Reviews with content warning for Ableism - The Hole

Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

mercurue's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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hiitssimone's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

3.5

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peach_haze's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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? Yes

4.75

Wow. This book was simply brilliant. Pyun was a master at bringing such a raw and powerful tragedy to life The story was mostly told in a kind of narrative of present and past of-and-by the main character, Oghi. We saw his world through his eyes; the life left behind and he struggles to continue forth. We see his struggles mentally and physically. We see his side of the story, and see the agony his wife was living during their life together. My heart went out to her,

how neglectful Oghi had been of her mental state and how he would put her down, blaming her emotions and lack of career success on being a woman. Pyun had me near tears reading on as I could feel Oghi’s wife giving up on their marriage, and Oghi not thinking to care.

and Oghi as well. Albeit short, The Hole was a fantastic, physiological experience that I long to read again (once I stop crying) and I regret that I’ll never be able to read this book again for the first time. Phenomenal.

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ominousspectre's review against another edition

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3.0

Hmm I think this is extremely well written but mis-marketed (?).

On one hand, a very well written account of grief and reckoning with your life changing forever with circumstances out of your control. Reckoning with being completely dependent on another person in the purest sense. It succeeds well in this.

Where I think is flounders just a bit is the mystery aspect. I wasn't surprised to learn Oghi was a bad person, the

cheating

was predictable. The beginning with the white figure and later the hole gave ideas of something more sinister that never really came to be. I craved more in that aspect, but that would make it a very different book I suppose.

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nerdsbianhokie's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

4.0

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rorikae's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

‘The Hole’ by Hye-Young Pyun is a short novel that details the life of a man paralyzed after a horrific car accident that killed his wife. His mother-in-law begins to take care of him but things aren’t quite as they seem as she begins to dig a hole in the garden his wife created.
The Hole is a very quick book that I wish had been more suspenseful. We get a lot of meditations from the main character about being stuck in bed after the accident and the horrors of feeling out of control. I think this could have been ramped up even further. I was expecting more outright suspense and a threatening atmosphere but it was much slower and methodical of a book. The writing itself is good but I feel like this book could have benefited from creating more atmosphere. The last few chapters did exactly what I was expecting/hoping for and the end is sinister. I wish that this had been more present throughout the rest of the story since it is clear how well the author can create this sense of dread and suspense from the last few chapters.
This is much more literary fiction in the first half/two thirds of the book and I wish that the suspenseful/horrific aspects had been ramped up to more quickly.

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