Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

99 reviews

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: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Death, Racial slurs, War, and Racism

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Sexual content, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Abortion, Cancer, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Car accident, and Confinement

honipoems's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

this was such a interesting book about the relationship between Korea & Japan. It was about a time of the history I never heard about before (or just some part). The colonization, the war, the poverty… very intriguing.

It’s also interesting to take a look at the women situation. Always the first victims of these kinds of period. « Women have to suffer »

I also like the end of the book, when we have the confrontation of old mind spirit against the one from usa which is more like ours today. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, War, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Racism, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, and Sexism

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

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Confinement

Minor: Suicide

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

eiireads's review

challenging emotional sad fast-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? Yes

4.25

this book left me empty, numb, and ruined. oh i dont think i can ever recover. i teared up several times and whenever i thought, ‘oh, this will get better,’ TADAA ! another heart wrenching scene was waiting on the next page. there are still so many pain, prejudiced, and WORKS to do to make this world a better place. pachinko is a book that you HAVE TO read at least once in this lifetime. trust me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, Suicide, Hate crime, Pregnancy, and Racism

ackee's review

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

5.0

For other Asian diaspora like me, I hope you find this book. It was wonderfully enchanting and a deep tribute to the quiet women that held communities together in Asia in the 1990s, against so many outside unknown forces. It was so humanizing, and by bringing us along to see intense private emotional conflicts it sheds light on a marginalized and mistreated group of people in a beautiful way. I personally feel so much gratitude for the success I’ve had, and MJL shows that such success rests on the shoulders of shoulders that have worked tirelessly for generations. Luck exists, but in unfortunate times, it is rare. I had difficulty finishing this book and had to set it down many times—it’s very emotionally hard hitting. It’s worth teaching the conclusion, but I would encourage a sensitive reader to take their time. Reading is supposed to be enjoyable, not painful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, War, Pregnancy, Death, Bullying, Colonisation, and Misogyny

_danana's review

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death, War, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Cultural appropriation, Pregnancy, and Racism

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

georgialee01's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, War, Pregnancy, Death, Sexual content, and Racism

Minor: Terminal illness

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.