Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim

34 reviews

irene2002's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Colonisation, War, and Deportation

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Infertility and Infidelity

marley_reads_'s review

dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and War

drawmeabookreview's review

challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Slavery, and War

rieviolet's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

I'm in the early stages of exploring the world of graphic novels, so I'm still familiarizing myself with the genre and its peculiarities.
I can say that I quite liked the author's drawing style and her choice of a black and white colouring. 

The graphic novel recounts the life story of a Korean woman, Lee Okseon, but it stands for the suffering that many other people went through at that time of colonisation and war. The narration doesn't shy away from the brutal details and the horror of the experiences of "comfort women".
There is still a hopeful note in the ending, with the arrival of spring once again and the possibility of renewal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Abortion, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Pedophilia, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Classism, and Deportation

Minor: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Infidelity, and Fire/Fire injury

sleepylit's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

I knew I was in for an emotional ride when I started this, but Grass truly blew me away. The illustrations work so well to depict deeper meaning, so the book is truly art on several levels. The story is gutting and truly shows the horrors so many women had to endure. But Kim does a great job of making the content digestible for sensitive readers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, and Suicide attempt

shelf_devoted's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

4.0

One of the most heaviest graphic novels I've ever read.  A story on a topic I never knew about and really should be more widely known. This is about "comfort women" Korean women that were forced into sexual slavery  by the Japanese Imperial Army during WWII. These women were forced into prostitution & then treated horrendously afterwards. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Kidnapping, and War

ylvasorli's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

En utrolig sterk historie om noe som aldri burde ha skjedd, men som dessverre er en del av Korea, Japan og Kina sin historie. Anbefales på det sterkeste.

Takknemmelig for at tegneserien utelater å vise de mest grafiske scenene, selv om vi egentlig burde bli tvingt til å se det. Stakkars jentebarn :(

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Slavery

camz's review against another edition

5.0

Una lectura que te parte el corazón.

Debo agradecer a la autora por no mostrar escenas gratuitas de violaciones, creo que la forma en la que decidió mostrar esas atrocidades permite mostrar el daño sin causar más trauma a quienes lo sufrieron. 

Otra grata sorpresa para mi fue la belleza de muchos de los paneles, al ver la portada y con el estilo de la obra no esperaba que me gustara tanto su dibujo, pero es muy expresivo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, and War

Moderate: Torture, Xenophobia, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Murder

sneakymerendinaninja's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

poemsandponds's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Colonisation, and War