Scan barcode
savnooch's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Torture, Grief, War, and Classism
kenyoncannotread's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
One of the hardest reads for me, emotionally, ever. Check the content warnings first, but this will be one of the best books you’ll ever read if you pick it up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
wong_jyi's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
It is stunning in its ability to weave the darkest and cruellest aspects of human nature with truth and brutal honesty, but also, with hope.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Classism
ka_cam's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
A beautiful and emotionally challenging read, and informative if you like me don’t start with much knowledge about the Gwangju Uprising. The method of exploring voices of different people connected to the uprising and a death of a child, including a spirit voice and the child as well as those more loosely connected, ended up feeling very tender rather than the loose-ends feeling that Can come from that style. Very moving and upsetting content. Highly recommend checking content warnings, highly recommended read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism
feranmi's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Sexual harassment, and War
Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, and Torture
Minor: Classism
wellfedpages's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
‘Conscience, the most terrifying thing in the world’
Conscience creeps in
sometimes unexpectedly
It comes calling out of the blue
Forces itself like a squatter
in a corner of your heart
Refusing to budge
Asking you to speak up
Stand with the truth
Do what’s right
Do what’s needed
Not because you are
Braver
Or Better
Or Kinder
But simply because it’s the right thing to do
As Atticus Finch said about courage
‘It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway‘
Try
Fight back
Raise your voice
Refuse to be victims
Refuse to lie down quietly & be mowed over
Dignity
the most basic human right
Yet the one most trampled upon everywhere
Why do people in power think it’s ok to grind some people to the ground
tire them to their bones
work them to death?
Greed
Capitalism
Imperialism
Snatching the bread out of hungry mouths so they can build their mountain of gold
Or bitcoins
Drain the energy out of the world
Drag humanity to the precipice
And push it over the edge
Falling
Forever
So a few can fly
Around the world
Or to outer space
Kang sheds a light on this through a set of people broken by the Gwangju uprising in S Korea
Interconnected like nerves
Throbbing with the same corrupted life
Dying with the same trauma
Or sometimes becoming worse than dead
Surviving can be a curse
As a character in the book says
to die instantly is a blessing
To live & be
Isolated
Humiliated
Tortured
Have your humanity stripped away
Or to live with the ghosts of grief pain & trauma
is far more excruciating
Then memory becomes a landmine
One wrong step can blow up your heart
Your life
Then survival is an act of endurance
Dripping down like helpless rain drops
Into the puddle of life
Muddy
Murky
Morbid
Or a mirage?
Sadness
leached out of their bones & seeped into the pages
Into my fingers
Staining my mind
Yet this book has an ephemeral beauty
A weave of words so fine
That the poetry of death floats in our hands
Then hits us with the unwavering truth
Sticky like tar
Heavy like lead
But is it just that?
An ode
to the slain
the mutilated
the brutalised
the living echoes of the dead
An unsung song of hardship
Or is it more?
Was there hope?
For those who choose to remember?
For those who can’t look away?
Do the dead walk in the dark?
Chained to earth
‘Why are we walking in the dark, let’s go over there, where the flowers are blooming.’
Are there flowers blooming?
Will they ever?
‘I read in an interview with someone who had been tortured; they described the after-effects as ‘similar to those experienced by victims of radioactive poisoning.’ Radioactive matter lingers for decades in muscle and bone, causing chromosomes to mutate. Cells turn cancerous, life attacks itself. Even if the victim dies, even if their body is cremated, leaving nothing but the charred remains of bone, that substance cannot be obliterated.’
Flickering amidst the shadows of history
these blackened souls leave their imprints on time
This book reminds us to not desecrate their memory
Remember
Never Again
Discovering Han Kang’s writing last year was the most serendipitous find. She is my favourite South Korean writer.
Loved The White Book and The Vegetarian, but this book makes me respect her even more.
Not only her range in writing is expansive and amazing, she has treaded this broken terrain of history beautifully, dredging out the past from little known depths and laid bare the truth with clarity and empathy. We are horrified but also see the humanity of these people
Recognise
Their erased value
Their dignity
.
Also a wonderful translation by Deborah Smith
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Blood, and Classism