Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

33 reviews

cheetar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I like it just that I think it can do without the written out sex scenes.

like at one point, I thought Kim was gonna rape Kyung Hee and i thought that would ruin Kim's character arc completely

I wanted more of the historical drama and the philosophical question and answer bits.

I somehow hated Hana's character alot, like I felt like it showed but didn't justify why she was acting the way she was. I also didn't understand why Noa killed himself and why Hana refused help.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing

nicolesorial's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Cancer, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, War, Ableism, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, and Sexism

allisonshewfelt's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Pachinko follows four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family as they live life in Korea and Japan. A terrible choice is made by one of our main characters that affects the generations till the end of the book.

I adored the rich detail and characterization as well as the multiple povs. I appreciate that Lee didn't just focus on the stories of the main characters but also included the side characters. A lot of side characters even got their own chapters. The writing was of course gorgeous and addicting to read.

As someone who doesn't pay attention in history class, this book taught me more than any textbook would and kept my attention. Unlike textbooks where they just relay the facts, books like these focus on the characters and really help you understand and emphasize the historical situation. Many things shocked me. For example inflation and the high value of money as well as how Koreans were treated by the Japanese. Koreans could get imprisoned so easily for the smallest reasons and that really bothered me.

I did not expect to cry but what was I thinking? Of course I would if the story spans 4 generations someone ought to die.

I loved most of the characters so much and it was crazy how fast they grew up. I felt like I was a part of their family. The character deaths were so hard to go through because of this.

The opening line "History has failed us, but no matter" really showcases what this book will contain: the struggle of characters to keep going despite the prejudice. The covers for the paperback and hardcover both are great representations of the book too. I appreciate how the title also ties in with the book. Pachinko is a Japanese pinball game that relies on luck. There will be some winners and a lot of losers but you'll keep playing because you have hope that you'll be the lucky one.

This book deserves nothing less than 5 stars considering how much time and research was put into it. Like Lee took 30 years to write this! I'm so happy it got adapted. I already know the show is gonna be a masterpiece and I will be reading anything Lee writes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Violence, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Torture, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Colonisation, Rape, Suicide, Alcoholism, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Child death, Death of parent, Cancer, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Sexual harassment

serena_hien's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful informative

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Sexual content, Violence, Colonisation, Classism, Death, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Misogyny, Cursing, and Infertility

Minor: Miscarriage, Cancer, Abortion, and Trafficking

nila's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

An incredible journey through most of the 20th century following one family and their journey trying to survive all aspects of war and its aftermath. The story had twist and turns, and there were many times I had to put the book down because I was so surprised by what I had just read 

from the reading journal: There's an abundance of the "innocent young good man/boy being corrupted by the sexual whore who only wants their money material things. Yes the" bad men"-characters are also present, but I feel they are more fleshed out and for some reason, their "flaws" are justified and explained away.

One the other end, the "good" woman is also never good enough. She's too boring or even, not "good enough".Every single woman is described and more or less ranked by their sexual availability and desirability. And almost all the women who are described as promiscuous are punished, either with not being allowed to marry again for love, or being beaten half to death in a car or actually dying. While the men who illicit the same kind of behavior get to grow old, and be surrounded by wealth and loved ones. I understand that this is/was the reality of the society that is described in the book, but then what should one think is the "message" behind the story? Or am I overthinking this? I want to read more Asian literature, but find that the sexualisation of women is a deterring factor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, War, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Violence, Alcohol, Cursing, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, and Child death

Minor: Abortion, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Drug use

aerinreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, Racism, Sexism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Suicide, Cursing, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

thebookishbedouin's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation, Violence, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Sexism, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Classism, Chronic illness, and Bullying

Moderate: War, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Cancer

Minor: Abortion, Torture, Miscarriage, Infidelity, and Alcoholism

amberswips's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Overall I enjoyed this book. It definitely held my interest, however I wish this had been a duology instead with one book focusing on Sunja and Isak and the other focusing on their kids. I feel that the book jumps through the years so fast we never get to see the plots flesh out. But I did enjoy the characters a lot. They were interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Death of parent, Hate crime, Suicide, Suicide attempt, War, and Sexism

Moderate: Addiction, Abortion, Body shaming, Sexual content, Cancer, and Car accident

Minor: Cursing

erma_z's review against another edition

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Sexism

navayiota's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Colonisation, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Suicide, War, Xenophobia, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Car accident, Infidelity, and Miscarriage