koreanlinda's reviews
179 reviews

The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today Vol. 1 by Hitsuzi Yamada

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Did not finish book.
Look Back by Tatsuki Fujimoto

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

A fascinating story in a stand-alone manga. It's a story of two teenage manga artists, but their time warps and intertwines beyond imagination. 
Chéri, My Destiny! by Okoge Mochino

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funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The plot is rather simple and predictable; however, the characters are adorable. It has a few pages of explicit sex scenes. 
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Fifteen Seconds without Sorrow by Shim Bo-Seon

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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To Strip the Flesh by Oto Toda

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
The story was too simple for me. The only reason for the protagonist to resist SRS was to be the daughter their parents wanted them to be. It was not quite believable. 
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Ashes by Álvaro Ortiz

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adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

What a fascinating story! Ortiz is not only good at drawing unique illustrations but also at telling an imaginative yet believable story. They especially excel at showing the characters' psychology and dynamics among them. It is a story of friendship, life challenges, poverty, loss, and grief. All this hard stuff is portrayed in a comic style lightheartedly so the readers can access it without getting too absorbed. I read it in one sitting, which made my evening a pleasant one.
 
Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in June 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda 
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The Book of Bunny Suicides: Little Fluffy Rabbits Who Just Don't Want to Live Anymore by Andy Riley

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adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

This book was a pleasant surprise from a library bookshelf. Two people I showed the book to were aghast at its content, but I found it refreshing and amusing. All the pages in this thin graphic novel are filled with various ways the bunnies find to kill themselves. They get sliced in half and exploded into pieces, but none of the methods succeed. Yet they keep trying one after the other. 

I found the book amusing because it reminded me of traditional slapstick cartoons where the characters are invincible such as Tom & Jerry. They experience extreme violence inflicted by each other, but it doesn’t leave unscathed. That is part of the fantasy that makes cartoons and comics, far from our real world. 

Suicide is a topic of my interest in my daily life. I often get suicidal thoughts, and what I can do is sit with the ideas, observe them and study. I write about them and read others’ writings about them. For people with suicidal thoughts, suicide is a knife that we carry around to protect us from the worldly sufferings. If not careful, it can cut into us at any moment. 

Bunny’s pursuit of ending their life resonated with me. It made me question. “What is causing you pain? How are you coping? May I help you?” The bunny’s endless trial at committing suicide all turn out futile. But that’s how I sometimes feel with my attempt at continuing to live. The world seems to be turned against me, blocking my way all the way around except for a backdoor for escape. Don’t we all sometimes feel that way? 

 
Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in June 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda 

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The Future of Silence: Fiction by Korean Women by Bruce Fulton, Ju-Chan Fulton

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Phew, that was a lot. This anthology of nine stories written by Korean women from various periods in modern Korean history will blow your mind with its diversity and depth. I had to take breaks between stories because there was plenty of emotional substance to take in and process. Living in South Korea as a woman is quite difficult. I knew it already from my own experience of living there until my adolescence and later visiting and working there briefly. What I learned anew from the first half of this book is what my mother and aunts would have gone through in their times. 

Since I am sensitive to the quality of translation, I looked up information about the translators beforehand. The married couple have been working together translating Korean literature for many years, and I was able to see their expertise in this book. 

I'd be happy to exchange thoughts on any particular story if anyone would like. Feel free to message me on Instagram below.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in June 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda
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The Future of Silence: Fiction by Korean Women by Bruce Fulton, Han Yujoo, Kim Chi-won, Ju-Chan Fulton, Park Wan-Suh, Oh Jung-hee, Seo Yeongeun, Kim Ae-ran, Kim Sagwa, Gong Seonok, Cheon Un-Yeong

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Phew, that was a lot. This anthology of nine stories written by Korean women from various periods in modern Korean history will blow your mind with its diversity and depth. I had to take breaks between stories because there was plenty of emotional substance to take in and process. Living in South Korea as a woman is quite difficult. I knew it already from my own experience of living there until my adolescence and later visiting and working there briefly. What I learned anew from the first half of this book is what my mother and aunts would have gone through in their times. 

Since I am sensitive to the quality of translation, I looked up information about the translators beforehand. The married couple have been working together translating Korean literature for many years, and I was able to see their expertise in this book. 

I'd be happy to exchange thoughts on any particular story if anyone would like. Feel free to message me on Instagram below. 

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in June 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda
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The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center by Rhaina Cohen

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hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.25

My close friend recommended this book to me, and I am grateful for their recommendation. I already knew a lot about the expansive meaning of couples, families, and relationships through my experiences as a queer person (bi, pan, poly), but this book brought me added insights about the various shapes of relationships people are building in the US and the obvious limitation in our legal and economic system.

I would recommend this book to anyone who cares about relationships. It will challenge your inherited ideas such as couple supremacy and heteronormativity. It will also warm your heart to see how people find love in unexpected places and make tremendous amounts of effort to cherish their rare finds.

Since I read my first polyamory book, The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships, and Other Freedoms in Sex and Love by Janet W. Hardy, Dossie Easton, there have been more and more books published on various relationships other than a man and a woman marrying each other. I enjoyed reading one of them: Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman (also recommended by the same close friend). I'm happy to see this trend where we open our minds to the infinite possibility of forming loving and caring relationships in our lives however they fit our individually unique needs.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in June 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda