Pachinko - New Cover Paperback – 10 October 2022

That last sentence in the blurb became one of the reasons I picked up Pachinko. That, and the other reason being – I wanted to read more about Korean immigrants in Japan after I had read Go by Kazuki Kaneshiro. The subjects are similar but the premises of these two books are vastly apart.It is pretty safe to say that I loved Min Jin Lee’s writing. Expressing your ethnicity in a beautiful narrative while being an immigrant is not an easy task but she seems like a master at it. Lee’s characterisation is impeccable in the way she built Sunja from a child to an old woman, passing through each phase of her life. She expressed each one beautifully – the anguish of brother-in-law Yoseb, the capability of holding the family together by the sister-in-law Kyunghee, the meritorious elder son Noa, the less educated but successful younger son Mozasu, the relentless but helpful mafia ex-lover

Min Ji Lee's Pachinko is a family saga that takes you in the footsteps of a Korean family of three generations, 8 decades from Korea to Japan beginning from 1910 to ending in 90'.There are three parts to the story. The first part follows the story of Sunja, her move from Korea to Japan after marriage, struggles of being an immigrant in a hostile country. And then later part follows the story of her sons Noah and Mozasu. Difficulties, Discrimination faced being Korean in Japan and stepping into the pachinko business. And the last part is the story of her grandson Solomon who wishes to expand their Pachinko business over the States.I thoroughly enjoyed part 1,2 but in part 3 I felt like it was a bit rushed and I didn't like the way the main character Sunja was sidelined for the whole time and the ending story of Noah. So many characters are introduced, so many stories. The story would have been so better if the author focused on the existing characters.Sunja is the character that going to stay in my heart for a long time. Her patience, her resilience, her force of nature. And I also liked the bond between Kyung-hee and Sunja. The whole depictions of father-daughter, mother-son and sister-in-law relationships are heartwarming to read. Lee's writing is beautiful and the book was unstoppable once started.It also gives insights into the impact of Japanese colonization of Korea, war dynamics between Korea & Japan, ill-treatment, racism faced by the Koreans, plight of immigrants & even after generations they are still considered foreigners on land. Japanese involvement in the second world war, the agony of Koreans not having their own home.A wonderful epic family saga. I highly recommend it.

I don't have words to describe my love for this book. It's amazing!! ❤️Also, I love Baek Isak's character. He was gem of the story. 🫂 And it's the only character to whom justice was done in casting in drama too!! Like Noh Sang-hyun was best choice for character. And character was best in the whole story🤍🧿

Pachinko is book that is hard to keep down. The story moves at a good pace and keeps you wanting to know more. Despite the number of characters, it is easy to remember them distinctly. It ticks all the boxes for a good fictional book.

"We cannot help but be interested in the stories of people that history puts aside so thoughtlessly"Pachinko - Japanese for 'pinball machine'. What is this doing on the cover of a book? Make no mistake, this word plays a very important role in deciding the life events of a family and the people associated with it.It's a multi-generational saga, involving a Korean family that moves to Japan due to unfortunate circumstances (war, of course), and their struggle, sorrows and habits of daily life make up most of the book. As with any family's history, culture and tradition practiced leads to a series of branching courses of life, thus making the book more informative than relatable."A woman's lot is to suffer"; this line makes an appearance many times in the script. Everytime I came across it, I prayed for any one of the protagonists to think otherwise. She did, only it took a 100 years to do so. But really, I can't blame the author for this. It's what's been imbibed in our heads ever since we were children. To the men, it's said: Life is hard. But it's manageable with a woman around. To the women, it's said: A woman's lot is to suffer. This says a lot about our culture and our ancestors in general, that they were following the wrong ideas, and the burden of reform falls upon us and the future generations.As slow as a snail and as educational as an encyclopaedia, this book can be considered an insight into East Asian culture during the 20th century in a vague and general manner. One can definitely learn more life-lessons from this book than a self help guide, and that's the beauty of Pachinko which the author fascinatingly brought forth.