Mostafa Chizari
A beautifully written but difficult read that never fully clicked for me. The opening chapters are incredibly strong — the language is powerful, and I felt completely pulled into the chaos after the uprising, especially the emotional weight shared between the characters early on. That connection dropped off for me in the middle sections, where the relentless brutality and graphic detail made it hard to stay emotionally engaged rather than overwhelmed. The final chapter, though, brought things back around and reintroduced the human core I’d been missing.
I can absolutely see why people love Human Acts, and there’s no denying how skilfully it’s written. Unfortunately, I found it tough to get through and difficult to truly connect with for long stretches. It made me think, but more out of confusion than curiosity — I felt like I needed outside context for parts of it to really make sense, which hurt it as a standalone read for me. A harrowing look at humanity’s fight for justice, but one that felt like too much gore and intensity without enough grounding to hold it all together.
A beautifully written but difficult read that never fully clicked for me. The opening chapters are incredibly strong — the language is powerful, and I felt completely pulled into the chaos after the uprising, especially the emotional weight shared between the characters early on. That connection dropped off for me in the middle sections, where the relentless brutality and graphic detail made it hard to stay emotionally engaged rather than overwhelmed. The final chapter, though, brought things back around and reintroduced the human core I’d been missing.
I can absolutely see why people love Human Acts, and there’s no denying how skilfully it’s written. Unfortunately, I found it tough to get through and difficult to truly connect with for long stretches. It made me think, but more out of confusion than curiosity — I felt like I needed outside context for parts of it to really make sense, which hurt it as a standalone read for me. A harrowing look at humanity’s fight for justice, but one that felt like too much gore and intensity without enough grounding to hold it all together.
