Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

182 reviews

littlefroggy's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Self harm

Moderate: Sexual content, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

caseyjayner's review

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

Terrible, awful read which is an accurate portrayal of the madness that can ensue when a person is resigned to their helpless fate of repeated abuse.  I think this is meant as a horror, but honestly I related a lot to the main character, her choices, her vacancy, and the ways everyone around her repeatedly dismissed her autonomy the few times she asserted it. 
The men in this book are written in contrast to the women- never using names and only referring to their own hungers and the ways they unabashedly pursue them.

I thought this book was going to be about pure OCD, but I was terribly wrong.  

Also- marital rape was still legal a the time this was published in South Korea. Seriously strong trigger warnings here

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Misogyny, Eating disorder, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Rape, and Domestic abuse

iloveboogie's review

dark sad tense fast-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

4.25

intense, graphic look into the struggles and breaking point of women forced into submission 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, Body horror, Death, Violence, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Gore, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Self harm, Suicide, Mental illness, and Rape

iseefireke's review

dark emotional sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

The first part of the book was the most interesting. He was an unreliable narrator to me, as he had obvious flaws that he was completely unaware of. 
The second part I feel had the best imagery. The artist was focused on his work and I liked how it intertwined with the story.
The third part was...strange.

Spoiler

when she was hospitalized

I mostly checked out. There was a consistent downward spiral and it devolved into almost randomness. The ending was very ambiguous.
I had a personal connection with the main character as I'm vegetarian as well. However, there was a lot more going on with the main character. Definitely an eating disorder and probably psychosis. It's not really made clear.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Mental illness, Infidelity, Eating disorder, Chronic illness, Bullying, Grief, Misogyny, and Self harm

Moderate: Medical content, Vomit, Dementia, Rape, Blood, and Domestic abuse

lakeofwords's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

Very well written. Very disturbing. I don't know if I fully "get it", at some point this just feels like... I don't know, torture porn? It feels very weird in a way I can't put my finger on. It's a book about women suffering at the hands of society and men, but it doesn't really get any deeper on its criticism, it's mainly just putting it out there so people see the wreckage and think about it. I understand the choice of not giving us the protagonists perspective at all, giving her even less agency in the whole thing, but I still wish it had, I wish we got to know what she was experiencing. I'm very unsettled about it, some scenes stuck with me and I wish they hadn't. Anyway, fuck men and I am gonna stop reading litfic for a whiiiile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

rayondesoleil's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This tale was disturbing and comes in three acts: The Vegetarian, Mongolian Mark, and Flaming Trees.
The Vegetarian was thought provoking: we are unable to truly understand one another. At the end of the day, no matter how vocal we are in explaining our individual experience, the other person's comprehension is limited through their own perspective.

Spoiler

 
The second act was especially hard for me to read through, since this part was from the point of view of In-hye's husband, who fetishized his sister-in law. In-hye's husband wasn't the only one, in fact, all the male characters were disgusting and misogynistic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Misogyny

breazatoth's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Rape, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Physical abuse, Vomit, Self harm, Misogyny, Infidelity, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Medical content

jupiz's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

it was a hard read, i had a hard time reading through it because of the men's perspectives 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

ashlynregan's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

This book is wild. It is also incredibly sad. A deep dive into a mentally ill family.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Cursing, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Child abuse, Classism, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

loustat__'s review

dark mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Self harm, Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Blood, Physical abuse, Rape, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Abandonment