Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

125 reviews

tomellibee's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Sexual content

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Infertility, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Colonisation, and Classism

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

_annns's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Suicide, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and War

atreegrowsinbooks's review against another edition

emotional 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

5.0

Wonderful narration by Sandra Oh. This reread hit differently after seeing the first season of the mini series. Still love this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Abortion

madstoss's review against another edition

emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

It’s heartbreaking yet rewarding getting to watch the characters persevere, adapt, and change over the span of decades. It didn’t feel tedious or slow at all. So glad I finally read this after having it on my tbr for years.

I do agree with some of the other reviews that there is a deeper connection to the characters in the first half of the book. However, I think Sunja’s story is meant to be more deeply explored, and that there is logic to the later generation being disconnected from the original pain of the novel’s first parts. The later generation of characters and their stories are affected by the past, but as Solomon realizes, not defined by it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Xenophobia, and War

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Abortion

tanahoff's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is a thought-provoking story that follows the experiences of one Korean family throughout multiple generations in the 20th century. We start off with the life of Hoonie and his wife Yangjin, who live in a small fishing village in Korea with their daughter, Sunja. Following Hoonie's death, Sunja and her mother Yangjin take over the family business, working day and night to provide for themselves and keep their family business afloat. When Sunja becomes pregnant during her teenage years by a wealthy man, she must make a challenging decision. Sunja marries a Christian minister, Isak, and the two migrate to Japan. From here, we walk with Sunja and Isak, eventually following the lives of their children and grandchildren. 

Pachinko gives readers much needed insight regarding the panorama of east Asia in the 1900s and the challenges that Koreans faced during that time. Through Pachinko, we learn about the displacement of Koreans and the challenges and xenophobia they faced in Japan. We see the impact of this displacement play out across marriages, careers, education, war, imprisonment, and more. Pachinko is an important story to educate readers about the Korean experience.  

I picked up Pachinko after seeing it on the New York Time's Top 100 books of the 21st century, and after reading, I can say it's place on the list is well justified. Pachinko comes in at one of my only five-star reviews of the year.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicide, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

pipercurda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

sweeping and urbane and devastating. upsettingly authentic and faithful to the time period and its culture. the story of a family throughout the generations, having no choice but to shoulder the burdens life thrust on them by way of war, sickness, nationalism, and love. not an easy read, but hard to put down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Racism, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Infertility and Infidelity

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

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