Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

109 reviews

lisaearley's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Colonisation, Miscarriage, and War

Minor: Suicide and Terminal illness

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

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

megang519'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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Suicide, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, Child death, Death, and Police brutality

ksuazo94's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual content, Death of parent, Racism, Colonisation, Grief, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, and War

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, and Car accident

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

vl_411's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

A melancoly story follows a Korean family through different generations of their time and experience in Japan. It does feel a bit aimless until the last 20% of the book when it ties it all together very well with the pachinko theme; that despite all their efforts to assimilate and the fact they were born and raised in this land with all the money they've earned - none of this helps as the system is rigged enough that only a small percentage succeed but enough that there's hope. Very heavy themes and different nuanced standpoints represented by each character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Xenophobia, and War

Moderate: Terminal illness, Abortion, Violence, and Toxic relationship

nikkiacat's review against another edition

emotional 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

Pulled me in, I couldn't stop reading. Depressing, but addictive. Noa pissed me off, I wanted to punch him, but an amazing read besides that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Colonisation, Cursing, Pregnancy, War, Child death, Racism, and Suicide

abigailjblay's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective medium-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? Yes

2.0

Well written, just not for me but I'm sure many will enjoy this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Death of parent, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, and Terminal illness