Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

La isla de las mujeres del mar by Lisa See

34 reviews

caitlinriach's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mass/school shootings, and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, and War

chemicallykat's review against another edition

dark emotional informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was really intense and dark and sad

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

alisonw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

Just realised I never reviewed this, it’s been a few months so I can’t be as clear with the review but I highly highly recommend this book.

Firstly a TW: It deals with extremely heavy subjects of loss, war, corruption, all kinds of abuse, murder including all ages, all very graphically so please be warned if you think you can’t handle that. 

But if you’re unsure, don’t let that put you off. This book tells the true story of the people of Jeju and all they have gone through in the last century through a fictional narrative and the graphic elements are there because they happened, reading them feels similar to the sobering feeling of going to a concentration camp has, it’s horribly sad but feels like a necessity to be able to respect and remember - in my case as a European who was taught nothing about Korea’s history, it felt so important to acknowledge and learn about these events for the first time.

The author is masterful at weaving history and fiction together, none of the fictitious story line feels forced to bring in a historical event, while at the same time the story does not steal from the history, I would actually say it helps give it more blood and feel more tangible rather than cold facts on a page about somewhere far away. 

Highly highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Sexual harassment

kaitlinjohnson's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

galexy_brain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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? Yes

4.5

Sheesh. I've never read a book that's made me cry this much before. This book was an eye-opening look into a world that I'd heard very little about before and left me floored and humbled.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Infertility, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism

naomi_k's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

abrdoodle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Blood, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

leweylibrary's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I feel like I need to mention first and foremost that there are some hardcore trigger warnings that hit hard and fast in the middle. I was listening to that part on audiobook so I could get this book done in time to take the physical version back to the library, and I had to pause it and just sit there like damn. And then the next chapter hit hard with the drama. I was personally fine with those parts, I just wasn't expecting them at all from the description or anything.

Those parts hit at just the right time though because I had been getting a bit bored. There's not a ton of dialogue, and the pace is really slow, but when those parts hit, I was reinvested lol.

One thing that helped keep my attention was Young-sook's friendship with Mi-Ja. You learn right off the bat that they had a serious falling out, but you don't know why. You watch their friendship grow stronger and stronger, all the while thinking what could possibly be bad enough that tears them apart?? Aaaand then it happens, and you're like ah. Right yeah no that makes sense. But then Young-sook just holds such a hella grudge and can't move past it which is frustrating. The ending to this conflict felt a bit rushed, so it wasn't as satisfying to me as it could've been.

All that said, I did learn a LOT and am glad I read it!

Quotes:

• Her house is the nest where she hides the joy, laughter, sorrows, and regrets of her life. (3)
• How different it is with friendship. No one picks a friend for us; we come together by choice. We are not tied together through ceremony or the responsibility to create a son; we tie ourselves together through moments. The spark when we first meet. Laughter and tears shared. Secrets packed away to be treasured, hoarded, and protected. The wonder that someone can be so different from you and yet still understand your heart in a way no one else ever will. (36)
• Young-sook's mother used to say that the sea was like a mother while Young-sook's grandmother said that the sea was better than a mother. After all these years, Young-sook knows her grandmother to be the most right. The sea is better than a mother. You can love your mother, and she still might leave you. You can love or hate the sea, but it will always be there. Forever. The sea has been the center of her life. It has nurtured her and stolen from her, but it has never left. (79)
• I loved her. I would always love her. That was far more important than the men we were to marry. (126)
• Oh, I understood life and death, but I didn't yet have a true comprehension of all that could happen between your first and last breaths. This was a mistake I would live with for the rest of my life. (138)
• I'd watched my mother die in the sea. I'd seen Yu-ri go into the sea one person and come out another. I understood the sea to be dangerous, but what was happening on dry land confused and scared me. In the last few months, I'd witnessed several people get shot in front of me. I'd seen people on both sides beaten. Those who'd been killed or injured were all Korean--whether from the mainland or Jeju--and the perpetrators had all been our countrymen. This was unfathomable to me, and I couldn't stop shaking from fear, not even when my husband held me tight and told me he would keep us safe. (197)
• I stopped breathing, holding in air longer than could be possible, as if I were in the deepest part of the sea. When I couldn't hold it any longer, I sucked in not the quick death of seawater but instead unforgetting, unrelenting, life-giving air. (231)
• To understand everything is to forgive. (363)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

swordsandstacks's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

i learned so much from this book. it's told from such an unique perspective, and chock-full of information regarding japanese colonialism in korea, american colonialism in korea, and how that trauma travels through generations. i love love love anything with a multi-generational structure, but this just changed the game for me. it's absolutely devastating to the point of it making me ill at some parts, but i think that just speaks to the power of the story. i don't know if i would necessarily recommend this to anyone given how upsetting it is, but it's definitely a new favourite for me! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, and War

leoniethespacewayfarer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

its so good it follows this woman young-sook who was born in like the 20’s and follows her life and friendship with Mi-ja on Jeju throughout the world war, colonisation and the north/south korea fight and it is beautiful and wrecks your heart and i cried so many times. It is beautifully written and haunting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Alcoholism