--- title: Review: Han Kang's Human Acts description: The book centers on the 1980 Gwangju uprising canonical: https://time.com/4632672/south-korea-han-kang-human-acts/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-12T10:58:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:41:25.539Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Review: South Korea’s Han Kang Returns to Bodily Horrors in 'Human Acts' og:description: The book centers on the 1980 Gwangju uprising og:url: https://time.com/4632672/south-korea-han-kang-human-acts/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd300671066a4fc02/6988b5518fd2ee57263555f2/humanacts.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1120 og:image:height: 630 og:image:alt: humanacts og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Review: South Korea’s Han Kang Returns to Bodily Horrors in 'Human Acts' twitter:description: The book centers on the 1980 Gwangju uprising twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd300671066a4fc02/6988b5518fd2ee57263555f2/humanacts.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Review: South Korea’s Han Kang Returns to Bodily Horrors in _Human Acts_ > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=54a00293-e7d3-4951-b942-909238f1ac64&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 12, 2017 10:58 AM UTC  Hogarth by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 12, 2017 10:58 AM UTC South Korean author [Han Kang](http://themanbookerprize.com/international/backlist/2016) broke out in the U.S. last year with the Man Booker International Prize-winning novel [_The Vegetarian_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1101906111/?tag=timecom-20), a transfixing book about the unexpected consequences of a woman’s decision to forgo meat. Her new novel, [_Human Acts_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1101906723/?tag=timecom-20), showcases the same talent for writing about corporeal horrors, this time in the context of the 1980 Gwangju uprising, when the military killed hundreds of people protesting martial law. The book follows a handful of victims and survivors, from a boy keeping vigil over corpses to a woman who undergoes barbaric torture. Han deftly outlines the anatomy of violence, as when a character’s cheek is struck so hard that “the capillaries laced over her right cheekbone burst.” Wounds form scars, and over decades, the survivors bear reminders of their pain–and of the lives cut down beside them. These political invasions become ultra-personal: “I ended up despising my own body,” one character explains, “the very physical stuff of my self.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4632672/south-korea-han-kang-human-acts/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4632672/south-korea-han-kang-human-acts/"},"headline":"Review: South Korea’s Han Kang Returns to Bodily Horrors in Human Acts","datePublished":"2017-01-12T10:58:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:41:25.539Z","description":"The book centers on the 1980 Gwangju uprising","url":"https://time.com/4632672/south-korea-han-kang-human-acts/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd300671066a4fc02/6988b5518fd2ee57263555f2/humanacts.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd300671066a4fc02/6988b5518fd2ee57263555f2/humanacts.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"humanacts","caption":"","creditText":"Hogarth","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4632672/south-korea-han-kang-human-acts/","name":"Review: South Korea’s Han Kang Returns to Bodily Horrors in Human Acts"}}]}] ```