25k reviews for:

Pachinko

Min Jin Lee

4.36 AVERAGE

emotional sad tense slow-paced

It’s an interesting story and I really enjoyed learning some of the history and the relationship between Korea and Japan, but the writing was, at first not bad, and then became substantially worse ;/
emotional reflective medium-paced

Immersive multigenerational family epic spanning centuries and continents

Audiobook. I think I have to sit with the ending for a bit, maybe find some analysis online. Very interesting book that follows a family for five generations from Korea during its last occupation to Japan 1989. Would’ve given five stars but it did feel a bit slow at times, especially in the beginning.
emotional reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional lighthearted sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes

Beautifully written, utterly tragic and it taught me a lot about Korean/Japanese history. The first two-thirds were 5*, however, the writing in the last third seemed slightly rushed and a bit jumpy making me care less about the youngest generation of characters. Overall, a top read though
emotional informative inspiring reflective relaxing 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