Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

142 reviews

alexfrankfiction's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide, Police brutality, Abortion, and Miscarriage

amasprout's review

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Suicide, Colonisation, and Xenophobia

Minor: Abortion, War, and Misogyny

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

gigi_627's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Abortion, Mental illness, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

san_dra's review

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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Bullying, War, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Classism, Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Rape

Minor: Mental illness, Homophobia, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Suicide, and Pregnancy

author_d_r_oestreicher's review

dark informative reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

 

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee follows matriarch Sunja’s Korean family from the 1930s to 1989 through the Japanese occupation, World War II, the Cold War, and the Korean War. In the 1930s Sunja became pregnant with Hansu’s child. When he revealed that he had a wife and three daughters in Osaka, she spurned him. It later turned out that he was a rich yakuza (gangster). Instead, she married Isak (a Christian minister). With her new husband, she moved to Osaka as things were dire in Korea (because of the Japanese occupation). She suffered from racism and poverty in Japan even though Hansu stayed in touch and offered support. The book follows her family, her son with Hansu (Noa), her son with Isak (Mozasu), and Mozasu’s son (Solomon). A story of living with racism and poverty (not from the United States). 

 

For my extended notes: https://1book42day.blogspot.com/2023/12/pachinko-by-min-jin-lee.html 

“As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.” 

Check out https://amzn.to/2SpaDMN to see my books. 

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations. 

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Racism

Moderate: Abortion

Almost 500 pages, but a very fast read.

janicew9's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The first 100 pages was difficult,  the last 100 pages felt half lit, like the closing scene of a movie where sunlight filters through the curtains and the music swells over the voices of the characters. The middle was a fantastic novel. Was inspired to read this after listening to a Planet Money episode that featured an interview with the author. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Racism, Racial slurs, and Suicide

Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Mental illness, Abortion, Alcoholism, Cancer, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Classism, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

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

---

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

jg34's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring slow-paced

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

3.25

Many emotions. Learned a lot about Korea-Japanese relations. Didn’t love all the random time jumps and character shifts. For a few chapters one character would be all that is talked about then they aren’t mentioned for 100s of pages!!
Still a good story and made me cry ugly tears

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Death, Racial slurs, War, and Racism

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Sexual content, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Abortion, Cancer, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Car accident, and Confinement

_cararichardson's review against another edition

emotional 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

Wow. This book gutted me over and over again. I wasn’t sure what to expect going in to this, given what seemed like a familiar concept, family saga set during the 20th century, but Lee’s writing really helped set it apart. Her characters were great, all complicated in their own ways. The story explores nationalism, prejudice, love, loyalty, family, obligation and so much more. I personally didn’t know much about the Korean immigrant experience in Japan, and that was a major focus of the book. We got to see each characters relationships with these tough realities. I can go on and on but so much went down in this book that I can’t cover it all. Really really harrowing book and the authors obvious love for the characters and their stories really made this book a home run.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Abortion, War, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Suicide