Pachinko: The New York Times Bestseller Paperback – 9 Jan. 2020

This book is so deep and so detailed. Shows the lives of characters through a certain point in japanese/korean history. So meaningful to tell peoples stories and explain feelings/thoughts/emotions in a way that otherwise would be lost or not as clearly understood or defined. Every single character is truly unique and has a tale to tell. So many different viewpoints. A must read to appreciate the context.

This book tells the story of several generations of a Korean family, living in Japan from the start of the 1930s, through to the end of the 1980s. It's about prejudice and identity, family ties and aspirations. It has a lot of historical and cultural detail that I found really interesting, and I got very invested in the fates of the characters.Lee breaks two major rules of writing - there's a lot of telling rather than showing, and the narrative perspective hops around between all the characters within every scene. And yet, I found the book very compelling and wanted to keep reading it late into the night. I felt it lost cohesion a bit towards the end, as the time jumps between chapters got bigger and the story lost touch a bit with the older characters. But the ultimate conclusion was very satisfying, and I would recommend this as a very involving, beautifully written and fascinating book.

Throughly enjoyed this book, great characters and a lovely story.Great ending

This is the first book I have read by this author and I started it knowing very little about it.I finished it in 2 days!It is beautifully written, the story draws you in and just does not let you go.An epic spanning generations, I wholeheartedly recommend. The best book I have read this year.

This book had been on my radar for a while, so when I saw it on the daily deals, I decided it was the perfect time to get it and read it.The story starts before WWII before Korea was split into two. We see what it's like for a family in Korea during Japanese rule. We then follow this family through the generations reading about their highs and lows with the main focus being on Sunja and her life in Japan as a Korean immigrant. Let me say now that before reading this book, I did not know the history of Korea and Japan. Therefore, this book surprised me at how Koreans were treated by the Japanese. Such as how they weren't allowed to have beautiful houses and usually had to live in such cramped spaces, sometimes living with their farm animals. That's right, try to imagine living with chickens and pigs in a one-room home, maybe two rooms if you're lucky. I had no idea about the trials that they had to go through to make ends meet or have a decent life.The story is told in the third person, and you come to feel for the characters, but also come to question some of their motives. Which is something I quite liked in this book, as it captured what can change people, for better or worse. Some of the characters you may not care for, until later on and vice versa. Which can be annoying, but it happens in life too. That being said, some characters call out to you, and you can't help but admire them. Especially Mozasu who never let peoples prejudice shape him or stop him from being who he is.I really enjoyed reading about the various generations and the different ways that each time period affected/benefitted them. It is a story about survival, hopes, and providing each new generation with a step up.

Very interesting as I had no idea of the conflict between Koreans and the Japanese.

3.5 starsThere were many parts of this multi-generational narrative that were engaging, especially the leading story in the first part of the 20th century that follows Sunja, a Korean girl in a small village, who is seduced by a wealthy trader Koh Hansu and disgraced.Her story takes a surprising turn when she relocates to Osaka and she finds out how Koreans are treated as unwanted immigrants by the Japanese. Throughout the rest of the book, she finds her life and the lives of her offspring inextricably linked to Hansu’s, and he lurks in the background and makes a reappearance that for better and for worse, contributes to the ensuing fortunes and misfortunes of this family for generations to come.Absorbing as the tale is, with enough upheavals along the way, it becomes a little predictable as the reader wonders which unfortunate character is going to drop off the page next. The story starts with Sunja’s parents, and by the time it hits the fourth generation, one can’t help but feel a little disconnected from the new characters that appear, especially when there seem little character development in the ones that come before them.I especially wanted to find out what happens to a gay character whose wife catches him in the act, but somehow, he disappears, only to reappear in a scene, apparently unscathed and playing the part of the entourage to support another major character.I suppose for a narrative that traverses generations, it is not an easy task maintaining a through line while giving enough attention to other parts of the story without overdoing it. For this novel, the author partially succeeds.

A thoroughly absorbing read. Not finished it yet but great so far.

La saga de una familia coreana inmersa en el contexto de un Japón en plena guerra y postguerra. Sin duda el tema de la identidad de los migrantes de diferentes generaciones es central en este libro.

I originally watched some episodes of the Pachinko dramatization on Apple TV. Because of the excellent acting and engaging script, I became quickly engrossed in the production. After learning the story would be released in 4 seasons, I was dismayed knowing I would be at the edge of my seat for the next four years yearning to know what happens to these characters. Wishing to spare myself this misery, I looked up the book, Pachinko, upon which the drama was based, bought my copy from Amazon Kindle and read it cover to cover in two days. Being a slow reader and being that Pachinko is not a light read, I got through that book very fast simply because almost from the first page, I could not put it down.Generally, I’m not a fan of family sagas, but I have recently begun watching Korean dramas with subtitles. While enjoying the dramas, I have become interested in Korean history and culture, so reading this book, written by Korean American author, Min Jin Lee, was an opportunity to acquaint myself with Korean culture from the lens of someone raised in a Korean household, but who also has lived and been educated in the United States.I was grateful that, unlike the movie, the story in this book runs along in a sequential timeline with very little time-shifting. Lee presents this story in a universal, omnipresent point of view, so one gets the story from multiple viewpoints, not only from major characters, but from some minor ones as well. The writing is so skillfully executed, the narrative runs seamlessly along. The writing is also immersive with just enough description to set the scenes. Through this evocative writing, I could feel the closeness of life in Sunja’s childhood boarding house while appreciating the freedom and beauty of the black rocks by the seashore where Sunja and her companions washed clothes and where she spent time with her lover, Koh Hansu. A week after finishing this book I can still close my eyes and feel the poverty of Osaka where Sunju and her family eked out a living, all crowded in a small, rickety dwelling, held down and oppressed for being Koreans by their Japanese overlords.The strongest part of the story were the characters, all thoughtfully written and fleshed out. Sunja was a plain, uneducated peasant girl whose great intelligence, wisdom, loyalty, faith and well-honed instincts helped lay the foundations for her family’s survival during rough times and later for their great prosperity despite the prejudice they were forced to endure. Her two loves, Koh Hansu and Isak, different as two men could be, protected her and her family in their own way. Her son, Noa, witnessed the hardships of the World War II in his younger years, but because of his great intelligence and because of the secret presence of his wealthy, natural father, he was spared many of the dangers and deprivations other Korean children faced. Growing up and being educated alongside Japanese children, he came to be greatly conflicted between his Japanese education and his Korean heritage. His younger brother, Mozasu, lacked the patience for education, yet he was diligent and street-smart and made a success of his life running and eventually owning pachinko parlors. Koh Hansu was probably the most tragic of the characters Lee highlights. He is a gifted Korean, born into poverty who found success by selling his soul to his Japanese overlords. He has married into a wealthy Japanese family, even been adopted by his father-in-law, yet he has little respect for his Japanese family. He loved the Korean peasant girl, Sunja, but she refused to become his mistress and went on to pursue her own life. Though Sunja is only one among many lovers, he remains haunted by her throughout his life. She gave birth to his only son, but she also touched his heart in a way no other human being could. Though Koh is a much feared and corrupt Yakuza in later years, he still goes out of his way to show kindness to Sunja and her family. Also of interest are the couple Yeseb and his beautiful wife, Kyunghee. Yeseb struggles with a feeling of inferiority towards his younger brother, Isak, who he believes is too idealistic and fragile for this word. He is a protective older brother hemmed in by traditional, paternalistic ideals that prove costly in the foreign world of Imperial Japan where his family is forced to exist under difficult and almost impossible conditions. He works multiple jobs and still isn’t able to make enough to support his family, yet he refuses to let his wife work outside the home. Later he becomes disabled and is forced to become dependent upon others, including his wife, for care. The most beautiful thing about this extended family is these individuals have their share of conflict, resentments, and misunderstandings, but throughout their lives, they are completely devoted to each other. When trouble threatens from the outside or when one family member is in need, each one of them comes through for the other.The book starts in Korea during the early part of the twentieth century during the Japanese occupation. In Korea, Sunja and her family, as well as other Koreans, are regarded with suspicion by their Japanese overlords. Not only do the Japanese exploit them and take the best land and sea can produce, but they regard and treat the native Koreans as innately inferior. The attitudes don’t change after World War II during occupied Japan or even as late as the 1980’s when the book ends. Koreans living in Japan or even born there are still regarded legally and socially as foreigners. Returning to Korea, as many of these individuals desired to do after the war, was problematic as well, and even downright deadly. Families and individuals from the north of Korea, had to return to a part of Korea run by the Communists. There were individuals in the book who returned and were never heard from again. The south of Korea was run by a dictator most of the time and beset by chaos and corruption, as well as the Korean war. Sunja and her family were trapped in Japan by these circumstances, but Japan, first Osaka and then Yokohama, became their home. Here they were able to start and run businesses and earn a living. Being Koreans, they might never be fully accepted in their community, but here they found a life. They weren’t shunned by all Japanese. Lee introduces her readers to Japanese individuals touched by this family, but all of them have one thing in common: because of circumstances or past actions or mistakes, they have been marginalized by their Japanese countrymen. There is Mozasu’s girlfriend, Etsuko, who was divorced by her husband because of infidelity. In her disgrace she had to leave her community in Hokkaido and move to another town. Mozasu’s first employer had an autistic son and was also marginalized. Noa’s first serious girlfriend, Akiko, who doesn't fit in with her Japanese peers, is a precocious Japanese girl from a wealthy family, who is fascinated by Noa’s Korean heritage. When Akiko, through her ignorance and thoughtlessness, interferes and unwittingly forces an explosive family issue, Noa freezes her totally out of his life.I never heard the name Pachinko until I watched some of the drama on my streaming service. As the book explains, it is a popular game in Japan that is a cross between pinball and slot machines. Winners appear to win by chance and thereby have hope for a good outcome, but the owners set the machines and allow some wins so that other less fortunate people will be drawn in. Winners are those who happen to play during the time of day the pins are loose and ready to yield the winnings. I suppose life can be looked upon as a game of Pachinko. Pachinko was one of the few avenues where Korean individuals could make their fortunes in post-war Japan. It was not considered respectable enough for good Japanese people to be a part of, even though the Japanese loved to play it. Both of Sunja’s sons end up making a living running Pachinko.This book presented a window into, what are to me, two foreign cultures, Korean and Japanese. Sunja’s extended family is made up of aristocrats from the north of Korea as well as peasants from the south. Sunja’s youth was grounded in Confucian, old world Korean ideals, but as time passed, she and her family were introduced to Christianity, the values of Imperial Japan, post-war commercialism, and globalization. The values of her Korean childhood such as loyalty, morality, revereance for family and work ethic remained in Sunja and were passed on to subsequent generations of her family. What stood out to me was the great influence of Christianity and how its message of forgiveness and loving grace impacted this family and tempered the harsher aspects of their traditional Korean ideals. Unlike many modern authors dealing with Christian characters, Lee presented the clergy in a balanced and realistic way, neither lionizing them nor demeaning them.All of Lee’s characters were carefully nuanced and believable. Individuals like Sunja, Isak, Noa, Solomon, and Hansu came alive to me and continue to haunt me nearly a week since I finished the book. I was truly sad to come to the end of book. It was a beautiful read, one of the best books I’ve read in the past three or four years. I highly recommend it!

Livro fantátisco. Aprendi várias coisas sobre a cultura coreana/japanesa, as quais não fazia ideia. A história em si é muito bonita, ao estilo de Cem anos de solidão, do Gabriel Garcia Marques, porém é focada na trajetória das mulheres da família a qual acompanhamos a vida ao longo do século 20. Vale muito a pena ler para conhecer um pouco dessa parte da história do mundo a qual não aprendemos com muito foco.

This book neatly and succinctly describes core aspects of human suffering. Prejudice, heartbreak, loss. And it does them extreme justice. Through Min Jin Lee’s writings it reminded me of pains that I had long ago, and pains that I was trying to escape by reading. But I didn’t resent the feeling I got from the book, far from it. Instead I felt less alone. That the things I experienced are things that so many others have. And// spoilersThe fact that most characters end up okay at the end, in spite of everything that happened to them. At the end of it all, everything is okay. So many characters lost so much that is dear to them. But most of them try to keep going despite this. And the ones that don’t I feel a tremendous aching in my heart for.// end of spoilersDespite me having this book on kindle, I made the purchase several more times. This time, as physical hard cover editions. For myself, and for the people I cherished. The book makes an amazing gift for anybody, especially people who are more fond of deeply emotional stories. I was someone who exclusively read fantasy and sci fi previous to this, and when I heard this recommendation from an ex of mine it took me a long time to read it. But I did, and it reminded me of that past I shared with her, and many others. And it gave me hope for the future that I have yet to experience.Overall, absolutely stellar book. Good pacing, believable characters, shreds your heart though it gives you enough wins to keep you wanting more all the time.I love it very very much.

Todavía no lo he leído, pero llegó en buenas condiciones.