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deedubb's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- 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
Great, fast read. Enjoyed characters and the struggle. Timeline was a little hard to follow. Was worried it would be really tragic but the ending was so happy it was almost gooey.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
cho_da_in's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book destroys the meaning of ratings. Every other book I've rated 5 stars looks like a selfish diary entry by comparison. This is life transcribed in a book, and yet you turn your head and it also becomes the most beautiful collection of words I've ever seen strung together. Seriously guys the writing style is so beautiful and the characters are even better please give this a chance
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Chronic illness
Minor: Child abuse
darkcamellia's review against another edition
fast-paced
- 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
2.75
A nice book, but for me personally not worth reading more than once.
Won-pyung Sohn explicitly illustrates her opinions on the crucial role of family, love, and empathy in a person's life, which corresponds in a rather straightforward manner with the author’s desire to show that love is the fine line between a human being and a monster.
Won-pyung Sohn explicitly illustrates her opinions on the crucial role of family, love, and empathy in a person's life, which corresponds in a rather straightforward manner with the author’s desire to show that love is the fine line between a human being and a monster.
I’d say it’s a light read thanks to the fast-paced plot, but the form is quite simple, inelaborate, without any particular rhetorical flourishes. I could easily imagine hearing it as a teenager recounts their life story late at night, in the kitchen, over a cup of tea.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Child death, Death, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Child abuse
meeklovestoread's review against another edition
dark
emotional
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Man, I've been wanting to read this book for a LONG time. It's been on my tbr for soooo long. Funny enough I actually started this in August of last year, but for some odd reason after like 3% I put it down and never touched it till now. I don't know what was going through my mind then because this is literally such a quick read. But anyway, I finally got to it and it was good don't get me wrong, but I feel like it could've been GREAT and it missed the ball for me.
I'd like to note that I didn't know this was a piece of translated fiction so maybe certain concepts that were supposed to be more prominent were lost in translation.
Okay, I'd like to say the first half was promising and then it just went "downhill" for me. Which is not to say the story was bad, but I just felt like it could've been more emotional, more impactful, more promising.
The friendship between Yunjae and Gon felt so lackluster to me which renders Yunjae's gesture towards Gon idiotic to meHim taking a knife to the gut for Gon just felt so stupid to me because I honestly didn't feel that Gon deserved Yunjae's grace. But that's just me. because I didn't feel this deep connection that the author was trying to establish between them. I personally did not connect to Gon's character at all. I understood what the author was trying to go for with the two monsters thing. Yunjae, being the kid who feels nothing paired with Gon, the kid who feels too much. But in my opinion, it was hard to sympathize with Gon because he never got the details of his captivity or much that happened to him, really. He was just a dickhead to everyone including the main character (especially toward the main character) and I was just expected to believe in this larger than life friendship between them just because the author wants me to. No way. It just didn't work for me.
Also, Dora's characterization also felt lackluster to me as well. I understand her purpose but in my opinion, her presence was very much so unimpactful and didn't bring much to the story at all. Honestly, because I've consumed a decent amount of ya coming of age stories, I honestly thought there was going to be something between Gon and Yunjae. It's fine that there wasn't, but I was just expecting more.
The way Yunjae introduced Gon and Dora I thought they were going to impact the main character in a life-altering way and it was going to be this epic, emotional story about the binds of friendship and family and illness and sadly it all just fell so flat for me. And the ending. I hate reusing adjectives, but again, lackluster and felt kinda like a cop-out. And felt like a forced "HEA".
I know I keep harping on about my qualms about this book, but it honestly wasn't a bad book by any stretch of the phrase. I really enjoyed learning about alexithymia and the way the main character thinks and views things. It was nice to get a glimpse into another type of human experience that I didn't even know existed so learning about Yunjae and his struggles was nice. And getting to witness the relationship between his mother and his grandmother and their past lives. As well as Yunjae's relationship with Dr. Shim.Although it's still not explained why Yunjae's mother would just place Dr. Shim in his care. Their relationship is barely explained and I'm just supposed to believe this overprotective mother would just relay the care of her son on some virtual stranger. I was lowkey hoping that he was like an uncle or something from Yunjae's father, but nope.
Overall, again this is not a bad book. It has so many 4 and 5 stars ratings. It sadly just didn't hit for me and that's okay!
I'd like to note that I didn't know this was a piece of translated fiction so maybe certain concepts that were supposed to be more prominent were lost in translation.
Okay, I'd like to say the first half was promising and then it just went "downhill" for me. Which is not to say the story was bad, but I just felt like it could've been more emotional, more impactful, more promising.
The friendship between Yunjae and Gon felt so lackluster to me which renders Yunjae's gesture towards Gon idiotic to me
Also, Dora's characterization also felt lackluster to me as well. I understand her purpose but in my opinion, her presence was very much so unimpactful and didn't bring much to the story at all. Honestly, because I've consumed a decent amount of ya coming of age stories, I honestly thought there was going to be something between Gon and Yunjae. It's fine that there wasn't, but I was just expecting more.
The way Yunjae introduced Gon and Dora I thought they were going to impact the main character in a life-altering way and it was going to be this epic, emotional story about the binds of friendship and family and illness and sadly it all just fell so flat for me. And the ending. I hate reusing adjectives, but again, lackluster and felt kinda like a cop-out. And felt like a forced "HEA".
I know I keep harping on about my qualms about this book, but it honestly wasn't a bad book by any stretch of the phrase. I really enjoyed learning about alexithymia and the way the main character thinks and views things. It was nice to get a glimpse into another type of human experience that I didn't even know existed so learning about Yunjae and his struggles was nice. And getting to witness the relationship between his mother and his grandmother and their past lives. As well as Yunjae's relationship with Dr. Shim.
Overall, again this is not a bad book. It has so many 4 and 5 stars ratings. It sadly just didn't hit for me and that's okay!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cursing and Violence
Minor: Child death, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship
stacylaughs's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Death of parent
rosalind's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Bullying, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Abandonment
lilmissoddity's review against another edition
2.0
This book is a gross misrepresentation of the condition Alexithymia and misrepresentation of conditions can be a harmful thing to people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
hareems's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Only 0.25 docked because some loose ends weren't tied. I don't mind that, but I think it may have further enhanced the story to at least reach a reunion between the two friends, even if it was just wordless, just a smile seeing each other again. I think Gon seeing Yunjae smile would've itself been incredibly significant. It was significant for Yunjae to cry and laugh in front of his mom. But we knew Gon for longer and Gon had a bigger (narrated) impact on Yunjae, so he deserved to see Yunjae's change just as much as his mother did (in the context of the story).
I appreciated that the ending was happier than reality. Sometimes we need that. A book that is heavily dosed with reality but that still gives us a proper happy ending instead of just a small glimmer of hope at the end.
I'm hopeful Gon changes. He's been shown too soft to really turn out poorly. And Dora isn't going anywhere. She'll stay in touch because she wants to stay in touch.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
chireadsandchill's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
theliteraryteapot's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
What a quick read it was! Unusual for me.
I really liked it, it's quite an emotional heartbreaking story.
I really liked it, it's quite an emotional heartbreaking story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse