Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

105 reviews

theliteraryagenda's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Cursing, and Sexual content

Moderate: Car accident, Toxic relationship, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Racism, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Torture, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, and Infertility

Near the end of the book, there are several scenes of graphic sexual content, which seemed unnecessary to the story.

madanxiety's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

The most fascinating thing about this book is how much ground it covers in terms of time, starting in 1910 and ending in the 1980s (if I remember correctly). Through the story of this family, Lee explores the many hardships faced by Koreans during the 20th century. 

However, because it covers so much, I was shocked at how subtly Lee reveals important updates about long-standing characters. At one point, a character dies, and that information is (as far as I could tell - I replayed it three times) only provided when a side character refers to his wife as a widow in passing. In this way, the omniscient narration is very interesting, but it also leads to some confusion. Being a lover of literature, though, I do like when a book kind of makes me work for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Racism

Moderate: War, Infidelity, and Suicide

Minor: Rape and Infertility

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

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

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

daphnewoods's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book definitely delves deep into some really tough subjects, but it’s written with such tenderness and grace and wisdom that it didn’t leave me in a place of darkness; but rather expanded my heart even wider. It’s an absolute treasure and should be required reading. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Colonisation, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Murder, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Cancer, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, War, Miscarriage, Grief, Police brutality, Racism, Self harm, Bullying, Physical abuse, Classism, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Body shaming, Suicide, Misogyny, Hate crime, Child death, Outing, Infertility, and Deportation

nessazee's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Gaslighting

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

blanketenjoyer's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Racism, Sexual content, Miscarriage, and Trafficking

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

dumaurier's review against another edition

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

4.5

cried a single dramatic tear when this epic ended. sunja and kyunghee are in my heart forever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Sexism, Xenophobia, and War

Moderate: Infidelity, Cancer, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Police brutality

Minor: Abortion, Infertility, Miscarriage, Ableism, Body shaming, Homophobia, and Medical content

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

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

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, and Abortion

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