Reviews with content warning for Violence - Pachinko

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

127 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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maria_elizabeth_harden_pope's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective 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

4.75

I loved this book for so many reasons. I loved that the characters are so busy being real people that they can't always do what you feel like they should do. I love that even minor characters get a little bit of exploration. I love that even as the number of characters multiply by the chapter you don't feel like you lose the connection to earlier characters. I love that the book sometimes just chooses plain exposition rather than elaborated emotional description. Sometimes the narrator can only report what the people are doing, not why they are. And I think the characters are maybe having a similar experience. I love that everything feels a little bit coincidental and random, which I think is actually really hard to achieve for such a large novel. Why not five stars? I don't know.... I think maybe you leave feeling like you have shared people's lives, but in the end its nothing more than that? But maybe that in and of itself is profound. Idk idk

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karwc's review

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emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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jenrazzle's review against another edition

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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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feainnewedd's review against another edition

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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? Yes

4.0

I've had Pachinko on my TBR for quite some time and I'm glad I finally got to read it. What a fascinating, heartwarming (but also heartbreaking) novel about four generations of a Korean family. I knew next to nothing about the dynamic between Koreans and Japanese during the period covered in this family saga (1910-1989), but this work of historical fiction taught me a lot.

Also, no spoilers, but one character's death shocked me so much I kept reading the paragraph over and over, and I think it will stay with me for a long time.

Rating it 4 out of 5 stars because

I feel like the last 1/3 or 1/4 of the book focused too much on side characters to the detriment of the others. For example, I wish the author had spent more time exploring the impact of Noa's disappearance and, eventually, his death on his family members, particularly his brother Mozasu.

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honipoems's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

this was such a interesting book about the relationship between Korea & Japan. It was about a time of the history I never heard about before (or just some part). The colonization, the war, the poverty… very intriguing.

It’s also interesting to take a look at the women situation. Always the first victims of these kinds of period. « Women have to suffer »

I also like the end of the book, when we have the confrontation of old mind spirit against the one from usa which is more like ours today.

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_cararichardson's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

5.0

Wow. This book gutted me over and over again. I wasn’t sure what to expect going in to this, given what seemed like a familiar concept, family saga set during the 20th century, but Lee’s writing really helped set it apart. Her characters were great, all complicated in their own ways. The story explores nationalism, prejudice, love, loyalty, family, obligation and so much more. I personally didn’t know much about the Korean immigrant experience in Japan, and that was a major focus of the book. We got to see each characters relationships with these tough realities. I can go on and on but so much went down in this book that I can’t cover it all. Really really harrowing book and the authors obvious love for the characters and their stories really made this book a home run.

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