Reviews

A Cruelty Special to Our Species: Poems by Emily Jungmin Yoon

jrrogue's review against another edition

5.0

Absolutely eviscerated me.

pretty_little_bibliophile's review against another edition

5.0

Okay first off, this does not seem like a debut collection. Yoon has swept me off my feet with the scope of her writing.
I won't deny that this undertaking was surely an ambitious one. But Yoon has successfully seen it to its end. The historical, social, racial, as well as gendered scope of the discourse on the experiences and trauma faced by the "comfort women" has been addressed carefully and at the same time, in a very apt (in as much as I could feel as a reader) manner. But this is not just it. Yoon branches out and talks about several topics which I would like to say are acts of war against an individual being. From facing casual racism in contemporary times, girls being peer-pressured to 'put out', to the Western portrayal of Korean people, body-image issues etc, A Cruelty Special to our Species is an astonishing work of great insight and scope.
I would definitely recommend you to pick it up but also be mindful of the trigger warnings mentioned above.

kathrynth's review

dark emotional reflective sad

5.0

colyforniaroll's review

emotional

5.0

quiteood's review

challenging dark informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, War, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Violence, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, and Medical trauma

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

thestarlessbooks's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

macquincy's review

challenging reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

leafrust's review

reflective sad slow-paced

2.5

jbrinkmann's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

2.75

gdenav's review

challenging dark informative reflective sad fast-paced

3.0