I read Pachinko on the recommendation of a colleague and I knew it was widely admired. When it was recommended to me it was already on my radar because it had come in as number 17 on the New York Times Top 100 Books of the 21st Century list, which I have been exploring.
Pachinko is a sweeping historical saga following a Korean family over generations. The story begins in a small fishing village in early 1900s Korea with a young woman named Sunja. Her life takes a turn when she becomes pregnant by a man who abandons her. She accepts a chance to marry a kind minister and moves to Japan. From there the novel traces decades of struggle, survival, hopes and heartbreak as her children and grandchildren try to build a life in a country that treats them as outsiders.
Pachinko shows the harsh realities that Korean immigrants faced in Japan. It shows the discrimination, displacement, and unrelenting social prejudice the community faced but Min Jin Lee handles that history with empathy and detail. I love books that follow a family through generations. I find it fascinating to see how families unfold over the years and how what happens in one generation impacts the next - even when they might not realise. It makes me reflect on my own family history. I know very little about it, but I wonder how much of who I am and where I am has been impacted by these people I don't know.
In short, I did really enjoy this book, although toward the end I began to feel the wide cast of characters and decades-long span start to blur a bit too much. The novel started jumping around between different family groups and people in a much faster way and some of the storylines felt more developed than others.
Nevertheless I think Pachinko is impressive. It’s and ambitious historical novel that shows pain but also shows love and resilience. If you like big, sweeping stories that trace lives across decades and across borders, this is a book worth reading.
4 stars: I really liked it - highly recommended
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