Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

231 reviews

thesecretalice's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Rape

Moderate: Death, Blood, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

maddamreads's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

In three parts, the most compelling was the first and maybe the last, with the middle only serving to propel the story. It feels like statements and themes were on the beginning of exploration before abandoned to serve what happens next. I think a lot of the effect was missed by the translation into English.

Part 1 The Vegetarian
Definitely a strong but strange opener, the choice to have the story be told primarily through the husbands thoughts is provoking. It touches on themes of duty and expectation for women while also having the reader question “what defines madness.”

Spoiler

You start to empathize with Yeong-hye's desire. How much is it madness and how much is it reaction to her family and husband not respecting her wishes.

Part 2 The Mongolian Mark
I hated this chapter so much I skimmed a bit. Talking about lust, need, and the romanticization of living and mental illness. I found the character to be deeply unsatisfactory and one-dimensional, even though it felt like the point was to make the audience empathize with him.

Spoiler

There could have been an exploration of the meaning of sex, the meaning of art, and the meaning of living fully. But all I got was a horny guy having sex with his sister in law “for the sake of art.”

Part 3 Flaming Trees
A thorough, honest look at mental illness, how it affects one’s duties to others, and grief for someone still alive. It was very introspective, but it could have been way shorter with the flashbacks. The overall tone is melancholy and helpless-which is perfect. It did not make me turn pages the way the first chapter did.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Eating disorder, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Blood, and Sexual violence

May be hard to read if previously suffered from depression and/or an eating disorder.

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

iblyth's review

dark emotional sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Vomit, Body horror, Animal death, Suicide attempt, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence

bloupibloupreads's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, and Animal death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Domestic abuse

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

maddeesryan's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

coincidentally_k's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

1.75

I didn't get this book. I didn't want to finish this book. It was written fairly nicely (given it was a translation) but there were clearly themes and aspects that I just wasn't understanding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual content, Eating disorder, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Gore, Rape, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse and Vomit

miriamrose's review against another edition

i wish i’d checked the trigger warnings before i read this but even then i think it would have barely hinted at the directions this book goes in. themes of self harm, ed, animal abuse, domestic abuse, rape/sa etc. i’m really unsure how to feel because it does touch on some interesting themes about the female body under the subjugation of men but in the end this is this is. a bleak fucking book and it’s hard to come away feeling anything except depressed 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Misogyny, Animal death, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Eating disorder, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Forced institutionalization