Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

74 reviews

frogonaskateboard's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Colonisation, and Emotional abuse

alisonannk's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Bullying, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, War, Death, Dysphoria, and Sexism

Moderate: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Car accident, Child death, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Infertility

Minor: Alcohol, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gun violence, and Murder

jessgreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? No

4.5

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

Title: Pachinko

Author: Min Jin Lee

Genre: Historical Fiction

Setting: Busan, Korea / Osaka, Japan

Month Read: April 2022

Book Type: Hardcover

Publication: 2017

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Pages: 490

*Book of the Month Selection

TRIGGER WARNING- 

Racism / Sexual Content / Suicide / Genocide / Murder / War / Misogyny / Abuse / Religious Persecution  (there are more, these are the big ones)

"Fill your mind with knowledge—it’s the only kind of power no one can take away from you."

No Spoiler Summary:

Pachinko is a multi-generational tale about a Korean family who moves/is displaced in Japan in the early 1900s. You follow Sunja through history to almost present-day, and also follow the tales of her family- her mother and father, her children, and those she forges familial relationships with throughout the novel. 

You are taken through the arcs of history, from the Japanese invasion of Korea, to the Pachinko parlors of Osaka and beyond, where Koreans tried to make a living that would take themselves out of the raging, devastating poverty they experienced in their new land.

Review:

I'm so glad I finally got around to reading this truly fantastic novel. Sweeping, multi-generational (feminist?) tales have sort of been my jam this year, and along with The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, Pachinko did not disappoint. I also loved that this partially took place near where The Island of Sea Women took place, so I was a little familiar with the setting, which is always a nice surprise when reading about a country you're not super knowledgeable about. 

The characters in this novel are incredible, and I felt like they always kept me engaged, and interested in their hopes, plights, successes, and grief. You really want Sunja, and later on, her family, to do well, and to be okay in as best a way they can given the extremely racially motivated hatred that the Japanese gave to Korean settlers. 

The book is long, and it's a little slow to pick up, so I wouldn't recommend it if this isn't your cup of tea, but once the story starts to move, you're buckled in for a pretty wild ride- especially after arriving in Japan. I learned a lot from this novel, and I really can't wait to dive into some more books about Korea, and I'm glad to have been able to read it in time to watch the show on Apple+! 

Recommendation:

Korean Historical Fiction:

The Island of Sea Women  by Lisa See

Multigenerational Family Dramas:

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Booth by Karen Jow Fowler

"He was suffering, and in a way, he could manage that; but he had caused others to suffer, and he did not know why he had to live now and recall the series of terrible choices that had not looked so terrible at the time. Was that how it was for most people?"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Classism, Racism, Genocide, Adult/minor relationship, War, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Suicide, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Grief, Infidelity, Abandonment, Child death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship

alexhaydon's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Police brutality, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Racism, and Adult/minor relationship

panickat123's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Colonisation, Police brutality, Death of parent, Racism, and War

Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Physical abuse

Minor: Infertility, Abortion, and Drug use

savzilla's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, and Police brutality

rachela_7's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Suicide, and Infertility

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

niamhreadgood's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Suicide, Sexual assault, Grief, Colonisation, Abortion, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Infidelity, and War

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