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bittytofu'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide
Minor: Alcoholism and Infertility
jpcolkitt9190's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Rape
eva_vva's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexism, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infertility, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Excrement, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment
natncho's review against another edition
- 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? No
5.0
After you died I couldn't hold a funeral, so my life became a funeral.
Glass is transparent, right? And fragile. That's the fundamental nature of glass. And that's why objects that are made of glass have to be handled with care. After all, if they end up smashed or cracked or chipped then they're good for nothing, right, you just have to chuck them away.
Before, we used to have a kind of glass that couldn't be broken. A truth so hard and clear it might as well have been made of glass. So when you think about it, it was only when we were shattered that we proved we had souls. That what we really were was humans made of glass.
Is it true that human beings are fundamentally cruel? Is the experience of cruelty the only thing we share as a species? Is the dignity that we cling to nothing but self-delusion, masking from ourselves this single truth: that each one of us is capable of being reduced to an insect, a ravening beast, a lump of meat? To be degraded, damages, slaughtered - is this the essential fate of humankind, one which history has confirmed as inevitable?
How had the seasons kept on turning for me, when time had stopped forever for him that May?"
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
Minor: Genocide
emstermeegs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
airr's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit
terry_v's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, and Grief
dreamingpages's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
I knew nothing about the Gwangju Uprising or the labor movement in South Korea before reading this book. It was really eye opening to see the hardships South Korea has faced in recent history.
Each chapter of this book takes place from a different character's perspective, each loosely tied to a central character: a boy who was killed during the Uprising. The chapters expand out in time, from 1980 to 2013. Choosing to write the book in this way encapsulates how these events ripple through time and S. Korean society; trauma like this doesn't just go away.
Han Kang examines the sheer staggering human capacity for cruelty and questions the existence of the soul. I cried several times and felt this book in my core.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, Grief, and Murder
emerentina's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt