Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Jään luoksesi by Kyung-sook Shin

12 reviews

sunflower_soph's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

Unflinchingly intimate and remarkably tender despite the backdrop of grief and political strife. This book is unexpectedly relatable for the modern young person finding their place among friends and within the world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Police brutality, and Eating disorder

panicpoet's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Suicide

Moderate: Grief, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

serendipity421's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Eating disorder, Animal death, Death of parent, and Gun violence

m4rtt4's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

if the word 'wistful' was a book, it'd be this one. there's not much plot, and it took me some time to get into the story, but oh does it hurt to suddenly have it all end AND NEVER be able to experience this for the first time again.

a couple of songs by YOONA to listen to while reading this book: 'When The Wind Blows' & 'To You'

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Sexual assault, Violence, Child death, Eating disorder, Medical content, and Terminal illness

linlinlin's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

finished this and decided to go off my ssris 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Gun violence, Murder, Suicide, Death of parent, Death, Sexual assault, and Mental illness

This book deals with some heavy themes and issues but I felt that they were adequately contextualised. It's a beautiful book and it makes you feel it all

vilde_a's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

Took me a while to get into it, but mainly because there’s some switching between who’s pov it’s told from, and that not being obvious. It’s beautifully written, although you always miss out on details when reading a translation. It may not be a page turner, but it felt very complete. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, and War

Minor: Suicide

brennalr's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Death of parent, Suicide, Eating disorder, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Body shaming

A main character's hand burns are referenced frequently and her hands are always described as scarred, even when it might not be relevant or necessarily needed.

sentientketchup's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

This book is filled with characters who are incredibly broken and flawed. We watch them through Jung Yoon (and Myungsuh's) eyes as they bond over their grief and lean against eachother to get through the turbulent times of 1980s in South Korea. 

Though the pain this book caused me was not enough to make me cry, it did cause me to pause and reflect.  I wonder how I would handle this kind of grief.

How could one go on after losing a parent, a childhood friend, a best friend, and a lover? Would I be as stunted and delusional as Jung Yoon? Would I lock myself up because I couldn't face the truth? Would I still love Dahn despite what he did? Yes, most probably.

Jung Yoon felt like a real person. I could feel her pain through the pages. Watching her wander through the world made her feel like she existed. There probably is a Jung Yoon out there in this world. And if they truly exist, I wonder where they stand now. 

PS, Emily deserves the world

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Suicide

Moderate: Police brutality

ankitarmy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide

julieshuff's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

I’m really conflicted about this book. There were times I thought it was a two star books and times I was almost in tears about how atmospheric it was. 

Content warnings of sexual assault and eating disorders for anyone thinking about reading this book.

Things I liked: 
-the super wide ranging references. I’m sure I didn’t get all of the literary references but reading about Fallingwater, Peru, or quoting a French/Uruguayan poet kept things interesting. 
-I liked the alternating POV. 
-even in translation, it was beautifully written. 

Things I didn’t like: 
- I couldn’t follow some of the time lapses. Hard to tell what the timeline was the way it jumped around. 
- pretty sure all of the male characters (except for maybe professor Yoon) are emotionally stunted. 
-strange conception of what constitutes romantic attraction. Jung Yoon is basically sexually assaulted by her childhood friend Dahn when she goes to visit him during his enlistment and it is never dealt with or unpacked or viewed in a negative light. Separately, Myungsah can’t commit and is basically gaslighting her giving her reasons they can’t be together or lack of clear answers. 
-overly dark-people dying left and right in odd circumstances (which was maybe a point)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Eating disorder