Book Review: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Synopsis: Pachinko follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens to shame them all. Deserted by her lover, Sunja is saved when a young tubercular minister offers to marry and bring her to Japan.

So begins a sweeping saga of an exceptional family in exile from its homeland and caught in the indifferent arc of history. Through desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs, its members are bound together by deep roots as they face enduring questions of faith, family, and identity.

Publication Date: February 7th, 2017

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Rating:

Links: Amazon/Book Depository/Goodreads

My Review:

“Living everyday in the presence of those who refuse to acknowledge your humanity takes great courage”

You know those books that are sitting on your TBR and you forgot you added it to your TBR when you went and picked up the book? Yeah that really happened to me as it was November 2020’s SABC BOTM pick-and I realized it was on my TBR the moment I placed a hold on it. I’m defiantly really glad this book exists because it made me feel seen in so many ways.

Pachinko follows a young Korean woman named Sunja who gets groomed by a creep Hansu. She ends up pregnant and moves to Japan with her newly wed husband, Issak who is ill. Pachinko follows the four generations starting from Sunja and ending with her grandchildren.

There are three books combined in this almost 500 page book-but book 1 and book 2 is the best in my opinion. book 3 was just a mess all around with an ending that left me very dissatisfied and wondering what the point in book three was. It was messy even though it was in the modern times, and not in the early 1900’s.

Book 3 was set in the modern times with Sunja being older so she doesn’t have that connection to the story anymore. The new generation took the lead with Solomon, Hanna and other characters who have an impact in the world. I had less connection with these characters, and there was a lot of time jumps that prevented me from liking any of these characters and knowing them.

There were several parts of the story where I felt like this was my family. My totally dysfunctional family because no one talks about some parts that happens. These parts made me shed a few tears as it was so familiar to my situation. This was the first time I have seen a dysfunctional family with Sunja having a child from being raped by the creep which is exactly what happened to mine. And a scene at the end of book 2 was so familiar because I grew up, not knowing my family’s history because none of my ancestors wanted to talk about where we came from and finding out my father is a creep and a stalker.

This book takes from history and offer us a new and true perspective from a fictional family. The discrimination that Koreans faced while in Japan from not being ‘true-citizens’ of the country even though they probably have lived there for generations, and the hardships that Koreans face. Many Koreans ware also unable to go back from to what we know as North Korea.

It was so thought provoking as this touched from real events with a fictional world and it was so important. It wasn’t from what we are told with a focus on western history and a white history at that-but something that has happened to thousands of people living in Japan face.

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This book was really good. It was based on real events that have happened to thousands of Korean-Japanese families living in Japan, and the discrimination that they face. There was a lot of things that are still happening today and I am so glad this book is out. There are a few scenes that touched my heart because it made me feel seen as it’s my family situation I have, from being a product of rape and not knowing my family history. It was  a good story overall with the ending and book 3 leaving me unsatisfied. 

TW: Japanese Colonialism (xenophobia, anti-Korean sentiment), imperialism, rape, suicide (mentioned), physical and emotional abuse, racism, sex, misogyny, starvation, age gap relationship, death, internalized homophobia, sex work, dubious consent, war (Korea & WW2)

Rep: Korean MC, Japanese-Korean MCs, Japanese side characters

Recommendable: Yes

• Historical Fiction
• Set in Japan and Korea
• Multi-Generation Storyline

About the Author:

Bio: Min Jin Lee is a recipient of fellowships in Fiction from the Guggenheim Foundation (2018), the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study at Harvard (2018-2019), and the New York Foundation for the Arts (2000). Her novel Pachinko (2017) was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction, a runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, winner of the Medici Book Club Prize, and a New York Times 10 Best Books of 2017. A New York Times Bestseller, Pachinko was also a Top 10 Books of the Year for BBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the New York Public Library. Pachinko was a selection for “Now Read This,” the joint book club of PBS NewsHour and The New York Times. It was on over 75 best books of the year lists, including NPR, PBS, and CNN. Pachinko will be translated into 30 languages. In 2019, Apple ordered to series a television adaptation of Pachinko, and President Barack Obama selected Pachinko for his recommended reading list, calling it, “a powerful story about resilience and compassion.” Lee’s debut novel Free Food for Millionaires (2007) was a Top 10 Books of the Year for The Times of London, NPR’s Fresh Air, USA Today, and a national bestseller. In 2019, Free Food for Millionaires was a finalist for One Book, One New York, a city-wide reading program. Her writings have appeared in The New Yorker, NPR’s Selected Shorts, One Story, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian, Conde Nast Traveler, The Times of London, and Wall Street Journal. She served three consecutive seasons as a Morning Forum columnist of the Chosun Ilbo of South Korea. In 2018, Lee was named as an Adweek Creative 100 for being one of the “10 Writers and Editors Who are Changing the National Conversation” and a Frederick Douglass 200. In 2019, Lee was inducted in the New York Foundation for the Arts Hall of Fame. She received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Monmouth College. She will be a Writer-in-Residence at Amherst College from 2019-2022. She serves as a trustee of PEN America, a director of the Authors Guild and on the National Advisory Board of the Immigration Initiative at Harvard.

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SABC December 2020 BOTM:

After saving her nation of Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress Su Daji in a brutal civil war, Fang Runin was betrayed by allies and left for dead. 

Despite her losses, Rin hasn’t given up on those for whom she has sacrificed so much—the people of the southern provinces and especially Tikany, the village that is her home. Returning to her roots, Rin meets difficult challenges—and unexpected opportunities. While her new allies in the Southern Coalition leadership are sly and untrustworthy, Rin quickly realizes that the real power in Nikan lies with the millions of common people who thirst for vengeance and revere her as a goddess of salvation. 

Backed by the masses and her Southern Army, Rin will use every weapon to defeat the Dragon Republic, the colonizing Hesperians, and all who threaten the shamanic arts and their practitioners. As her power and influence grows, though, will she be strong enough to resist the Phoenix’s intoxicating voice urging her to burn the world and everything in it? 

The exciting end to The Poppy War trilogy, R. F. Kuang’s acclaimed, award-winning epic fantasy that combines the history of twentieth-century China with a gripping world of gods and monsters, to devastating, enthralling effect.

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I should be able to participate in December as I am either eagerly waiting for an ebook from my library, my library gets a physical copy or because it’s my birthday/Christmas month, I’ll be getting a copy of it. 

Have you read this book? Have you participated in SABC November 2020 BOTM? Want to read this book?  Tell me in the comments!

About the Blogger:

Lori is an advocate for all things diverse to help those who are in the margins. She loves reading, but music holds a dear place in her heart. She is a teenager in high school, a feminist, and is in the LGBTQ+ community. Uses she/her or they/them pronouns 🌈

You can find me on: Twitter/Instagram/Goodreads