Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

23 reviews

carlytenille's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

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

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I definitely understand why this was a National Book Award finalist; it's a totally sweeping experience of generations and history. I learned much more about the experience of Korean people in Japan than I had ever learned in school. It's important to know how severe and also where my knowledge gaps are. I did see some criticism online about anachronistic like foods and things and confusion about the style of Japanese bits that are were included in dialogue, and I look forward to reading more about that. This is one of those books where a family tree would be really helpful, but it would also be a spoiler, so I definitely understand not including it. But whew, there were a lot of characters in here. The book felt really long, but it was, and the ending seemed a bit abrupt. But I'm not sure that there's a good way to end such a saga that has moved through decades.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Rape, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Confinement, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

ivana's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

Minor: Abortion

femmeprints's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

This was a slow long read but really really interesting. The intergenerational dynamic was well done but a bit confusing at points as I was doing an audiobook. I have very little background on Japanese imperialism of Korea and this was my first look into that history. It was informative, deeply heart breaking, beautifully written and did keep me engaged. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, and Domestic abuse

anh_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Medical content, and Medical trauma

A historical fiction about a Korean family immigrating to Japan. As the reader follows them throughout three generations, one gets a deeper insights into Korean history, as well as the life of Korean immigrants in Japan. Each generation faced their own kind of hardships and try to navigate their life in a foreign country that is hostile towards them.

snipinfool's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Pachinko told the story of four generations of a Korean family. The story began in 1910 near Busan, where a family ran a boarding house. Life was very hard as the Japanese had recently annexed Korea. The Japanese moved to Korea to take over the better paying jobs and changing the economy. The teenaged daughter had a relationship with an older man she met while shopping at the market. Sunja soon realized she was pregnant and told the father of her child, Hansu. She found out he was already married and had a wife and children in Japan. He wanted to care for her as his Korean wife, but Sunja did not want to be his mistress and cut off contact. She had shamed her family with the pregnancy and was likely to remain unmarried.. When an ill traveler came to stay at the boarding house, the family met Baek Isak. He was on his way to be a new pastor at a church in Osaka. Sunja and her mother, Yangjin, nursed Isak back to health. Isak was interested in marrying Sunja. He knew of her pregnancy, but he wanted a wife and wanted to give the baby his name. They married before leaving for Japan.

Life in Japan was just as difficult as it was in Korea. Few jobs were open to them as many did not want to hire Koreans. Most of the Koreans lived in the most poorest parts of towns and held the lowest paying jobs. The Yakuza or gangsters offered jobs that paid well and were often taken as a last resort to support a family. Sunja and Isak moved in with Isak's older brother and his wife. They continued to have difficulty making ends meet as both of men's jobs paid little. Sunja came into contact with her child's biological father who had moved back to Japan. He was a powerful man and wanted to be a part of his child's life. Over the years, Hansu moved in and out of the family's life as they struggled to make a life in Japan.

So much of this book was heartbreaking. The author, Min Jin Lee, interviewed many Koreans who lived through this time for her novel. Stories similar to this one were told over and over. The Koreans often felt as though they had no country. They were second class citizens in both Korea and Japan. The women in this story were the strength of the family. The men were the ones who went out of the house to work most of the time, but the women were the ones who were often tasked with making the money stretch and some found a way to add to the family's purse by raising pigs (indoors) or selling food or handmade goods in portable carts in addition to running the household. I loved all of the female characters. While I did not always agree with their choices, I knew they did what they had to do given the culture and the times. This family saga will stay with me for a long time. It was an excellent story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Racism, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Miscarriage and Abortion

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

cyberhavok's review against another edition

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Racism, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Confinement and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Suicide