Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Grass

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

marley_reads_'s review

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dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

3.75

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poemsandponds's review

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challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This book was devastating. Not sure how else to describe it beyond that. The story of this woman is overall well told and heartbreaking. It pulls no punches in telling the horrors that “comfort women” aka girls sold into sex slavery, endured during the Japanese occupation of Korea. It was hard to read. And yet I couldn’t look away. I found myself wanting to know her story. The truth is I came away knowing much more than I had going in about the occupation and that it was so much worse than I had thought. The brutality is unbearable to witness, and yet people lived it. As a whole, I think it shows that no matter what side of the world, what period on time, the atrocities of war, colonization, and oppression bring out the darkest sides of human nature. I came away feeling amazed that people survive these things and continue on. It brought out a sense of compassion that said, you really don’t know what other people have been through, so carry that thought in mind whenever you meet someone.

Side topic: To comment on the author inserting needle fin the narrative, I wasn’t a fan. It just took me out of the story. I like the idea of flashing backwards and forwards in time in stories like these, however, I think those flashbacks should be solely focused on the teller of the story, not the journalist wiring it down. The journalist was too detached for it to have a real impact on the delivery of the story, but somehow her thought, feelings, and etc, were part of it? I like hearing the author’s pov when they have a very personal connection to the story, such as Thi Biu in the Best We Could Do. She’s telling her parent’s refugee story and giving parts of her life, thoughts, feelings, but you care because she’s their daughter. I didn’t care about a random journalist’s thoughts, and the thoughts given weren’t even insightful or emotionally impactful. They could’ve been removed with no harm to the book. It would have been a lot more interesting if the author would have made a section in the back of the book dedicated just to their research process and how they developed the book. If they talked about the emotions that came up whole writing and interviewing, why they wrote this book, etc it would have been so much more interesting. I guess I learned that I don’t like researchers inserting themselves in the memoir narrative when they don’t have much to say.

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goizi's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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mapscitiesandsongs's review

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

"I've never known happiness from the moment I came out of my mother's womb" - Lee Ok-Sun

A harrowing but necessary read. In her afterword Keum Suk Gendry-Kim writes that she didn't want to sensationalize the violence, pain and suffering of the characters, which she succeded in. I think the inclusion of really graphic scene would have been a disservice to the life story of Lee Ok-Sun and I am glad the author thought the same way. There weren't necessary at all, since the story in itself is harrowing enough.

I would have given the graphic novel 5 stars if it wasn't for the self-insertion of the author. It kind of rubbed me the wrong way how she was complaining about mundane things such as deadlines or air conditioning/air pollution, after we just read about the horrifying atrocities the "comfort women" had to endure. Not only that, but it also took me out of the story. I also found it quite weird how she frequently admits to not being in contact with Lee Ok-Sun and not having seen her in forever. As another reviewer mentioned, it felt like the author got her story and it's not interesting anymore.

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