Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

13 reviews

astrofeldy's review

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective sad fast-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

4.25

The best works of fiction are the ones that transcend your own reality. This multi-generational saga shines a light on a specific and untold slice of human experience during one of the most often recounted periods of recent history. 

While the beats of civilian suffering during WWII are a well-trodden artistic theme, the specific marginalisation that ethnic Koreans experienced living in colonial Japan during this period are less well explored in western literature. Min Jin Lee's story takes familiar beats from war fiction and gives them a new and distinctive perspective.

While there are moments of gorgeous prose in this book, I was impressed by what a light touch the omniscient narrator's voice has throughout the book. The writing is clear and unadorned, leaving space for the characters' specific voices to shine through.

My biggest complaint about this book is that it wasn't long enough! It covers a huge swath of time in less than 500 pages, which means that each chapter is like glimpsing a vignette from the life journeys of its characters through the flash of a moving train window. I would have liked it if we had been allowed to get off and stretch our legs at each station. Instead I felt propelled through the narrative and away from the characters at each stage of their lives before I was ready.

Having said that, this book covers a huge swathe of characters, time periods and perspectives. It does not let its ambition detract from being an engrossing and entertaining read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Deportation

Minor: Rape and Trafficking

laurajenkins's review against another edition

I kept hoping something would happen. Nothing but gratuitous sex. No plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Grief, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

whisper88's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

aexileigh's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kalmia31's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War, and Deportation

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Infertility, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts

jessiereads98's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad 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

4.25

This promised a sweeping epic of a multigenerational Korean family living in Japan and it delivered. Min Jin Lee’s writing is simplistic and effective. She’s created complex characters and gets the reader invested in their story.  It’s truly impressive how the author manages such a large cast of characters and managed to flesh them all out into realistic people with differing morals existing in the same setting. This is a historical novel and Min Jin Lee has written it with realism for the time. She is also attempting to tackle themes of beauty and desire. That being said and understood, I didn’t enjoy the way female and disabled characters were described and treated in some ways in this novel. I don’t think it actually grappled with the beauty standards, sexism, and ableism of the time period so much as just said “this is how it was” in an objective way. I did still enjoy the novel overall, there were just some character treatments and descriptions I did not enjoy reading. The pacing of the last approx. 100 pages also came off as disjointed compared to the rest of the book which made it more difficult to be invested in the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Infertility, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Rape, Terminal illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Abortion, Murder, Alcohol, and Deportation

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Classism

bandysbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

This is a multi-generational story about a family. It starts in Korea, but moves to Japan and we see what the family goes through as they try to figure out their survival. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

allisonshewfelt's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Pachinko follows four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family as they live life in Korea and Japan. A terrible choice is made by one of our main characters that affects the generations till the end of the book.

I adored the rich detail and characterization as well as the multiple povs. I appreciate that Lee didn't just focus on the stories of the main characters but also included the side characters. A lot of side characters even got their own chapters. The writing was of course gorgeous and addicting to read.

As someone who doesn't pay attention in history class, this book taught me more than any textbook would and kept my attention. Unlike textbooks where they just relay the facts, books like these focus on the characters and really help you understand and emphasize the historical situation. Many things shocked me. For example inflation and the high value of money as well as how Koreans were treated by the Japanese. Koreans could get imprisoned so easily for the smallest reasons and that really bothered me.

I did not expect to cry but what was I thinking? Of course I would if the story spans 4 generations someone ought to die.

I loved most of the characters so much and it was crazy how fast they grew up. I felt like I was a part of their family. The character deaths were so hard to go through because of this.

The opening line "History has failed us, but no matter" really showcases what this book will contain: the struggle of characters to keep going despite the prejudice. The covers for the paperback and hardcover both are great representations of the book too. I appreciate how the title also ties in with the book. Pachinko is a Japanese pinball game that relies on luck. There will be some winners and a lot of losers but you'll keep playing because you have hope that you'll be the lucky one.

This book deserves nothing less than 5 stars considering how much time and research was put into it. Like Lee took 30 years to write this! I'm so happy it got adapted. I already know the show is gonna be a masterpiece and I will be reading anything Lee writes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Rape, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment