"Human Acts" by Han Kang *****

• Early Reader edition for LibraryThing.com
• South Korean author
• Originally published in 2014, English version 2016
• Review:  Set during the labor uprisings in South Korea during the 1980s, this is an utterly profound, albeit grisly and stark, tale of what it means to be human.  Using multiple perspectives as a structure can be distracting unless the reader just gives themselves over to the flow of the novel and just absorbs the story.  Gruesome torture and absolutely incredible determination, along with the human will to survive.  I must continue to ask myself, how is it possible that a creature like a human being can be so coldly sadistic when also capable of such altruistic drives.  What makes the difference?  What sets a person on their side of the equation? To sum it up?  This novel is profoundly terrifying and profoundly hopeful.