Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

15 reviews

magnolia_berry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Drug use, Infidelity, Murder, Suicide, Bullying, Colonisation, Violence, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Abortion, Torture, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Genocide, Gun violence, Police brutality, and War

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Child death and Trafficking

isacarvalho91's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Dementia, Genocide, Infertility, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Sexism, Chronic illness, Self harm, Terminal illness, Cultural appropriation, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Miscarriage, War, Adult/minor relationship, Pregnancy, Grief, Murder, Sexual violence, and Suicide

jg34's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

Many emotions. Learned a lot about Korea-Japanese relations. Didn’t love all the random time jumps and character shifts. For a few chapters one character would be all that is talked about then they aren’t mentioned for 100s of pages!!
Still a good story and made me cry ugly tears

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Death, Racial slurs, War, and Racism

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Sexual content, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Abortion, Cancer, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Car accident, and Confinement

eiireads's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

this book left me empty, numb, and ruined. oh i dont think i can ever recover. i teared up several times and whenever i thought, ‘oh, this will get better,’ TADAA ! another heart wrenching scene was waiting on the next page. there are still so many pain, prejudiced, and WORKS to do to make this world a better place. pachinko is a book that you HAVE TO read at least once in this lifetime. trust me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Murder, Xenophobia, Racism, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Colonisation, and Racial slurs

aexileigh's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Sexism, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual content, War, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Alcohol, Cancer, Chronic illness, and Classism

rieviolet's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The book is divided into three parts: the first one I liked well enough, the second one was so-so, the third one, well, I just kept thinking "What is going on here? What the heck am I reading about?".

There were just too many characters, especially given that the book already covers a very long period of time and many generations of a family. I really think that some characters were just unnecessary additions and we could have done without their perspectives, so that more space could be given to the main ones. All the jumping between so many different points of view just made it hard to become invested. 

Moreover, very big and even traumatic events are just briefly explored or worse just mentioned in passing. This character died, this one entered a relationship , and so-and-so did that, well good for them, am I supposed to care? There is no groundwork, how can a reader get attached to these people and their stories when you as an author have given them so little? Well there was time to go on and on about George Elliot's novels but no time to delve into a main character' emotions, I guess. 
I was just not a fan of how the author portrayed the characters, if there isn't a good handling of their depictions then the story just turns into an over-the-top soap opera.  

I found interesting the setting and the overall theme (exploring the lives of Korean people and their descendants living in Japan) but I was not that impressed with the execution itself.

For its length, the book is quite easy to get through, the chapters are not too long, the pace is quite fast and the narrative style is readable enough. Still, the writing style is nothing much to talk about, overall it's a bit too much dry and matter-of-fact for my taste. 

All in all, the premise sounded good but the book was a disappointment for me and the three-star rating is basically only for the first section, the rest I'm wilfully choosing to ignore.         

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Alcoholism, Ableism, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Bullying, Chronic illness, Classism, Suicide, Religious bigotry, War, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Police brutality, Miscarriage, Trafficking, and Cancer

Minor: Terminal illness, Child death, Physical abuse, Infertility, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Blood, Rape, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Torture, Car accident, Abortion, and Body shaming

readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Murder, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Cancer, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Confinement, Classism, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Racism, War, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Car accident, Body shaming, Bullying, Abandonment, Rape, Infidelity, Infertility, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Blood, Alcoholism, and Abortion

scifi_rat's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Plot: 4.5 ★
Prose: 4.5 ★
Pace: 4 ★
Concept/Execution: 4.5 ★/5 ★
Characters: 5 ★
Worldbuilding: 5 ★
Ending: 4 ★

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Colonisation, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Abortion, Child death, Grief, Pregnancy, Suicide, Bullying, Classism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Cancer, Alcohol, Body shaming, and War

Minor: Infertility, Murder, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Deportation, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, and Trafficking

mxkanteven's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I think this is the first time I’m saying this, but the adaption was better than the book.

The book is capturing and takes you on a journey across generations thorough the lives of Koreans but in occupied Korea and across the diaspora and their journey with Japanese colonialism.

It can be triggering for sure, but it is bracing and unflinching about the realities of colonized people and the social, legal and class hurdles they face. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Colonisation, War, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Religious bigotry and Trafficking

jessiereads98's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This promised a sweeping epic of a multigenerational Korean family living in Japan and it delivered. Min Jin Lee’s writing is simplistic and effective. She’s created complex characters and gets the reader invested in their story.  It’s truly impressive how the author manages such a large cast of characters and managed to flesh them all out into realistic people with differing morals existing in the same setting. This is a historical novel and Min Jin Lee has written it with realism for the time. She is also attempting to tackle themes of beauty and desire. That being said and understood, I didn’t enjoy the way female and disabled characters were described and treated in some ways in this novel. I don’t think it actually grappled with the beauty standards, sexism, and ableism of the time period so much as just said “this is how it was” in an objective way. I did still enjoy the novel overall, there were just some character treatments and descriptions I did not enjoy reading. The pacing of the last approx. 100 pages also came off as disjointed compared to the rest of the book which made it more difficult to be invested in the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Death, and Misogyny

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Confinement, Violence, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, War, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Sexual violence

Minor: Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Homophobia, Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Genocide, Rape, Child death, Deportation, Cursing, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Drug use, Gore, Medical content, Murder, Terminal illness, and Torture