Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

63 reviews

ainadei's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Wow. It's hard to sum up what to say. There were times I felt sadness, but couldn't even cry because that was just life. This is truly a story about the world and family, and it has been a while since something has shook me like this.

"Go-saeng, a woman's lot is to suffer."

Oddly enough, though this is repeated in the book, there isn't much said about the determination and sheer willpower Sunja had carried within her, her entire life. I truly felt everything; the times I allowed myself to be vulnerable to this book, I found myself shedding a few tears.

A beautiful but harrowing experience.

If you want non-complex characters, a happy ending describing more than survival, or a lighthearted read, stay 50 yards from this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Death, Violence, Abortion, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia

andyourstruly's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

If you liked East of Eden, you will like this book a lot.  It has great symbolism, and the way the perspective bounces around feels very classic and manages to avoid overexplaining or getting distracted from the story the author intends to tell.  There are a number of really excellent and well-developed characters living through remarkable times, and the author does a marvellous job expressing the ideas and attitudes behind historical behaviors and ideals and the shift that has occurred over time.  Really well-researched, well-paced, and well-written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Child death, Torture, Police brutality, Trafficking, Alcohol, War, and Deportation

magnolia_berry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Child death and Trafficking

mstall_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

If I could give this book 100000/10 stars, I would. 

By page five I knew this was going to be my favorite five star read of the year. Pachinko is a sweeping story of a Korean family in Japan that spans four generations -- from 1900 to 1989. Sunja, the main character of the book is a young girl when she finds herself pregnant and unmarried. What follows is an incredible story of love, resilience, family, and heartbreak. I think this story was also really connective for me because of my time spent in Japan. It was easy for me to draw up my own memories there. I can still hear the pachiko parlors as I walked up the side street to the train station in Yokosuka. 

Min Jin Lee did a phenomenal job writing a story that was painful and sad at times without making you feel complete obliteration (I'm looking at you A Little Life). While parts of the book are gut wrenching (August 1945) the theme of resiliency rings true. Despite colonization, political strife, racism,

suicide

and more, this family clings to one another and fosters a closeness that cannot be pierced. 

This book made me cry, twice actually. Five stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and Grief

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Infertility, and Car accident

my_weird_bookish_heart's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Death, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Grief, Pregnancy, and Classism

san_dra's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

karwc's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Classism

readingsponsoredbybts's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Hate crime, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Deportation

Minor: Cancer, Drug use, and Homophobia

tinari's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

A really fascinating novel that follows an extended family for a long time. It’s not a light, fluffy story, but also not misanthropic despite all the challenges the characters face. It doesn’t have a super intense plot but I found myself drawn into it and needing to know how it ended for the characters. Yet, there is not really much of clear ending - just as life, it just goes on. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Homophobia

sakisreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I wanted to LOVE this book so so much, but unfortunately it didn’t quite hit the mark for me 🥲

Although the trauma for Koreans living in Japan is evident, and what many of the characters went through was undeniably terrible, there were a lot of words for not much being said. I felt like I would be getting excited about one character’s journey then we’d go back to the same old pattern their parent felt about something going on in their life (e.g. I got more intrigued when Mozasu’s character was being shown to us, but we’d often go back to Sunja’s feelings towards Hansu time and time again). I felt myself having to put the book down quite often because I felt a bit bored 🙈

I’ll include the content warnings below because there are quite a few needed.

All in all I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. I thought some of the imagery and the love portrayed between Sunja and Isak, or even Sunja and Kyunghee, were stunning 🥰 But I felt that the storylines dragged on for so long and it could get tricky to keep up.
Thank you ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism