Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

129 reviews

novelisa's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Death of parent, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Death, Miscarriage, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism, War, Addiction, Torture, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Abortion

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, War, and Miscarriage

Minor: Violence

rametta's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Grief, Drug use, Hate crime, Death of parent, Classism, Cancer, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Colonisation, Bullying, Abortion, Violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, War, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, and Infertility

peevishbird's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault and Child abuse

lauravreads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

Pachinko follows a family through 4 generations. Starting in 1901 with Hoonie and ending in 1989 with Hooneis great grand son Solomon 

Honestly, I feel that this might be my favorite type of novel. I love watching a family through generations. I love how it starts as historical fiction and it kind of works its way to more contemporary fiction. I also enjoy reading about the family dynamic and the relationships within a family and how they evolve through time and age. 

This book was such a good read. I enjoyed it so much. I learned so much about Korea and how the Great Depression and World War II affected so many people and particularly the Koreans, who lived in Japan throughout that time. I loved watching the advocacy for civil rights in Japan as the years continued. Each family member has such a profound and interesting story. I loved how easily the book transitioned from each member, and even though we might focus on one member, we can easily go back to another without deterring from the narration.

What was overall great read was a bit of a slow book and it took me about two weeks to read  Which is okay, but sometimes I wish things kind of picked up a little faster.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Racial slurs, Racism, Hate crime, Grief, Classism, Chronic illness, Ableism, War, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide, Police brutality, and Homophobia

pphector's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Suicide, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Toxic relationship, War, and Violence

gattolinos_nerdy_nook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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

I was surprised with how much I enjoyed listening to this book and the life of the family. I don't normally like literary fiction but I think I enjoy it a lot more when it is in audiobook format.

This book has a lot to take in when you are reading it. It follows three or four generations (depending how you want to look at it) of a Korean family and their struggles and accomplishments. I recommend looking up any content warnings for this book before reading as there are some heavy moments.

The characters in this book are so well written and compelling. They also feel very human in the way they make mistakes and you go from liking them to hating them, and then liking them again.
If you are looking for a great character driven story I think this would be an excellent read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Racism, and Suicide

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, Violence, and War

Minor: Miscarriage

jomima's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

Beautiful. The characters and relationships were incredibly detailed, and the prose is interesting to read. sunja is such a strong character.

it's a shame Noa's life was cut short like that, i was really shocked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Xenophobia, Racism, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, War, and Cursing

jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Classism, Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, Trafficking, Violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Infertility, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Grief, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, War, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Death, and Terminal illness

Minor: Deportation and Homophobia

japanasi's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

there are quite some differences in comparison to the Apple+ series (Pachinko), which I saw before and made me want to read the novel. a sad but definitely interesting read; food for thought, too. 

the second half was simultaneously draining and more or less dragging on, but it also left me unsatisfied with how fast the stories were pushed through? we spent so much time with sunja and then all of a sudden the focus shifts tremendously and she is treated as a side character, which I didn’t like so much; I’d rather have the whole story focus on her, even though the others were interesting, too.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Infidelity, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Grief, War, Suicide, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, and Violence