Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

234 reviews

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

feainnewedd's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

4.0

I've had Pachinko on my TBR for quite some time and I'm glad I finally got to read it. What a fascinating, heartwarming (but also heartbreaking) novel about four generations of a Korean family. I knew next to nothing about the dynamic between Koreans and Japanese during the period covered in this family saga (1910-1989), but this work of historical fiction taught me a lot.

Also, no spoilers, but one character's death shocked me so much I kept reading the paragraph over and over, and I think it will stay with me for a long time.

Rating it 4 out of 5 stars because

I feel like the last 1/3 or 1/4 of the book focused too much on side characters to the detriment of the others. For example, I wish the author had spent more time exploring the impact of Noa's disappearance and, eventually, his death on his family members, particularly his brother Mozasu.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Suicide, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Drug use

jmackus3698's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Child death, Death, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

lanid's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

ulyssies's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Racism and Xenophobia

Moderate: Racism and Toxic relationship

Minor: Suicide

heyitskai's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and War

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Suicide

scrapeen's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Xenophobia, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

honipoems's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

this was such a interesting book about the relationship between Korea & Japan. It was about a time of the history I never heard about before (or just some part). The colonization, the war, the poverty… very intriguing.

It’s also interesting to take a look at the women situation. Always the first victims of these kinds of period. « Women have to suffer »

I also like the end of the book, when we have the confrontation of old mind spirit against the one from usa which is more like ours today. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and War

madeline_schmidt20's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, and War

Moderate: Torture and Trafficking

Minor: Sexual content