Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

45 reviews

jessiereads98's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-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

4.25

This promised a sweeping epic of a multigenerational Korean family living in Japan and it delivered. Min Jin Lee’s writing is simplistic and effective. She’s created complex characters and gets the reader invested in their story.  It’s truly impressive how the author manages such a large cast of characters and managed to flesh them all out into realistic people with differing morals existing in the same setting. This is a historical novel and Min Jin Lee has written it with realism for the time. She is also attempting to tackle themes of beauty and desire. That being said and understood, I didn’t enjoy the way female and disabled characters were described and treated in some ways in this novel. I don’t think it actually grappled with the beauty standards, sexism, and ableism of the time period so much as just said “this is how it was” in an objective way. I did still enjoy the novel overall, there were just some character treatments and descriptions I did not enjoy reading. The pacing of the last approx. 100 pages also came off as disjointed compared to the rest of the book which made it more difficult to be invested in the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Infertility, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Rape, Terminal illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Abortion, Murder, Alcohol, and Deportation

jelenwalker's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, and Colonisation

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Miscarriage, Torture, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

maiaquinn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

this book was well written and I learned a lot about Korean and Japanese tensions during the late 1800s to late 1900s that were artfully embedded into the story. I didn’t feel like I was dropped into the story but more like I was watching from a distance. The end felt abrupt but maybe it was supposed to be kind of jarring? Would not read again just because of how long it is and how depressing some of the themes are. Very sad but believable story

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and War

clalaure's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Xenophobia

Moderate: Violence and Colonisation

Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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

readwithserena's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective 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

4.75

A moving story following generations of A Korean family during and after Japanese annexation of Korea. The exploration and varied perspectives on national identity is well done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Abortion, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and War

goldensun's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

fantastic historical fiction epic novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Hate crime, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Religious bigotry, and War

jai_martin's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, and War

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Trafficking, and Abortion

aerinreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

ntvenessa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

A gem. This is a tale about poverty, suffering, colonialism, identity, salvation, endurance, family. Min Jin Lee's background as a historian shines through and Pachinko is exemplary of great historical fiction. It is factually consistent and you will learn much of Japan's colonisation of Korea, a topic not so in regular discourse. It is also emotional, generous, and sensitive to these historical facts. The characters are distinct and each have personalities which make sense for their context. It is intergenerational. The story is just so well crafted. This makes sense given how much time and dedication Lee spent workshopping drafts. I am normally averse to thick novels, but Pachinko has me unafraid -- it is exactly as long as the story needs to be, and moreover, it is easy to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Suicide, Car accident, and Abortion

Minor: Child death and Homophobia