Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Human Acts

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?"

Content Warnings

jayisreading's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

I gave Deborah Smith some flak for her translation of The Vegetarian, and I admit that I entered Human Acts with some wariness (I mean, it didn’t help that the title alone is already a departure from the original title, which translates to The Boy Is Coming). However, unlike The Vegetarian, I found myself drawn into the quiet prose and translation of Human Acts. Perhaps it’s a result of how Kang decided to write the novel that it influenced Smith’s translation, but the writing felt more deliberate in getting the reader to slow down and think about the grief of each narrator across these chapters. As opposed to focusing on the Gwangju Uprising itself, Kang draws attention to the lasting grief and trauma of each narrator. In some ways, I have to admit that I think I actually prefer the title Smith decided to run with: Human Acts. Because, at its core, the novel reflects on the nature of humans and their actions, both violent and vulnerable.

I think some readers may find the different writing styles for each chapter a little off-putting (especially when it enters the second-person perspective), but I found it very effective in establishing the distinct voices of each narrator and how they were processing the shared connection they had across time. It was especially poignant to me that the novel ended with Kang herself as the narrator, who is from Gwangju.

This is definitely a novel I’d like to revisit in the future, perhaps in the original Korean, because I’m sure I will have missed some details. Overall, though, I found that this novel was utterly evocative and, at the time of reading this, timely, considering the ongoing protests and state violence that some protesters have faced.

Content Warnings

petals4pages's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

2.25

Content Warnings

emerentina's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense

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

Content Warnings

claireh6's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Content Warnings

ayaminerva's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

After you died, I couldn't hold a funeral.
So these eyes that once beheld you became a shrine.
These ears that once heard your voice became a shrine.
These lungs that once inhaled your breath became a shrine.
The flowers that bloom in spring, the willows, the raindrops and snowflakes became shrines.
The mornings ushering in each day, the evenings that daily darken, became shrines.
---------------------

Han Kang weaves their history through the lens of the aftermath. She gives weight to stories behind the frontline and highlights the convoluted relationship of loss and memory, particularly those of survivors, especially those of survivors.

Standout pieces for me were The Editor, The Boy's Friend, and The Factory Girl.

Content Warnings

sakisreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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? No

3.0

✨ Thrifted ✨

Wow. What a challenging set of stories 🥲 It is incredibly gory and harsh and so I found it quite challenging to get through.
I didn’t have a clue about the historical events so it was eye-opening to read fictionalised accounts on it.

When I first read Han Kang’s The Vegetarian, I wasn’t sure how to process it as it was so heavy. This one was definitely the same but I managed it in the end. Trigger warnings are included below 🥺

Content Warnings

seulgireads's review

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dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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