A review by snipinfool
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Pachinko told the story of four generations of a Korean family. The story began in 1910 near Busan, where a family ran a boarding house. Life was very hard as the Japanese had recently annexed Korea. The Japanese moved to Korea to take over the better paying jobs and changing the economy. The teenaged daughter had a relationship with an older man she met while shopping at the market. Sunja soon realized she was pregnant and told the father of her child, Hansu. She found out he was already married and had a wife and children in Japan. He wanted to care for her as his Korean wife, but Sunja did not want to be his mistress and cut off contact. She had shamed her family with the pregnancy and was likely to remain unmarried.. When an ill traveler came to stay at the boarding house, the family met Baek Isak. He was on his way to be a new pastor at a church in Osaka. Sunja and her mother, Yangjin, nursed Isak back to health. Isak was interested in marrying Sunja. He knew of her pregnancy, but he wanted a wife and wanted to give the baby his name. They married before leaving for Japan.

Life in Japan was just as difficult as it was in Korea. Few jobs were open to them as many did not want to hire Koreans. Most of the Koreans lived in the most poorest parts of towns and held the lowest paying jobs. The Yakuza or gangsters offered jobs that paid well and were often taken as a last resort to support a family. Sunja and Isak moved in with Isak's older brother and his wife. They continued to have difficulty making ends meet as both of men's jobs paid little. Sunja came into contact with her child's biological father who had moved back to Japan. He was a powerful man and wanted to be a part of his child's life. Over the years, Hansu moved in and out of the family's life as they struggled to make a life in Japan.

So much of this book was heartbreaking. The author, Min Jin Lee, interviewed many Koreans who lived through this time for her novel. Stories similar to this one were told over and over. The Koreans often felt as though they had no country. They were second class citizens in both Korea and Japan. The women in this story were the strength of the family. The men were the ones who went out of the house to work most of the time, but the women were the ones who were often tasked with making the money stretch and some found a way to add to the family's purse by raising pigs (indoors) or selling food or handmade goods in portable carts in addition to running the household. I loved all of the female characters. While I did not always agree with their choices, I knew they did what they had to do given the culture and the times. This family saga will stay with me for a long time. It was an excellent story.
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