Reviews

Whale by Cheon Myeong-kwan

hali64's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

sueandbooks483's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I would call this book not only "Whale", but add, "Or how the world works". It's like a fairytale to explain in absurd ways how the world is working in similar absurd ways. The author's way of narrating is suberb, but the way he describes women is at times unbearable. But maybe that's because it is the way of the world. too? There is a lot of violence in all forms going on, so prepare yourself before reading the book.
3.75 stars only, because the author doesn't seem to reflect on misogyny proberly and at times the description is too violent.
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cursedmeow's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious fast-paced

4.5

burrowsi1's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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

aliquotpart's review against another edition

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4.0

I don't usually like the fairytail style used here, but the author managed to do a much better job developing at least one of the main characters than is usual with this style.

I am worried about the dog.

smithel's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

bryonyjane8's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The narrative style was too clunky for my taste, and the gratuitous objectification of the female body and inconsequential assault scenes didn’t add to the themes of the novel and only made reading this quite uncomfortable 
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lizzylou's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

lizziet97's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

sumire_jb_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

5.0