Reviews - Pachinko | The StoryGraph

24.6k reviews for:

Pachinko

Min Jin Lee

4.36 AVERAGE

lydiacheever's review against another edition

4.75

emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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: Complicated

Ripped my heart out and put it back together again. If you love reading about people and learning about other cultures, this one’s for you.

sidpicky's review against another edition

4.0

A book that transports you to different eras with ease

This was a great read. It totally opened my eyes to the lives and struggles of Korean Japanese people and the horrors of the war. The characters were well rounded and sufficiently complex. My only gripe was that the author continued to introduce new character almost to the end of the book and didn’t give them sufficient time to grow and evolve. That minor thing aside, the writing was fantastic and it was one of the best works of fiction I’ve read in the last couple of years. My first book of 2020 could not have been better.

evergreenvt's review against another edition

3.0

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I’ll admit, I wasn’t a big fan of this book. It had a lot of positive reviews and I thought I’d love it. The pacing was all over the place, sometimes lingering on a time period for several chapters, then jumping ahead three years, then another three in the next chapter. The descendants stories felt rushed and underdeveloped. I had a hard time really caring for the characters and enjoying reading about their journeys. Maybe I missed something, but I was not as impressed as I thought I’d be.

Content Warnings