Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

110 reviews

thebookishrooks123's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War

bloodmaarked's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective 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

4.5

if pachinko is something you’ve been wanting to read for a while, please bump it up your tbr list! or if you’ve heard the hype and are not sure whether to buy into it, take the plunge and give this a read. i highly doubt you’ll be disappointed. i was so unexpectedly impressed with pachinko, an ambitious story that tells the story of four generations of a korean family that emigrates to japan. this is undoubtedly one of my top books of 2024.

✧ full review on my tumblr ✧

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Infertility, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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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

stephnew's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia

orangewitchling's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? N/A

5.0

If I had a highest rating to give I’d give it, this book deserves every accolade and raving review. 
The writing and tone of the story was outstanding, the author didn’t use any unnecessary metaphors nor descriptions to fill pages, every sentence had a purpose to show the situation through the characters point of view. The author managed to let even the smallest character shine in its own light, which is a feat on its own. I was able to see each character’s perspective and relate to their plight. 
This is a multigenerational story with all the realistic and historical ups and downs, there were many moments of heartbreak that felt relatable and triggering. The characters were complex and  morally gray at times like any human, which helped the story be believable at a core level.
I adored Sunja and Kyunghee, they were women of their time that continuously showed strength and resilience through all the hardship. My favorite male characters were Mozasu and Solomon, they were so wholesome and lovely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War

squintyfarmer's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Ableism and Abortion

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.5

One part I can see the praise another part I can see the criticism (especially calling it trauma porn).
If you dont know about the Japanese occupation in various countries, this could be eye opening/informative while including characters that you either love or hate.
Personally as someone who has family affected by the Japanese occupation, I already knew a lot of the negatives of Japan during that time and thought some parts/descriptions were gratuitious. 
There were also a lot of characters to keep track of and some parts of many of their stories felt too rushed because there were so many. I felt that we didn't get enough time with one tragedy before immediately moving on to another (which I understand that in life, especially during war and immediately after, tragedies can come right after another without giving the sufferers enough time to even process it but as a reader, it would've been nice to sit with certain things longer than a brief 2 sentences and a brief few sentences afterwards at the end. So I would've preferred cutting down on characters and expanding on certain tragedies and how the characters cope/lived with it).
Read content warnings because there is a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

thecityofstarlight's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-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

5.0

This was such an awesome book. It was so cool to read about the experiences of the generations that endured Japanese control. I found the storyline to be really interesting and loved the mentions of issues outside of the plot; commentary regarding topics like socioeconomic status, survival, family dynamics, education, mental health, immigration, etc.. This book is packed with so many things to offer. I cannot recommend it enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Grief

Minor: Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Trafficking, and Abortion

flamesocks's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Deportation

bites_of_books's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Yes, I truly love well-crafted historical fiction that spans generations and this one did not disappoint. 

The characters are complex and multidimensional, the prose is beautiful and careful in how it describes each event and each decision made by the characters. The historical context is given without it being overwhelming or dry and it makes it all feel urgent. 

I breezed through this book and I'll definitely pick up other works by Min Jin Lee. Highly recommend! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation