Reviews with content warning for War - Pachinko

If you get the chance to get the audio, do it. The narrator was fantastic and I found myself pretty sad after I had to turn it back into the library.
This book is so dense, I forgot that the beginning was indeed this book and not another one. That being said, it's not too dense to follow. I do recommend keeping a list of characters - it spans about 50ish years and there's a lot of people. Plus, in that time, World War II and the Korean War happen so there is a lot of history as well. Lee makes it easier by providing a year and location as each chapter heading. Still, it would have helped me to keep a list of characters.
I had no idea about the treatment of Koreans in Japan nor the lack of country that Koreans had/have. What a weird loophole. I don't think it's specific to Japan and I don't think it would be hard to find people in America in the same situation.
The writing is fantastic and Lee did such a wonderful job showing the cultural changes in language, attitude, opportunities, etc. as the years went by. There were so many times I was trying to tell the characters "don't go to Nagasaki!! A bomb will fall there" or the like. You definitely fall in love with the characters and my heart broke over every misfortune.
Highly recommended. It's one of the New York Times best 100 of the 21st Century and I wholeheartedly agree.

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andlovetoowillruinus's review against another edition

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4.0

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elinordashwood05's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I love this book. It’s very long, and can be quite gruelling in places, but is worth it. By coincidence I read it after ‘Behind the Scenes in the Museum’ and it goes really well with Kate Atkinson’s books as they have similar themes of generations of characters being trapped by their circumstances but finally finding a kind of freedom.

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greatexpectations77's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I definitely understand why this was a National Book Award finalist; it's a totally sweeping experience of generations and history. I learned much more about the experience of Korean people in Japan than I had ever learned in school. It's important to know how severe and also where my knowledge gaps are. I did see some criticism online about anachronistic like foods and things and confusion about the style of Japanese bits that are were included in dialogue, and I look forward to reading more about that. This is one of those books where a family tree would be really helpful, but it would also be a spoiler, so I definitely understand not including it. But whew, there were a lot of characters in here. The book felt really long, but it was, and the ending seemed a bit abrupt. But I'm not sure that there's a good way to end such a saga that has moved through decades.

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