Reviews tagging 'War'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

301 reviews

orangewitchling's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? N/A

5.0

If I had a highest rating to give I’d give it, this book deserves every accolade and raving review. 
The writing and tone of the story was outstanding, the author didn’t use any unnecessary metaphors nor descriptions to fill pages, every sentence had a purpose to show the situation through the characters point of view. The author managed to let even the smallest character shine in its own light, which is a feat on its own. I was able to see each character’s perspective and relate to their plight. 
This is a multigenerational story with all the realistic and historical ups and downs, there were many moments of heartbreak that felt relatable and triggering. The characters were complex and  morally gray at times like any human, which helped the story be believable at a core level.
I adored Sunja and Kyunghee, they were women of their time that continuously showed strength and resilience through all the hardship. My favorite male characters were Mozasu and Solomon, they were so wholesome and lovely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War

sundayfever's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

3.5

Sad but informative, learned a lot about the history of Korea and Japan. The timeline skips forward a lot and I found the ending too abrupt. I liked the story and characters but the pacing was not my favorite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and War

Minor: Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Abortion

bellep4's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

Beautiful and heart wrenching. Only reason it’s not 5 stars for me is because I think it could’ve been longer I. Some parts, specifically I would have liked to see a bit more on Sunja and Isak’s marriage and the last part felt rushed at some points. Maybe making it into two volumes would’ve been perfect. Other than that it’s a wonderful novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Death and War

Minor: Suicide

squintyfarmer's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Ableism and Abortion

chriswoody94's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Grief, War, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Deportation

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Torture, and Abortion

littlecosmos's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

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

3.25

Although the writing style isn't of my usual preference, the storyline is engaging and the characters are memorable. I do wish some characters were explored more though, and that certain time periods were lengthier in their plot.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation and War

sophiiey's review against another edition

challenging informative sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I liked the way that this book was written in the context of a family journey. It is a hard story to read because it is related to combinations of true stories from the Japan occupation of Korea and the Second World War, but the author did a very good job of making me feel connected to the family and dealing with hard issues.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and War

Moderate: Sexual violence, Torture, and Trafficking

Minor: Miscarriage and Suicide

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective sad fast-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

4.25

The best works of fiction are the ones that transcend your own reality. This multi-generational saga shines a light on a specific and untold slice of human experience during one of the most often recounted periods of recent history. 

While the beats of civilian suffering during WWII are a well-trodden artistic theme, the specific marginalisation that ethnic Koreans experienced living in colonial Japan during this period are less well explored in western literature. Min Jin Lee's story takes familiar beats from war fiction and gives them a new and distinctive perspective.

While there are moments of gorgeous prose in this book, I was impressed by what a light touch the omniscient narrator's voice has throughout the book. The writing is clear and unadorned, leaving space for the characters' specific voices to shine through.

My biggest complaint about this book is that it wasn't long enough! It covers a huge swath of time in less than 500 pages, which means that each chapter is like glimpsing a vignette from the life journeys of its characters through the flash of a moving train window. I would have liked it if we had been allowed to get off and stretch our legs at each station. Instead I felt propelled through the narrative and away from the characters at each stage of their lives before I was ready.

Having said that, this book covers a huge swathe of characters, time periods and perspectives. It does not let its ambition detract from being an engrossing and entertaining read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Deportation

Minor: Rape and Trafficking

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.5

One part I can see the praise another part I can see the criticism (especially calling it trauma porn).
If you dont know about the Japanese occupation in various countries, this could be eye opening/informative while including characters that you either love or hate.
Personally as someone who has family affected by the Japanese occupation, I already knew a lot of the negatives of Japan during that time and thought some parts/descriptions were gratuitious. 
There were also a lot of characters to keep track of and some parts of many of their stories felt too rushed because there were so many. I felt that we didn't get enough time with one tragedy before immediately moving on to another (which I understand that in life, especially during war and immediately after, tragedies can come right after another without giving the sufferers enough time to even process it but as a reader, it would've been nice to sit with certain things longer than a brief 2 sentences and a brief few sentences afterwards at the end. So I would've preferred cutting down on characters and expanding on certain tragedies and how the characters cope/lived with it).
Read content warnings because there is a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

hannaemilia's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Xenophobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Suicide, and War