Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

60 reviews

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

Minor: Homophobia and Deportation

mlovesbooks's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, and Abortion

Minor: Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Fire/Fire injury, and Deportation

tinyjude's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

An emotional family saga set during and after Japan's colonisation of Korea and WWII up almost to the present. It deals with the difficulties experienced by Korean immigrants in Japan, the war, poverty, misogyny, classism and many more. Although fiction, it is still closely influenced by true events and provides an overview of the situation many Korean immigrants endured at that time. The amount of characters and the objective point of view sometimes made it a bit difficult to care deeply about them, but nonetheless I think it is a very important and insightful read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Pedophilia

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, and Abortion

fairyribs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

4.5- my god this book was amazing. Knocked off 0.5 because the ending was a bit…meh. But the themes, history and the ramifications of cultural genocide were heartbreaking but very necessary to read about.

I went into this book expecting it to be a history of the Japanese colonial rule but instead I got an intimate portrait of a family and it’s fight for survival during and after colonialism. I never knew that people like the Zainichi existed and to see how many of them came to be was quite illuminating, along with the discrimination many Korean-Japanese people face today.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

isadreamsof's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I mentally put this book at the bottom of my TBR because I had an inkling it would make me cry, but I felt compelled to pick it up on a particularly slow day, and I'm so glad I did.

I gave this five stars because it was the book to really get me out of my  slump and make me love reading again. I personally found it hard to put down because I was so invested in the characters and what would happen to them. While there were things I wish had been done differently,

like having more time with Isak, or just the end of Noa's arc (oh god, not the unintentional biblical pun)

, I didn't dislike it too much to dock a star. 

I found the language easy to digest and the plot easy to follow despite its large cast. The characters felt so real to me too, and I would say this is one of those books I want to forget to experience for the first time all over again. 

Was this heartbreaking? Yes. Will I recommend it? Absolutely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Homophobia

Fortunately, the book does not romanticize any of these things, but they're still very present elements in the story.

alisonannk's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Car accident, Abortion, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Minor: Gun violence, Murder, Outing, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol

chels_ebooks's review against another edition

5.0

It's not so much the tragedies, but how fast we keep going afterward.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia

lovememore_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Ableism and Suicide

Minor: Homophobia

gm_vak's review against another edition

adventurous informative slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, and Grief

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Pachinko follows the lives of four generations of Koreans as everything they know is torn apart and their identities are challenged by prejudice and war. This book takes us from rule South Korea into the major Japanese cities and tells the story of the diaspora formed after World War II. While most of the story centers around Sunja, the second generation, in each POV we experience a different kind of struggle, both internal and external. It’s a fascinating and a heartbreaking study.

I often struggle to read books without immediate, clear plot. That was not the case with Pachinko. While there is no linear destination, each character has plenty of obstacles they need to overcome. Almost all of these obstacles are grossly unfair and driven by racism or elitism. From Noa, we see the intense bullying Korean students have to endure. Through Mozasu, we see the struggle to carve out a successful place in the world despite the world assuming you are crooked and dishonest. Kyunghee, one of my favorite characters, shows us that racism is relentless, even if the person does everything culturally correct. All of these stories are told in a historical context, most of them taking place entirely in Japan, and the story leaves us at the 1980s. That said, it’s easy to see where 40 years after the end of the book, these racist prejudices and multi-generational struggles persist today.

While Pachinko focuses specifically on a Korean family, we do see hints of the lives of Japanese individuals as well. There are many kinds of relationships represented in Pachinko, and I applaud Min Jin Lee for including LGBTQIAP+ representation as well. The Japanese characters of this story are struggling to reckon their actual identify with their expected identity. For one, this is his sexuality. For another, it’s her role as a mother. There is only one Japanese-American character, but even in her, we see the weight of the diaspora as she is unable to connect with her cultural identity.

There are a swarm of conversations to be had about Pachinko and the characters in this book. I think if I read it again, it would feel like an entirely new story. It’s sad and it’s sweet and the writing outlines the hum of life and the forced acceptance within its pages. Pachinko is a book that will make you think, and it will make you want to learn more.

I wholeheartedly recommend Pachinko to any reader who can handle a slow-paced slice of life book. The pacing is purposefully slow, so you can’t fly through it the way a reader can with high action books. It’s such a worthwhile read, thought-provoking, delicately woven, complex, and enlightening. This is one of those books you put on your “books to read before I die” list.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Grief, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Abortion, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol