Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

110 reviews

kalmia31's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War, and Deportation

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Infertility, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts

clutzmom's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring 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

Came to care so much about even the most flawed characters. You will cry. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, and Suicide

jessiereads98's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

This promised a sweeping epic of a multigenerational Korean family living in Japan and it delivered. Min Jin Lee’s writing is simplistic and effective. She’s created complex characters and gets the reader invested in their story.  It’s truly impressive how the author manages such a large cast of characters and managed to flesh them all out into realistic people with differing morals existing in the same setting. This is a historical novel and Min Jin Lee has written it with realism for the time. She is also attempting to tackle themes of beauty and desire. That being said and understood, I didn’t enjoy the way female and disabled characters were described and treated in some ways in this novel. I don’t think it actually grappled with the beauty standards, sexism, and ableism of the time period so much as just said “this is how it was” in an objective way. I did still enjoy the novel overall, there were just some character treatments and descriptions I did not enjoy reading. The pacing of the last approx. 100 pages also came off as disjointed compared to the rest of the book which made it more difficult to be invested in the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Infertility, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Rape, Terminal illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Abortion, Murder, Alcohol, and Deportation

ritugp01's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

As the first book I read to commemorate 2023, Pachinko was an odd choice. It left me ruminating and thinking back to my own past, my own roots, my own extended family, and the role I play as the child of immigrants. Rather than starting anew for the year, it pulled me back and enveloped me in history: both Sunja's and my own.
The book began with powerful, to the point writing. Sentences were simple. In a way, it reminded me of the succinct nature of Hemingway, minus the required reaches for symbolism. Rather, the simplicity in Pachinko offered no hidden messages beyond the story it sought to share. It's simplicity offered a quiet, forthright sense of power and confidence within the long, windy, melancholic story. In this, Min Jin Lee was remarkable.
It's characters, whether that be in the quiet and strong Sunja, who spends most of her life fighting both inside and outside due to something that was done to her, or even in Phoebe, whose appearance was short, impactful, yet fully realized, became not just characters, but people I knew. For a story spanning four generations, a multitude of characters was to be expected, yet every single one of them seemed fully realized. Some other readers may feel that the side stories took away from the main family, but I disagreed. In a sense, it reminded me that Sunja and her family are not alone in this long fight we call living. Everyone else, every character that the family might have touched, were helpful in reminding me that Sunja's family was one of many. Sunja, Yangjin, Hoonie, Isak, Kyunghee, Noa, Mozasu, Solomon, and Yumi were some of my favorite characters and I know they will stay with me for some time.
Truly a modern classic.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Miscarriage, Police brutality, and Abortion

daphnewoods's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

This book definitely delves deep into some really tough subjects, but it’s written with such tenderness and grace and wisdom that it didn’t leave me in a place of darkness; but rather expanded my heart even wider. It’s an absolute treasure and should be required reading. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Deportation

jaywcj's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

what beautiful and compassionate writing. each character had such depth, each storyline such richness. this book will stay with me for a while.

my only critique is that i wished the book ended with a more class-conscious perspective instead of the utter celebration of wealth. personal preference.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Child death and Suicide

Minor: Trafficking and Abortion

blanketenjoyer's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Hate crime, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

megang519's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Grief, and Death of parent

erenreads12's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-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

I know I love a book when the actions of its characters give me visceral responses. At one point I actually had to put the book down to stop reading because I was in so much shock.

Absolutely exquisite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Suicide, and Violence

rachelsbookishlife's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, and Abortion