Review: Goth

Goth by Otsuichi
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This review is also found on Goodreads! :)
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Creepy, but still feels so....disconnected. The stories didn't draw me in. Most times it was just boring. This isn't as engaging as Battle RoyaleBattle Royale, nor as interesting as ConfessionsConfessions. I had high expectations for this book simply because I regard Japanese literature as uniquely crafted, but Goth just didn't work out for me. The characters were too devoid of emotions, which I know is the point of the novel, but it drew no sense of believability. Without it being believable, every story just sounded ridiculous. I guess the problem I had with this is how the chapters are just short stories of Morino and her classmate's interactions with killers. But these killers were not built with the same development as the main characters. These killer just seem so abrupt and absurd. I detected a sinister character development with the two main characters (more with the boy than with Morino, which is another source of disappointment), but even that was rushed. The rest of the characters were just treated as background noise. I would have enjoyed this book if it focused on one or two killers, and narrated the story around them.

The only reason I'm not giving this a one-star rating is because of the chapter entitled Memory/Twins. That was the only chapter that provided me with the right blend of horror, mystery, and emotion from the book. Despite the twists, the other stories were narrated with a monotonous feel, and I just wanted to get it over with.

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Review: Human Acts

Human Acts by Han Kang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This review is also found on Goodreads! :)
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If I could rate this higher, I would.

It is set during different eras, and centers around the story of Dong-ho, a boy killed during the Gwangju Uprising in 1980 when Martial Law is still in effect in South Korea. This is rawness that goes straight to your core. Told through six point-of-views, the narrative echoes with pain, trauma, and guilt, effectively silencing my usual skittish thoughts. Dong-ho's soul and presence resonates all throughout the narrative. It is unsettling and riveting at the same time. Each chapter gives you different views of human suffering. Is cruelty and suffering all that makes one human? It bathes you with realization after realization of the weakness and tenacity of a human soul.