Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

Human Acts by Han Kang

79 reviews

oscarhp's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

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

rosatenena's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, and War

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

craggsya's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, and Suicide attempt

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

frooblie's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Sometimes I read books in translation and feel like I’m watching a movie through a foggy window. This isn’t a reflection of the translation, but how much is lost when a story leaves its cultural and historical context. Han Kang isn’t writing for me, overseas, born the year after. There are pieces of the story her audience doesn’t need filled in that I floundered with. But the emotional rawness, the wounds, the loss…that hit me in the heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Torture, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and War

Moderate: Suicide

petals4pages's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Police brutality, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Self harm

thirdtimesacharm's review against another edition

dark informative 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail