Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

6 reviews

jrow's review against another edition

3.5

funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Entertaining as something to listen to while doing something else, like driving or cleaning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Grief, Pregnancy, Classism

Moderate: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt

samdalefox's review

3.25

adventurous challenging emotional funny lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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It had me hooked in the first third but steadily lost me as the the book progressed. I get the impression this is a story that gives really good insight into the complexities of Korean-American immigrants and 2nd-3rd generations navigating their place in society. Despite not being American-Korean myself, I believe these are accurate reflections through the writing and characterisation. No-one fell into a stereotype; all characters were morally grey and were relatively well fleshed out for how many people the narrative followed. 

All of the above is great, but the constant switching between characters did eventually wear me down as I was spending less and less time with the character I was most interested in; Casey, and there were several threads left hanging I would have liked to have seen explored a little further. By the end I was tired, not invested, and felt nothing further outstanding to reflect on. And to be brutally honest, I found it hard to get behind the wealth disparity described from a jaded-2025 point of view. Full scholarship?... Owning houses?!...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content

Moderate: Addiction, Physical abuse, Pregnancy

Minor: Body shaming, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism

casira's review against another edition

3.25

funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Lee does not write other races very convincingly. Hispanic portrayals were...weird? Insistent use of "hermano" randomly injected into what was otherwise English felt uncomfortable and inauthentic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Infertility, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder, Racism, Vomit, Abortion, Colonisation

emmareeser's review against another edition

4.0

dark sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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While incredibly long this book kept me captivated until the end! Minus one star for the ending, it didn’t really leave you with much closure and didn’t really make sense.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment

Moderate: Cursing, Miscarriage, Abortion, Death of parent

Gambling

annikjakober's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted 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

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I understand why the reviews for this one are polarizing. Personally, I loved the writing style and that the reader got insight in so many different characters. Lee intertwines many plottlines of multiple families throughout New York, and thereby writes so graphic which makes this novel so addictive. The plot is very different from Patchinko, so it's hard to compare them. I disliked the portrayal of women in this book, as most of them were making terrible decisions (all the time) and acting unreasonable. Meanwhile, every male character in this book seems to be focused on sex only. Besides unrealistic portrayals of luxury and university degrees

(who has a magna cum laude in economics and cannot handle money and acquires dept as a hobby?!)

, I really enjoyed the diverse character descriptions and the brilliant writing style. This book reads like a fun and witty soap opera.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Rape, Sexism

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse

Minor: Miscarriage, Abortion

internationalreads's review against another edition

3.5

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Pregnancy

Moderate: Abortion