Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

122 reviews

sunflowerwork's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, War, Alcohol, Suicide, Child death, Colonisation, Racism, Abortion, Death of parent, Sexual content, Sexism, Hate crime, Grief, Miscarriage, Car accident, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Classism, Death, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Addiction

miishmiish's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

So difficult to rate. I think I agree with so many of the 3&2 star reviews— the narrative in the third section of the book is quite unfocused and threads that introduce characters are never tied up. Haruki's wife's vignette, for example, was interesting, but didn't add anything to the story, and she was never included after that chapter. I had to wonder what was the point of her story, if only to further a trope of overly sexualized Japanese girls? 

Solomon's story was overshadowed a bit by the melodrama that was Hana's saga, and I found her character over the top. 

I also didn't care much for the audiobook narrator, who couldn't pronounce Korean nor Japanese words correctly. 

Why pick a narrator that cannot speak the two languages that are central to the story? It was hard to listen to at times. 

That being said, this book is so illuminating in terms of showing how Koreans were (and still are in many ways) discriminated against in Japan, and the effects that Japanese imperialism and colonialism had on generations of Koreans. Despite knowing a good amount of Japanese history, I didn't know much about Japan's colonization of Korea and even less about the Zainichi (ethnic Koreans born in Japan) and their lineages. it's an incredibly important part of history and too often overlooked, like so many stories of colonialism and imperialism. For that reason alone, I think it's deserving of 5 stars - that Min Jin Lee was able to weave the tapestry of four generations of a fictional family in a very real history is extremely impressive. 

I just had to knock a star off for the disconnected ending and loose threads.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Suicide, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Car accident, Violence, War, and Physical abuse

lgcpreads's review

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicide, Death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Abortion, Child death, Physical abuse, Racism, Bullying, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Violence

clipshultz's review

adventurous emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

This book was an incredible read. Each character had so much life, and I felt pulled into each of their worlds. I cried multiple times while reading this, and many of the passages left me reflecting on how certain historical dynamics continue to play out today. This has been one of my favorite reads in recent years, as it pulls you deeply into storyline and keeps you invested in the fate of each character. I wish I could give this a higher rating, but it deserves every star.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, War, Xenophobia, Racism, Misogyny, Suicide, Sexism, and Child death

Minor: Miscarriage

jamisrenee's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, War, Xenophobia, Sexual assault, and Violence

mikaylaslibrary's review against another edition

3.25

Unfortunately, this just fell flat for me. 

The writing style is gorgeous, and I loved the first part of the novel.  It just went downhill from there. 

I think that there were too many characters and not enough time to finish the novel.  I loved Sunja, Yumi and Isak, but the rest of the characters all felt very similar. 

The story is absorbing, and I did read it quite quickly, but I felt it should've been either longer, or two shorter books.  The beginning and ending were very sweet, and tied the whole story together which I loved. 

I think that this is a really interesting novel, and will definitely be someone's favourite.  However, it just didn't work for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Abortion, Cursing, Violence, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Suicide, Racism, Police brutality, and Classism

maria_elizabeth_harden_pope's review

emotional informative 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

4.75

I loved this book for so many reasons. I loved that the characters are so busy being real people that they can't always do what you feel like they should do. I love that even minor characters get a little bit of exploration. I love that even as the number of characters multiply by the chapter you don't feel like you lose the connection to earlier characters. I love that the book sometimes just chooses plain exposition rather than elaborated emotional description. Sometimes the narrator can only report what the people are doing, not why they are. And I think the characters are maybe having a similar experience. I love that everything feels a little bit coincidental and random, which I think is actually really hard to achieve for such a large novel. Why not five stars? I don't know.... I think maybe you leave feeling like you have shared people's lives, but in the end its nothing more than that? But maybe that in and of itself is profound. Idk idk

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Sexual content

karwc's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Grief, Infertility, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Cancer, Classism, Death of parent, Child death, War, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Adult/minor relationship

jenrazzle's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Racism, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, War, Incest, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Death, Alcohol, Trafficking, Cancer, Car accident, Abortion, and Emotional abuse

feainnewedd's review

emotional hopeful 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

4.0

I've had Pachinko on my TBR for quite some time and I'm glad I finally got to read it. What a fascinating, heartwarming (but also heartbreaking) novel about four generations of a Korean family. I knew next to nothing about the dynamic between Koreans and Japanese during the period covered in this family saga (1910-1989), but this work of historical fiction taught me a lot.

Also, no spoilers, but one character's death shocked me so much I kept reading the paragraph over and over, and I think it will stay with me for a long time.

Rating it 4 out of 5 stars because

I feel like the last 1/3 or 1/4 of the book focused too much on side characters to the detriment of the others. For example, I wish the author had spent more time exploring the impact of Noa's disappearance and, eventually, his death on his family members, particularly his brother Mozasu.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, Death of parent, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism