The P232 is a direct blowback weapon and has fairly snappy recoil, worse than a 9mm Browning High Power or a 9mm XD or Glock 26.
You may be right. I’ve not shot the pistols you mentioned, but I have a P230 and it doesn’t seem that bad to me. It’s a bit small for my hand and always bites me between my thumb and index finger, but it’s an easy point and shoot pistol.