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A review by heresthepencil
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
rep: Korean & Japanese cast, gay side character
tw: racism, bigotry, misogyny, physical assault, suicide, AIDS, cancer, death, gambling, abortion, underaged sex
the mcdonald’s of family sagas. a family saga for people who've never read a good one. with its plain writing devoid of any beauty & paper characters with no personality, it feels like reading a history textbook. where are the emotions? why should i care about anyone who died here?
there’s no subtlety. instead of properly developing characters, the author just has them spell out exactly what they think and how they feel (in unnatural dialogues, too, often full of exposition the author didn’t know how to feed us any other way). they're all flat and one-dimentional (if that!), and after describing their motives, they act 100% in accordance to them. it doesn't help that the book is written with an omniscient narrator, giving you random, unnecessary insight into minor characters who disappear a few pages later. and nothing that happens is ever surprising anyway.
and oh, the random dropping of korean and japanese words & phrases, but only ever ones that could be familiar to an american reader! so you want them to feel like they’re reading something exotic, but not so foreign they’re lost? it’s literally bits you can pick up from watching kdramas and anime…
tw: racism, bigotry, misogyny, physical assault, suicide, AIDS, cancer, death, gambling, abortion, underaged sex
the mcdonald’s of family sagas. a family saga for people who've never read a good one. with its plain writing devoid of any beauty & paper characters with no personality, it feels like reading a history textbook. where are the emotions? why should i care about anyone who died here?
there’s no subtlety. instead of properly developing characters, the author just has them spell out exactly what they think and how they feel (in unnatural dialogues, too, often full of exposition the author didn’t know how to feed us any other way). they're all flat and one-dimentional (if that!), and after describing their motives, they act 100% in accordance to them. it doesn't help that the book is written with an omniscient narrator, giving you random, unnecessary insight into minor characters who disappear a few pages later. and nothing that happens is ever surprising anyway.
and oh, the random dropping of korean and japanese words & phrases, but only ever ones that could be familiar to an american reader! so you want them to feel like they’re reading something exotic, but not so foreign they’re lost? it’s literally bits you can pick up from watching kdramas and anime…