Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Human Acts by Han Kang

94 reviews

intoblossom's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Brutal and beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Torture, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism and Mental illness

Minor: Suicide

bolgenhaar's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction and Alcohol

bittytofu's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Alcoholism and Infertility

sdloomer's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

This is not for the faint of heart, with its fairly graphic descriptions of torture and military brutality. 

In preparation for my upcoming trip to Korea, I decided to set aside some books on Korean history, fiction, and works written by Korean authors; this one did not disappoint and I was very deeply interested to learn about the Gwangju uprising of 1980. In America, Korean history is something that is only really glossed over in favor of western countries' - except for the Korean War - and I am ashamed to say, as a Korean American, that I have virtually no knowledge of my home country's past. I am hoping to rectify that with reading as much as I can get my hands om, starting with this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

eva_vva's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexism, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infertility, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Excrement, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment

natncho's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? No

5.0

 After you died I couldn't hold a funeral, so my life became a funeral.

Glass is transparent, right? And fragile. That's the fundamental nature of glass. And that's why objects that are made of glass have to be handled with care. After all, if they end up smashed or cracked or chipped then they're good for nothing, right, you just have to chuck them away.
Before, we used to have a kind of glass that couldn't be broken. A truth so hard and clear it might as well have been made of glass. So when you think about it, it was only when we were shattered that we proved we had souls. That what we really were was humans made of glass.

Is it true that human beings are fundamentally cruel? Is the experience of cruelty the only thing we share as a species? Is the dignity that we cling to nothing but self-delusion, masking from ourselves this single truth: that each one of us is capable of being reduced to an insect, a ravening beast, a lump of meat? To be degraded, damages, slaughtered - is this the essential fate of humankind, one which history has confirmed as inevitable?

How had the seasons kept on turning for me, when time had stopped forever for him that May?"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

rosenbrook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

Emotional, gripping, and informative.
Human Acts is about the inhuman acts that we can perpetrate. This book describes graphic events, but never feels sadistic. What occurs is shocking, but not for shock value. The moments of darkness are nicely balanced with moments of humanity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Minor: Genocide

emstermeegs's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Haunting and starkly written, darkly poetic. Pacing was all I wish had been better done towards the end, but this will stick with me for some time to come. Not a light story at all, but an important one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

christylouise's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

A masterpiece of writing. Would recommend to anyone interested in history or human nature. Beautifully constructed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault