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.

The novel is succinct, providing the reader with a clear, immersive. and intimate ride of pain and trauma (see: the most jarring point-of-view in the book: Dong-ho's mother's) emotionally tethering you to the story, and makes one hypnotizing read.

Han Kang is one of the writers I aspire to be. Her words are mellifluous despite often being in the second-person narrative, which makes the flow even more poignant...and personal. Her words are warm and sweet, and naturally flows through and touches her reader's soul. But she's also very real, unyielding, and merciless, forcing you to look at truths within you. Her approach is also very sensitive of her characters, taking great care in highlighting each with sensitivity and empathy.

I can already see it. Human Acts will remain timeless. Not the first to be written about dictatorship, but one of a kind, nonetheless. A haunting novel exposing the aftershocks of corrupted souls in seats of power.

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