Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

123 reviews

mikaylaslibrary's review against another edition

3.25

Unfortunately, this just fell flat for me. 

The writing style is gorgeous, and I loved the first part of the novel.  It just went downhill from there. 

I think that there were too many characters and not enough time to finish the novel.  I loved Sunja, Yumi and Isak, but the rest of the characters all felt very similar. 

The story is absorbing, and I did read it quite quickly, but I felt it should've been either longer, or two shorter books.  The beginning and ending were very sweet, and tied the whole story together which I loved. 

I think that this is a really interesting novel, and will definitely be someone's favourite.  However, it just didn't work for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Abortion, Cursing, Violence, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Suicide, Racism, Police brutality, and Classism

san_dra's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Bullying, War, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Classism, Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Rape

Minor: Mental illness, Homophobia, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Suicide, and Pregnancy

janicew9's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

The first 100 pages was difficult,  the last 100 pages felt half lit, like the closing scene of a movie where sunlight filters through the curtains and the music swells over the voices of the characters. The middle was a fantastic novel. Was inspired to read this after listening to a Planet Money episode that featured an interview with the author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Racism, Racial slurs, and Suicide

Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Mental illness, Abortion, Alcoholism, Cancer, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Classism, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

laurajenkins's review against another edition

I kept hoping something would happen. Nothing but gratuitous sex. No plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Torture, Trafficking, Suicide, Bullying, Chronic illness, Sexual harassment, Cursing, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

jenrazzle's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Racism, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, War, Incest, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Death, Alcohol, Trafficking, Cancer, Car accident, Abortion, and Emotional abuse

lanid's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Classism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Bullying, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Police brutality

whisper88's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Body shaming, Death of parent, Bullying, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and War

franzi_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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: Racism, Bullying, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Colonisation

Moderate: Misogyny, Infertility, Police brutality, Terminal illness, War, and Miscarriage

Minor: Abortion and Alcoholism

kenzieburns's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

A truly touching story spanning 4 generations of love, loss, and everything in between. I'll start by saying: this book is definitely a slow build kinda read, but I was so entranced with the story and the characters that I hardly noticed the lack of action until reflecting on each part. I think the author did a good job of balancing storytelling/immersion in the characters with small tidbits of revelation of deeper meaning/symbolism behind somethings. There were times in the book where I wanted to throw one (or more!!) of the characters against the wall, or shake them and say "why are you being so stupid???" but I think that's a sign of really well-written characters. I also appreciated learning more about the Korean immigrants' experience and struggle in living in Japan during the 20th century. Noa's story is particularly heartbreaking, and I stared at the page where

he shot himself for a bit too long, thinking "wait, what? no! what? for real? no!!" and the way that it wasn't really talked about anymore after the fact?? Like, he really truly died. Heartbreaking.

The author also balanced transitions really well, as in switching from focus on one generation/characters to the next. I felt like I was growing with the characters, and by the time narrative focus shifted to the next generation, I was ready to move on to their perspective. I also have to take a moment to reflect on the title and how it played into the story:

"Pachinko" didn't really come up until midway through the book, and even then it was just a job for Mozasu at first. And, Mozasu was written to be a bit unlikable, in my opinion, until Noa rejected his heritage and you really only had Mozasu to support. The symbolism of Noa's suicide, even when he was the "good" child, but Mozasu's prosperity thanks to embracing his heritage as Korean is particularly striking. Also, Soloman's eventual rejection of Western life to instead run the pachinko business really speaks to the whole idea that you can't escape your heritage, and maybe you shouldn't try to. And that sometimes, the only choices life gives you are "bad" ones.

One thing I'm left thinking about is how the characters in this novel were constantly delt hard hands, from Sunja's struggles bearing a bastard child to a minister to <spolier> Solomon's termination because of "bad looks" , and it was so, so hard for them to get by, let alone get a leg up. Like, they had to make some of the "bad" decisions they did, because there was no way for them to survive otherwise. It really put some perspective on the immigrants struggle for me, in a light I hadn't really seen it before. Like, the playing field is never level, and everyone's choices need to be taken in context of the rest of their lives, because they truly might not have had any other options.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Xenophobia, and Bullying

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

sarcasmpotato's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Suicide, and Suicide attempt