Reviews

Black Flower by Young-Ha Kim

lexcellent's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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leming's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

strawberrycakes's review against another edition

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2.0

2.5 stars.

so, first of all, the historical aspect of the book was really interesting.
I can't say I ever really warmed up to the story and the characters though; I really missed any kind of character development and there's just no common thread that holds the book together.
every other chapter is a new random info dump that's supposed to provide the historical background for what's going on, but it all feels very choppy and not well put together. (I am normally a huge fan of info dumps, I just think that in a novel, they shouldn't stick out like that but be a bit more intertwined with the story.)
the characters themselves felt very flat and one-dimensional which made it difficult to care about them properly.

flwrsbl0m's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

sarumi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

butterymax's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

4.0

tae_keisha's review against another edition

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3.0

Would have given it a 4 star if it wasn't for the long winded religiosity of it all at some point of the book. Dont have a problem with religion, but Young Ha Kim went on for a few pages and honestly I ended up having to skip through those parts(I never skip pages nor do I like to). Other than that, I quite enjoyed it. There are a lot of characters which might get frustrating but it makes sense given the context of the book. The switches in between specific characters and the political climate of the nations were quite interesting also. Sometimes the narratives for political turmoil were long, which was annoying as I would have preferred for the accounts to have been equally measured or short alternate accounts. The reason for my frustration might have been because I was rooting for/ hoping for a hasty reconciliation between Jeonsu and Ijeong so anything else felt like it was taking away from those two. In spite of the minor irritations, the novel is intriguing. If you are a history buff, then I think you'd enjoy this. Even if you aren't, it's a way to learn something new.

filiparferreira's review against another edition

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4.0

Não sei bem explicar como é comovente e triste esta epopeia de mais de 1000 emigrantes coreanos embarcados em 1905 para trabalhar no México. Esquecidos pela História, o seu próprio país desapareceu pouco depois, engolido pelo Japão. Imaginá-los esperançados de encontrar um mundo melhor (apesar de tudo, emigravam para escapar à pobreza da Coreia quase feudal da época) e indo parar às mãos de fazendeiros exploradores de «henequem», uma planta fibrosa e espinhuda no Yucatán. Num país cuja língua, costumes, religião desconheciam, mas em cujas lutas acabam por se embrenhar, chegando a combater como guerrilheiros e a formar uma Nova Coreia na floresta da Guatemala. Lembro a grande emigração portuguesa na mesma época, para o Brasil, a América. Com todas as dificuldades que esses portugueses tiveram, pelo menos o seu país não deixou de existir, haveria uma representação consular a que recorrer. Estes coreanos não, ficaram mesmo quase esquecidos até Kim Young Ha ter tido contacto com esta história verdadeira, ter investigado e escrito este livro. Uma beleza.

keetham's review against another edition

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5.0

Fascinating book of Korean's immigrating to Mexico in the early 1900's and being tossed between A failing Korean empire, stuck between Russia and Japan, only to move to a colonial Mexico right before the revolution. Interesting characters but my favourite was how the author tied in historical pieces of information. I had no idea, and now I know a bit more

tiffym's review against another edition

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4.0

I enjoyed the vivid cast of characters. There is not a single protagonist. Instead, it starts off with several characters in a common setting, which soon spreads out into many minor stories with different paths and outcomes. I was peeved by the narration, but I can't tell if that's because of an intentional deadpan writing style or the result of the translation from Korean to English. Regardless of the writing, it began to pick up my interest as I got further into it. Some parts may seem to drag, but I still appreciated how the author was able to manage all of the character development. My biggest appreciation was the effort that the author took to recreate a rich story from a piece of history that was completely forgotten or unknown. Much of the Korean history that I am exposed to limits itself to the Korean war, so I personally found this little bit of the past as new and intriguing.