This comic was very informative and thought provoking. Well written and eye opening. It was heart breaking yet instills a sense of pride in the freedoms we often takes for granted. This story really makes you consider how fragile democracy is. Highly recommend!

It's been awhile since I downloaded this book, but I really loved it! It's super relevant right now and I hope more people are able to read it.

This was a interesting reading all because the main character is so interesting and starting to understend how the fight of the studentes for freadon happenead was eye opening. I fell like I could read this comic all over againg just because it made me feel so happy to see a group of people of my age fighting for a better future and getting it. Like the main character said in the comic that the fight don't end but it guets better.

I requested this book because of the tile--I always celebrate Banned Books Week--and ended up reading a graphic memoir that taught me a lot about life in South Korea.

Great non-western society graphic novel dealing with censorship by government. Has its tense moments and really shows a point of history that I knew very little about.

FANTASTIC! I loved this book. It has an important story to tell and does so fantastically. I would recommend this to any teen/adult interested in history or rebellion.

This historical graphic novel takes place in 1980's South Korea and is an eye opening story that highlights the struggle of the Korean people facing unjust perscution and censorship. This is a very powerful graphic novel that shows the fight of a group of young adults to read the books that are important to them even if they face imprisonment and torture at the hands of thier government. So scenes are very hard to read due to the tragic subject matter but still I highly reccomend it to anyone highschool level and up.

Name of the book : Banned Book Club
Authors : Kim Hyun Sook & Ryan Estrada
Illustrator : Ko Hyung-Jo
Publisher : Iron Circus Comics
Number of pages : 204

Banned Book Club is a graphic memoir set in South Korea of 1983, which was then under a brutal militaristic regime. A group of university students hold secret meetings, where they discuss books that are forbidden by the regime and political news that is being suppressed. This means that they have to be careful of the Secret Service , who are constantly on the lookout for communists and other subversives.

Kim Hyun Sook is a freshman, who becomes a part of the group, erroneously believing it to be a regular book club. She soon finds out how dangerous the club is, but also how important these small acts of defiance are.

The book opens up a great discussion on censorship -- why do people ban books? Is it purely because of the content? Do they see danger in the authors that create the content? Or is it because there's a possibility that they see themselves in the "villains" or characters of the story and they're too ashamed to admit it?

Progress truely isn't linear. It's filled with twists and turns but in the end, that doesn't mean we stop fighting for what's right. I would highly recommend everyone to read this!

Great coming of age story of a South Korean student's journey. This graphic novel addresses personal growth, social issues (political regime), and will inspires readers!

It was great to know more about social situations, injustice and cultural backgrounds. I feel like this topic is still not widely discussed, but this graphic novel can be a change.

Banned Book Club might be set in another country and time, but it is absolutely relevant to today. Once I picked this up, not knowing what to expect, I could NOT put this down. The parallels to today and what does censorship really do hooked me right away. A must read and must have title.

In Banned Book Club, Hyun Sook shares a dramatic true story of her time in college in South Korea during the 1980's - there is political division, fear-mongering, anti-intellectualism, the death of democratic institutions, and the relentless rebellion of reading.

I don't know much about South Korea, and was fascinated by the story told in the book. The fact that the author lived it (even if some details were changed/people were combined) made it all that much more impactful. It was also chilling to see the echoes of what we're going through now as a country and wonder where we will end up, and to see that even at the end of the book, 40 years later, she and her friends are still protesting.

Interesting story line, okay illustrations. I learned interesting things and the story is presented well.

I am excited to share this book during Banned Book Week! I think that older teens will really identify with the main character, a college student in South Korea who joins a book club, not realizing that it is truly an act. of protest and resistance.

I honestly don't know on what basis I should give this book stars so I decided on these all aspects: Was it engaging? yes. Was it entertaining and made me want to look stuff up? yes. Was the art awesome? definitely yes. Do I wish it dragged more long? yes.

To elaborate, I loved this book a lot. It can be considered to be my first memoir and on top of that it was a graphic novel (I am trying to read more graphic novels!), so I was a bit timid to pick it up. But since it was set in South Korea and had a political theme and the MC loves to read books, I don't think I couldn't have not picked it up. I don't know much about the political affairs of South Korea but this surely made me super intrigued to know more about it. It talked about so many important things - corruption, police brutality, sexism, activism, feminism etc. And even though it discussed so many things, it didn't seem that heavy to read. I flew through the pages like my life depended on it and made so many notes to look things up.

I especially liked the fact that it didn't go much deep into the happenings or politicians because it made me look up about them. And apart from that, I don't think so much of information would have been suitable for this book. Apart from that, I cannot stress about how important this book is. Starting from as little as banned books, it made me wonder which all books are banned at present in my country and on what basis. It is exceptionally necessary to make students and youths to realize that govt. authorities are accountable to us because they have a societal responsibility that cannot be neglected. And at the same time, we as citizens shouldn't sit back and let things happen the way they are happening. Through a very simple example, this book passed on a very good message - nothing can be apolitical. Politics is present in every part of our lives, even when we think it isn't.

Apart from that there were these moments in the novel wherein not so implicitly, women's struggle were highlighted for which I am glad. I cannot believe that when I started reading this book, I was trying to translate some of my known words from English to Korean! Omg, these instances were so hilarious and it made me realize that watching all those kdramas did pay off in some way ;) And the art was just super fantastic!!! I loved it to bits <3<3 Oh and also, keep a pen and paper ready nearby because there is mention of various books that one might want to check out as well as certain political leaders and instances mentioned.

Trigger warnings: Violence, Tear gas, hinting at sexual assault.

“How can Chun trick everyone? How do people not see what’s happening?”

“He doesn’t care if we believe him or not. He created such a divide between the people who believe his lies and those who don’t that the country is too torn apart to come together and properly oppose him.”

A MUST READ!!!! Loved it so much. EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS.
Actually made me tear up towards the end. So simple yet evocative.
A perfect read for the turbulent times we live in.

Concept and ideas very strong and important especially today with extremist movements on the rise ( what kind of censorship will we be facing?). I really liked the illustrations, but the story was clunky at times and seemed to stumble over itself. Nonetheless it's something to check out if given the opportunity

An eye-opening graphic memoir about life in South Korea in the 1980s. The narrative I had understood--or at least assumed--was that after the Korean War South Korea was immediately a democracy. This was not the case. In this historical graphic novel South Korean university students risk their education, freedom, and even their lives during the rule of the authoritarian militaristic regime of the Fifth Republic. While educational, this graphic novel is still very fun and entertaining. The characters and plot are well developed and will keep you turning pages to see what happens next.

This book was a great read. I learned so much of Korean activism. This is something we are living right now. The writing was phenomenal and the art, fantastic.

This book was very eye-opening. It's easy to forget how little we know about other countries' histories, but the graphic novel genre makes it so accessible for students (and adults!) to learn. This book is not perfect, but I enjoyed it and would recommend it to higher level students.