Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Human Acts by Han Kang

5 reviews

eva_vva's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

seulgireads's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Gun violence, Infertility, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Self harm, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, and Vomit

sevensableyes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

I don't really read books with dark content, let alone ones based on real events, so I don't really know how to review this. Saying I 'enjoyed' the book feels wrong.

It's a heartwrecnhing and tragic story about the Gwangju uprising. It was uncomfortable to read. It's beautifully written (another review I read on here goes into detail about the English translation, which was interesting).

I would highly recommend looking into content warnins before reading this book. Some things took me by surprise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism and Grief

rieviolet's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I can only say that this book wrecked me, it was a superb and heartbreaking punch to the stomach. 

I really loved the writing style, I think it struck a very good balance between direct/matter-of-fact and poetic. A lot of scenes deeply moved me and I can still picture them so vividly in my mind because the author crafted them with such powerful and evocative words. 

One of the things that I appreciated the most was the choice to include different point of views. It was so very interesting to follow the story through different eyes and I think that the author did a really good job at inhabiting the characters. 
Each chapter includes and expands on a character that we have already briefly met before in the story; I think it is a very artful narrative choice and it will certainly make for a meaningful re-read, once one is already aware of all the interconnections. I also really loved the final chapter from the author's POV. 

As you can see from the long list of trigger warnings, the author does not shy away from the more graphic details of those horrific events. Not once while reading, I thought that it is was overdone just for the sake of it, it is simply an honest depiction of brutal happenings, but please keep that in mind and look after yourself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexism, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Infertility and Terminal illness

valpuri's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Minor: Cancer, Infertility, and Terminal illness