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arieslofi's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Addiction
Moderate: Vomit, Violence, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Infidelity, and Infertility
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Sexual content, and Suicide
risemini's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Abandonment, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, and Sexism
chiar_'s review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Misogyny, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Sexism
Moderate: Eating disorder, Classism, and Infidelity
Minor: Miscarriage
milanaradic's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Sexism, Physical abuse, and Child abuse
dauhns_booklist's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Five young women who all live in the same low-income building each struggle to live their hectic lives in Seoul. Each of the five women represents major social issues for Korean women, and women in general, such as sex working, plastic surgery and impossible beauty standards, domestic abuse, discrimination in the workforce, infertility, and poverty.
Although the book deals with extremely heavy issues, it doesn’t delve too deeply into the negative aspects, and instead focuses more on the bonds between the women and how they support each other. I really liked that about this book, and I think without it the book could’ve been quite difficult to read.
Graphic: Violence
Minor: Violence, Child abuse, and Suicide
desireewoodwhite's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Death, Child abuse, and Bullying
courtneys317's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicide, and Child abuse
oliviabrcka's review
- 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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Infertility, Child abuse, Body shaming, Miscarriage, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Suicide
vintovka's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
The book got surprising amount of events and things happening on its pages, but not a lot of character development. Most of it is ambigiously left off screen. Did Ara realise something about the nature of parasocial relationship and consumption? Does Wonna have a chance of actually being a good mother in the future, or will her trauma ruin any of her children? Will Miho get over her friend's suicide, and what will it do to her? Will Seunjin regret going down the route of debt and prostitution? I don't know. I can only guess. Which kind of leaves me wondering what even was the point.
I love reading about the good, the bad and the ugly of different female experiences, so I was excited for this book. It gave of vibes of kind of an antithesis to girls' fairy tales and female wish-fullfillment fantasies. It's not _not_ that, but because it's not anything at all. I got attached to the characters and their lives, but the ending left me stumped. What did the book want to say? What was the point of me reading all that?
The book's redeeming qualities are being short and having good, flowing prose, but in the end, IIHYF is a snapshot of how it sucks to be a poor south korean woman, and it doesn't have anything more than that.
Graphic: Medical content, Misogyny, Sexism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Pregnancy, and Cursing
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Ableism, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Abortion
eilatan6991's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Infidelity
Moderate: Violence, Miscarriage, and Child abuse
Minor: Adult/minor relationship