jkunke's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship
cyberhavok's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Colonisation, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Racism, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, and War
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Confinement
Minor: Suicide
franzi_'s review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Racism, Bullying, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Colonisation
Moderate: Misogyny, Infertility, Police brutality, Terminal illness, War, and Miscarriage
Minor: Abortion and Alcoholism
jkull_10's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Xenophobia, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Violence, Stalking, Alcoholism, Grief, Classism, War, Medical content, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Hate crime, and Death
dee_dreams's review
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Instead of whining about what I disliked, which is a lot, I wanted to be constructive and offer some lessons I took away instead.
When characters die or disappear, it should matter. The characters who knew the dead person should care on some level (even if it's shallow or self-serving.)
The more characters you kill off, the less empathy the reader will feel for random new characters that are introduced.
Misery is not the same as depth. Trauma is not the end of the story. Focus on the characters' humanity rather than their victimization.
Use writing for good. We already know that evils like misogyny, racism, ableism, and grooming exist. Don't simply portray them for trauma porn. Use your writing to challenge them and provide a different perspective. Nudge the reader towards empathy and a belief that change is possible. Nobody needs more despair.
Stop introducing random, dehumanized sex workers and then portraying graphic violence against them. It's been done to death.
If you've already described a character as "plain, unattractive, never lovely," you don't have to do it three more times. You especially don't have to make the sexist, male-gazey descriptions more disparaging as she ages.
Don't try to take on a huge amount of unrelated themes. Or, do - just decide to make it a collection of short stories, rather than a novel. And follow up on those themes.
Last but not least, think about whether or not a "family saga" spanning 4 generations really needs a chapter about a minor character, unrelated to any members of said family, discovering pansexual orgies in the forest during the Summer of Love. And if you decide, yes, it does, make it hot. Please.
Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, and Misogyny
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Alcoholism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, War, and Death of parent
readingsponsoredbybts's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, War, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Violence, Classism, Alcohol, and Colonisation
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Medical content, Deportation, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Police brutality, and Rape
Minor: Drug use, Cancer, and Homophobia
madzie's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Unfortunately, about two-thirds through the book, the characters, plot, and themes fall apart. Lee moves too fast through time, not allowing time to develop the later generation of her characters or the themes she has set up. Instead of exploring the point she is trying to make about life and the world, Lee falls into the trap of focusing on spurts of drama that make the reader feel empty due to lack of time for character building. She relies on tropes that occasionally go directly against her themes and certainly never adds anything to them.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Sexism, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Car accident, Sexual content, Suicide, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War
Minor: Infertility, Drug use, Fatphobia, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Addiction
ackee's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, War, Pregnancy, Death, Bullying, Colonisation, and Misogyny
sakisreads's review against another edition
- 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
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 ✨
Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Sexual harassment, Violence, War, Racism, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Classism, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Colonisation, Death, Misogyny, and Suicide
mal_reads_books's review
- 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
4.5
(Side note: It took me a while to figure out Mozasu was named after
Spoiler
MosesOverall, great story that demonstrates the discrimination and other hardships that Koreans experienced in 20th century Imperial Japan. I already had a surface level understanding of how the Japanese treated Koreans back then (“comfort women”, for example), and this book gave me an in-depth look of what the Koreans went through. I felt immersed in the story, settling, and culture. Would love to read more books like this.
Moderate: Torture, Suicide, Colonisation, Death, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Infidelity
Christian themes are prevalent, especially toward the beginning. Several characters have biblical names, such as Sunja’s pastor husband (Isak), brother-in-law (Yoseb), and children (Noa and Mozasu).