Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - The Hole

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

peach_haze's review

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.

Content Warnings

rahanahava's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

3 1/2 stars and rounding to 4 since I don't think I've uncovered all the layers here.

This book has so many layers that I'm not sure I could ever uncover them all. The comparisons to Misery and The Vegetarian is what got my attention and while there are similarities I'm not sure that's a fair assessment. This is for sure a thriller, but it's not violent or gory or heart-pounding. It's terrifying on a more psychological level I think. I mean, waking up from a coma after a horrible car accident where you lost your wife and realizing your only salvation/caretaker/family left is your MIL? That's enough to drive any normal human into a dark hole. This is Oghi's descent into all the holes.

While The Hole does refer to a literal hole it also is referenced a few different times in other ways. Oghi has a hole in the middle of his life, he is alone and falling into a hole of despair, he references his favorite map that has a hole in the middle of it from a compass. I mean, the cover is beautiful and hits the bullseye when it comes to describing this story.

“To be human was to be saddled with emptiness.”

“The world's oldest map, the Babylonian Map of the World, had a little circle bored through the center. [...] That dark, narrow hole went as deep as the memory of an age that no one could ever return to. The only way to reach that lost age was through that hole, but the hole itself could never be reached.”

"So that's what I'll do. What my daughter couldn't. What she meant to do. What she wanted to do. I have to do it for her. And I will."

Content Warnings