Reviews tagging 'War'

Ihmisen teot by Han Kang

67 reviews

mikkeliine's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, and War

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-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

5.0

Reflections on death and attempts at burying memories so as not to have to relive them conflicting with those who see no other option but to relive them

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

oldhagsyndr0me's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Murder, and War

jrisants's review against another edition

5.0

 This book gutted me. I don’t know if I will ever recover from the words and emotions expressed through this.

Han Kang details the happenings and long-standing impacts of the Gwangju May Democratic Uprising (1980) using six different perspectives across 30 years. It is clear that some creative license is taken in one of the stories (namely to imagine what one might think or experience after death), though it seems that the core thread of Dong-Ho’s story is intact and that the author holds integrity to his memory, as well as those whose stories are also shared—which makes reading this even more painful.

What I appreciate is she did not seek to make heroes or inspirations out of the participants stories. She leans into the fear and trauma that are inextricably linked to these types of experiences. This part stood out to me most as an American reader since I am so accustomed to stories about standing up against corruption as bold, macho, and exciting with clear acts of bravery meant to inspire and often uplift the person who hears them. This is a story of suffering, as any experience with injustice and mistreatment is.

I cried through every chapter. I mourn what these people had to endure. I am grateful that they have been offered dignity through truth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and War

angievansprang's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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? No

4.0

A harrowing account of the Gwangju Massacre from a cast of characters all connected by the death one young boy - Human Acts by Han Kang will tear your heart apart. Despite the horrific content of this story, I found Kang’s descriptive writing to be beautiful and unique. Her descriptions of death and death-adjacent experiences is like none other I’ve read before. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Torture, and War

Moderate: Gore and Blood

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

mathildelestrange's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Brutally written but with depth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and War

reallife_kazbrekker's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.5

The writing of this was incredibly beautiful! I really love writing like this, it makes me love reading even more than I normally do... The story itself was very good as well, very heartbreaking as I already expected considering what the book is about.
Can't wait to read more from this author and/or read similar books like this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail

sevensableyes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I don't really read books with dark content, let alone ones based on real events, so I don't really know how to review this. Saying I 'enjoyed' the book feels wrong.

It's a heartwrecnhing and tragic story about the Gwangju uprising. It was uncomfortable to read. It's beautifully written (another review I read on here goes into detail about the English translation, which was interesting).

I would highly recommend looking into content warnins before reading this book. Some things took me by surprise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism and Grief

uhm_kai's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

so good, but so so sad

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, and War

cozylychee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and War