Reviews

Whale by Cheon Myeong-kwan

solitary's review against another edition

2.0

post-session:

bumped to 2 stars

pre-session:

1.5 stars*

this was such a torture to finish. the amount of gratuitous violence and rape in this book was more than i could bear, and yet i crawled my way out just to see the point, if there was one. (there wasn’t.)

“She was truly magnificent to behold. As she had never been pregnant, let alone given birth, her breasts were taut and her pert nipples were placed high on her wide areolas.”

“Now that her chest had swelled and puffed like an angry blowfish and her rear had grown even more shapely, nobody could ignore her presence even if she was laboring among women in dirty workclothes. (…) Her young, fresh womb was now desiring the genes of a stronger man. This was the law of reproduction.”

never let men write about women again

︴ read for korean cultural center ph's book club

plompverlori's review against another edition

2.0

Sometimes you don’t finish a book because there is too much abuse of female characters and it doesn’t sit well that it is written by a man regardless of the word ‘satire’ slapped on the back cover. That is the law of literature.

lera9reen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

hodgerdaltry's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

4.5

patwolf's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.0

blemishedhearth's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

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

3.75

catcooper01's review against another edition

3.0

a bit weird but it kept my interest

annamur's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

lexcellent's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

bogmanbugtime's review against another edition

challenging sad 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? Yes

4.0