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Human Acts Han Kang 9781846275968 Books

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Human Acts Han Kang 9781846275968 Books

Dong-ho is only 15 years old when he's violently killed during the 1980 Gwangju Uprising in South Korea. In a series of interconnected stories, Han Kang tells the story of Dong-ho and the people around him whose lives were taken or forever changed.

If you've read Anthony Marra's The Tsar of Love and Techno, you'll recognize Kang's approach: while each story is distinct, together they unravel a loosely connected narrative.

There's such immense, unflinching brutality in these page. This is a book about oppression, torture, violence, cruelty, trauma and death, and Kang isn't in the business of sugarcoating any of it. It's upsetting to confront the reality that this is all part of humanity—and has been all along. Kang reminds us that we're all bodies and those bodies can be destroyed in an instant, without a second thought.

And yet there's also beauty in these pages. Because humanity is more than just its worst parts. And those bodies are more than just flesh and blood.

Kang is an exceptional writer with prose that flow like poetry, and some of the stories in Human Acts are deeply affecting. That said, this book presumes a knowledge of recent South Korean history that I just don't have, so I think some it didn't resonate with me as much as it could have. This, of course, is not Kang's fault, however I rate books based in part on my subjective enjoyment of them so I feel compelled to reflect that in my rating.

Some of the stories were 5-stars reads for me, others more like 3 stars, so I'm rating this in between.


Tags : Human Acts [Han Kang] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.,Han Kang,Human Acts,Portobello Books Ltd,1846275962

Human Acts Han Kang 9781846275968 Books Reviews

Han Kang tells an uncomfortable story. Death hangs everywhere. Pain is a part of life, and life tells its own fluttering story. All stories flutter.
This is a hauntingly beautiful novel. Kang does an incredible job pulling the reader in and envoking every emotion she intends to share with the reader. I would recommend this book to everyone I know, but faint of heart beware, this book, although amazing, is unapologetically uncensored, which inturn does make the novel all that much more intriguing but could be too much for some readers. The way Kang shares each story from different perspectives and times truly immersis the reader. Loved the book, it definitely makes me want to go out and read all of her other works.
What a heart wrenching , but necessary, account of the Gwangju Uprising. I was especially appreciative of the centering of women in this narrative.
Brilliant and pain filled with precision of a master surgeon. The details of brutality and bestiality written with restraint while constantly raising questions about the capacity of human beings to kill and kill and brutalize other humans. An important book to remind us of our capacity for evil which we must all guard against.
I haven't finished the book yet..... I'm still thunderstruck by the second chapter!....I did read Han Kang's prose winning novel - "The Vegetarian" and was amazed how much intensity could be translated thru an unorthodox writing style. I can't wait to see where "Human Acts" takes me!
A haunting account of sustained brutality towards essentially defenseless dissenters in a modern democracy. An incredible, apparently true, shocking, distressing memorial written 33 years after the event. Powerful, nightmarish images of what happened; researched and told by a masterful writer at the top of her game. Hard to follow characters and switches at times--and where the story is headed. A stark memorial to good people who died for no good reason in precipitous, indiscriminate, vicious ways--and the forever traumatized people who knew or loved them; and the forever damaged individuals who physically (but not emotionally) survived with a half-life, Should never have happened--but could happen again?
Her skills as a writer (and probably poet) are formidable. Her investment and dedication in telling this important story are strongly sensed throughout
Had read her "Vegetarian" story and found it unique and absorbing, but this book is unrelentingly disturbing which I suppose is the author's intent.
I would not have thought it possible but this is as good or better than her other translated book, The Vegetarian. This set of stories/chapters places you inside the minds (even the souls) of characters present at the slaughter that played out in Kwangju in May 1980. It provides the opposite experience from a news story about statistics and tactics. Instead of who won and what the political repercussions were, it focuses on the experience of those present. Read it!
Dong-ho is only 15 years old when he's violently killed during the 1980 Gwangju Uprising in South Korea. In a series of interconnected stories, Han Kang tells the story of Dong-ho and the people around him whose lives were taken or forever changed.

If you've read Anthony Marra's The Tsar of Love and Techno, you'll recognize Kang's approach while each story is distinct, together they unravel a loosely connected narrative.

There's such immense, unflinching brutality in these page. This is a book about oppression, torture, violence, cruelty, trauma and death, and Kang isn't in the business of sugarcoating any of it. It's upsetting to confront the reality that this is all part of humanity—and has been all along. Kang reminds us that we're all bodies and those bodies can be destroyed in an instant, without a second thought.

And yet there's also beauty in these pages. Because humanity is more than just its worst parts. And those bodies are more than just flesh and blood.

Kang is an exceptional writer with prose that flow like poetry, and some of the stories in Human Acts are deeply affecting. That said, this book presumes a knowledge of recent South Korean history that I just don't have, so I think some it didn't resonate with me as much as it could have. This, of course, is not Kang's fault, however I rate books based in part on my subjective enjoyment of them so I feel compelled to reflect that in my rating.

Some of the stories were 5-stars reads for me, others more like 3 stars, so I'm rating this in between.