Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

15 reviews

eloisereading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, and Suicide attempt

thomasina's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

2.0

I didn't enjoy it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

bxnny's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

1.0

i am really trying to think if there's anything i got out of this book, and i'm coming up blank.
i can't even say it was interesting because i was often bored. it was undeniably disturbing, but that alone doesn't make for a good read. it often read like, "they did this. then they did this. this is what they did." the writing fell so flat that i didn't highlight a single passage. and maybe it went over my head but i couldn't extract any meaning from it, either. after reading others' reviews, none of the mentioned themes held any weight for me, except for patriarchy. just an unpleasant, unenlightening slog. it earned one star because the first part of the three was my favorite, and at least i can say i have a favorite, even though i wouldn't say it was good.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Gore, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Minor: Ableism, Cursing, Dementia, and Alcohol

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcoholism, Dementia, and Mass/school shootings

iseefirede's review against another edition

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.

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

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

megselyane's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, and Abandonment

Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Vomit, and Dementia

jamesdavid's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

aelunny's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Um wow. I was definitely misled by a book reviewer to this book and it took me completely by surprise.

Very, very well written and this was an excellent translation. It's truly one of those novels thats also a work of art. That being said, the content of this book is most accurately described as disturbing. I have so so so many thoughts and I feel like I need to write an essay about this book, but the number one theme that I keep coming back to to is the objectification of women. Our protagonist (Yeong-hye) is viewed by a different person in each of the three parts and is reduced to a role in each of them. I also think a lot of people are saying her actions in the book are to enact agency on her life, but I think that by viewing it this way we are also objectifying her as a character in a book. The fact we never see the story told from Yeong-hye's perspective and our narrators never have a real conversation trying to understand what is going on in her head, makes me believe we cannot presume what her motivations are.

Please read all content warnings, as a lot of the depictions are really graphic.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Dementia and Abandonment

samarakroeger's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I don’t know how to feel about this book. Brain food, for sure

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, and Suicide attempt