Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.36 AVERAGE
4.36 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
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
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Loved the book. Wow it makes want to do a deep dive into Korean Japanese history. So well written, it made feel sad, angry, happy about the characters. And yet, a story that many immigrants can relate to, how we must feel to want to go back home, knowing there’s no home to go back to.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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:
Complicated
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-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:
Complicated
emotional
informative
inspiring
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I’m surprised to rate this book as low as I am. The reviews have been pretty great across my socials and I’ve seen many many people include this book on their “favorite reads” lists. But… while I did enjoy it, it fell a bit flat for me. I was very invested in one of the main characters that got pregnant from an affair and moves to Japan. HER story was interesting, but I got lost after she stopped being the main focus. At the end of the book I asked myself: okay, so what?
The writing moves fast and I loved seeing the cultural aspects and the lens through which we see world events unfolding, but ultimately it was too long and too insignificant with little to no meaning I got out of it… buttttt that might just be me?!
The writing moves fast and I loved seeing the cultural aspects and the lens through which we see world events unfolding, but ultimately it was too long and too insignificant with little to no meaning I got out of it… buttttt that might just be me?!
“It was possible that he was in love with the way she wrote the number two — her parallel lines expressing a kind of free movement inside the invisible box that contained the ideograph’s strokes.”
Where to even begin? Pachinko is about so many things. All of them beautiful. All of them painful.
Is about suffering, sacrifice, burden, love, and mostly is about family. What we carry, what we inherit, and what it cannot be escaped.
The book is so carefully built word by word, sentence by sentence.
The stoic writing, the factual sentences, the cold verb gives us all the space we need to build the story. To suffer it without manipulation. We decide what hurts. What matters.
Is amazing how the author, slowly but surely, and with intimate and delicate strokes, paints an incredibly detailed picture of every character, every city, every conflict, every year.
She guides you through the story, and through history, like a mother, like a teacher, like a grandmother, and like a father. She never lets go. She never lets you get lost. But she never judges you. She lets you be.
Step by step, we unlock this story of love and sacrifice. There’s no rush. You’ll get there.
Is truly a work of art.
A masterclass of narrative.
You feel hugged and tucked in by the story, as painful as it is. Sunja never abandones you, even as her world is completely destroyed. She is the greatest mother of them all.
Thank you, Min Jin Lee.
Where to even begin? Pachinko is about so many things. All of them beautiful. All of them painful.
Is about suffering, sacrifice, burden, love, and mostly is about family. What we carry, what we inherit, and what it cannot be escaped.
The book is so carefully built word by word, sentence by sentence.
The stoic writing, the factual sentences, the cold verb gives us all the space we need to build the story. To suffer it without manipulation. We decide what hurts. What matters.
Is amazing how the author, slowly but surely, and with intimate and delicate strokes, paints an incredibly detailed picture of every character, every city, every conflict, every year.
She guides you through the story, and through history, like a mother, like a teacher, like a grandmother, and like a father. She never lets go. She never lets you get lost. But she never judges you. She lets you be.
Step by step, we unlock this story of love and sacrifice. There’s no rush. You’ll get there.
Is truly a work of art.
A masterclass of narrative.
You feel hugged and tucked in by the story, as painful as it is. Sunja never abandones you, even as her world is completely destroyed. She is the greatest mother of them all.
Thank you, Min Jin Lee.