Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

519 reviews

anushareflects's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

A moving generational saga touching upon themes of love, loss, colonialism, colonial hangovers, change, identity, war, and so much else. Beautifully written with memorable characters. Leaves much to think about at the end. Great narration on Audible. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide

cami_chai's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Gun violence, and Terminal illness

emk5's review against another edition

emotional

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

Minor: Miscarriage and Abortion

pipercurda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

sweeping and urbane and devastating. upsettingly authentic and faithful to the time period and its culture. the story of a family throughout the generations, having no choice but to shoulder the burdens life thrust on them by way of war, sickness, nationalism, and love. not an easy read, but hard to put down. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Racism, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Infertility and Infidelity

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

---

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

alitgentry's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

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

astrofeldy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

2.5

Pachinko follows an epic family saga across four generations, introducing the reader to an oft-forgotten side of Japanese racism against displaced and migrated Korean families (especially challenging in a modern day boom of Japanese pop culture among western readers), and grapples with what it truly means to answer “where are you from?”. While an impactful premise and arc, the story is unrelentingly grim, and builds up certain story lines to simply have them ripped away and never interrogated or looked at with nuance, thereafter. The author has an odd obsession with introducing characters via their breast and butt size that is representative of the shallow engagement with female characters (granted, possibly as a device to reflect how women were seen at the time), and this irked me throughout, too. Overall, I felt as though Pachinko was simply trying to do too much (and was ~1/3 too long, as others have noted), and in biting off such large themes and stories, doesn’t wholly chew any of them in a completely satisfying way. While I seem to be in a very clear minority of folks who didn’t enjoy this book, I simply didn’t find the strong start redeeming enough to carry me through. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Abortion, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

be_emvi_ous's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Miscarriage, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, Abandonment, and War

zreadz's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative 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? No

5.0

Beautiful Book.

Just finished it and am in tears. Such a beautiful story that’s heartbreaking at times but keeps you wanting to move forward, embodying Sunja herself. This book taught me so much history, background, and culture that I was never taught in my American history classes. It’s a tale of the ancestral thread, generational trauma, yet a strong hope for the future. It tackles love in many different ways: romantic, familial, and complicated. I enjoyed this book for so many reasons. I recommend reading to understand more about the relationship between Korea and Japan, and the lives of those who endured times of hardship and rebuilding.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Abandonment

bigfatraindrops's review against another edition

dark emotional sad

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Suicide