style. Different viewpoints that show, not tell. Thought-provoking commentary and discussions. Excellent translation.

🤔 Random Thoughts:

Check content heads-up! This could be validating or super triggering and a little too accurate depending on your past experiences and where you are in your life journey right now.

I wouldn't say this is trauma porn, but there is a LOT and it’s the entire focus of every single chapter. Everything from rejection by peers to violent sexual abuse. I liked that the reveals helped me feel for the characters even when I didn’t understand their actions or was getting judgey. But (and this will sound awful) …it’s so focused on all the characters traumas that I forgot who experienced what as the stories start to overlap.

If you aren’t familiar with Korean naming, just have Google nearby to help you get the hang of it, then it'll be easier to keep track of characters

🤓 Reader Role: Characters speaking to us and thinking aloud. Others reflecting and we are privy to their thoughts via third person narrator who also assists with showing us the significance of events.

🗺️ World-Building: Barren. Mentions place names but we are mostly in the characters' minds or exploring concepts and commentary.

🔥 Fuel: Emotional investment, moral dilemmas, and crossing paths where seemingly unrelated characters stories overlap in surprising and meaningful ways.

📖 Cred: Hyper-realistic.

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Fresh grass. Misty lake. Ripe persimmon. Karaoke bar. Stained glass. Choral voices. Sobbing. Jane Eyre.

Psychological literary fiction
Show-more-than-tell commentary on power dynamics, abuse, misogyny, and victim blaming.
Coming of age examination of friendships with consequences
Stream of consciousness essay style
Jumping between thoughts and characters
Observational (from a distance) character focused narratives
Book club/buddy read deep dives
Topics from a 1990s/early 2000s viewpoint (unfortunately much is still relevant today)
Second hand cringe, morally complex characters
Symbolism and metaphors with a touch of purple prose
Large cast of characters
Random snapshot POVs that ultimately interconnect

Content Heads-Up: Physical assault. Victim shaming/blaming. Sexual assault, rape (by partner; intoxicated/no memory). Peer rejection. Bullying (rumours, body shaming). Misogyny. Medical (discussion; STIs, cervical cancer, pus). Alcohol (casual, parties). Possible false accusation. Abortion. Parental/in-law pressure. Suicidal ideation, planning (on page, descriptive). Loss of grandparent. Toxic masculinity. Body shaming (weight gain, ageing). Incest, pedophilia (very brief mention). Infertility.

Rep: Dark and light skin tones. Korean. Cisgender. Heterosexual.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Pushkin Press and NetGalley.

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Content Warnings

abbie_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my free digital ARC!

This was a tough read - perhaps surprising to no one given it's pitched as the #MeToo meets Kim JiYoung, Born 1982. It starts out with a woman living in the aftermath of a domestic abuse case with her ex-partner, a colleague, which has resulted in a shit storm of social media hate - aimed at her. Another Person explores the culture of sexual violence against women in South Korea (specifically on university campuses), the misogyny that's ingrained in a lot of South Korean men, as well as beauty standards and colourism.

It's absolutely an infuriating read, and about midway through it did start to grind me down a bit, become tiresome. We spend a lot of time in the heads of and interacting with men who firmly believe women to be inferior. Men who claim to be feminists then go on to spout the most misogynistic drivel you've ever heard. Men who use back-handed compliments and gaslighting to manipulate women into staying in abusive relationships. Men who think women owe them something for doing something vaguely kind. Men who prey on vulnerable and lonely girls. Often times the women don't fare much better. It's brutal the way some of them turn on other girls, quick to slut-shame and victim blame, turning mean and cold so that they don't find themselves associated with girls with a 'reputation'. But there is a note of hope as the women in the book overcome the competitiveness society tries to ingrain in them, in order to life and support one another.

This book flits between timelines and perspectives, showing how everyone knows someone who's been affected in some way by sexual violence. However, the storylines started to get a bit jumbled for me. It would be difficult for a while to figure out who was speaking, and which period we were in.

Also I learned while reading this book that South Korea has something legally defined as 'quasi-rape' so that was fun.

A must-read if you're looking for a book that explores the MeToo movement and sexual violence, but just go in prepared.

Content Warnings