Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

156 reviews

franzi_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

dee_dreams's review

informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Pachinko started out with an interesting premise. I felt invested in this family drama. But about halfway in, I felt like I was tricked into reading a cheap, emotionally-manipulative soap opera.

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.

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Content Warnings

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

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: 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

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

Lee hits the ground running in this family saga; unfortunately, her pace peters out. The beginning of this book has it all. The characters are well-developed and interesting as they struggle with colonization, war, and relationships. Lee quickly and wonderfully establishes themes and creates excellent ideas to begin moving her plot along.  She has a wonderful writing style throughout, which feels classic and epic. Her use of omniscient narration works very well for her story and characters. Every moment and insight into the characters feels like a very natural and intimate dialogue the reader is privy to.

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. 

Lee writes about a very intriguing and important part of history that is rarely told and starts off wonderfully with vivid characters and ideas. However, the novel's structure could have benefited more by building more on her later characters to round out her themes. 

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Content Warnings

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

moppyy's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

mysterymom46's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Infidelity, Sexual content, Stalking, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Addiction, Violence, Torture, Infertility, Classism, Alcohol, Blood, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Suicide, Pregnancy, War, and Medical content

Minor: Miscarriage

mal_reads_books's review

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? It's complicated

4.5

I enjoyed the range of characters and the drama between them. I felt invested in most of them, especially Sunja. When it started focusing on the newer generations (the 1970s-80s chapters toward the end), I did find myself flipping through more quickly because I wasn’t really interested in them.

(Side note: It took me a while to figure out Mozasu was named after

Spoiler

Moses

and I feel kind of dumb for it 😅)

Overall, 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. 

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Content Warnings

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).

Spoiler

Isak and several members of his church are imprisoned because one member was caught saying The Lord’s Prayer instead of worshipping the Emperor. He is released shortly before he dies and his injuries show that he was tortured in prison. Seeing him die, and how unrecognizable he looked, especially when his family hasn’t seen him in years, was upsetting.

Other things worth knowing: teenager is groomed and gets pregnant by man twice her age; also a group of boys attempts to sexually assault her, but she is saved by this man. Resilience against racism and misogyny are major themes of the book, so anti-Korean and misogynist comments are frequently seen in dialogue.

rit's review against another edition

informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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? Yes

5.0

This is an amazing book. The story told feels so real, it made me feel like I was there and the characters were my best friends. I felt mad, I felt happy, I felt in love and I felt sad through the history of a family during WWII. I highly recommend it, but be aware of all its trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Racism, Rape, Terminal illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Abortion, Car accident, Miscarriage, Stalking, Cancer, Religious bigotry, Trafficking, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Infertility, Medical content, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Infidelity

Minor: Alcoholism, Ableism, Alcohol, Abortion, and Addiction

maddeesryan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

absolutely loved this. almost a modern “one hundred years of solitude.” it would have been a good callback to marquez if lee had chosen to end the novel with the birth of a child with a cleft palate, but that wouldn’t really align with the themes present in this novel. just would have been a super fun allusion; however, the novel itself would probably require different overarching themes, as hope isn’t quite a theme present in “one hundred years of solitude”. pachinko feels more about growth, hope, the passage of time & the changes that occur generation to generation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Racism, Miscarriage, Grief, Cursing, Child death, War, Cancer, Bullying, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

amazing read

madi22w's review

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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? No

4.5

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is a masterpiece of a book. Taking you through three generations of families, Lee ensured that you were close to individual members of the family as well as generations and cities as a whole. The main point of her book, being to demonstrate the divided between Koreans and Japanese in Japan, was communicated well, but it didn’t feel extremely obvious that this was the point of the book. The only reason why I dropped some points was because I thought that some of the plot points didn’t seem to make sense, but I think that this would have to be a much longer and more dense book for every characters actions to make sense to the reader. Overall, fantastic book—before I was even 1/5 of the way through it, I was sad for it eventually to be over.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: War, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Colonisation, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Car accident, Classism, Ableism, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Homophobia, Sexism, and Suicide

Minor: Colonisation, Addiction, Cultural appropriation, and Emotional abuse