nataliecoyne 's review for:

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

4.25

emotional informative 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: Complicated

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Really great read. The length (490 pages) was a bit intimidating, and personally, I do think that I may not have been in the right mood for a 490-page book because I started to get almost bored with it past the 400 page mark (this is why I marked it as 4.25 stars instead of something higher, even though I think this is more of a "me" problem). Nonetheless, I'm really glad that I read this, the family's story was very interesting and I feel like I learned a lot about the history and culture of the Zainichi Korean community (which, before now, all I knew was that Kiko Mizuhara is Zainichi Korean).

I would definitely recommend this to others, but also definitely recommend being in the right mood/right headspace for a long book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Pregnancy, War, Classism

Minor: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Slavery, Trafficking, Car accident, Abortion, Abandonment, Deportation