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Pachinko by Min Jin Lee: A book review

PachinkoPachinko by Min Jin Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pachinko is a story spanning four generations of a Korean family living in Japan during the tumultuous 20th century that saw the annexation of Korea by Japan and the two world wars. The story of the family is pretty tragic. They deal with poverty, discrimination, suicide, forced imprisonment, all consequences of war and hatred from Japanese.

What I liked about this book is that it tells you a lot about what happens when people are displaced and try to make a new place their home in the time of war and chaos. I admit my ignorance in that I had never heard of the term "Zainichi" which literally means foreigners living in Japan. The Zainichi even though born and raised in Japan are not considered Japanese citizens. They were made to choose between North and South Korea after the Korean war of the 1950s even though they have not known any country other than Japan. These people have faced a lot of discrimination and negative stereotyping through the years. There was so much I didn't know and this book has opened up a whole new world for me.

But what I didn't like about the book is the way the author moves on to newer characters (the younger generation) leaving the stories of older characters incomplete. Sometimes it's just frustrating. Like, what was the point of introducing Haruki Totoyama's wife when her story wasn't completed. The journeys of individual characters are interesting enough that you want to know what happens to them. But, it seemed as if the author just kept developing new characters and then got bored with them and moved on to newer ones. Also, another thing that irked me is that even though the novel is a quick read, there is not even a single line of beautiful prose that makes you take a moment, go back and re-read the sentence. I find that the best novels are always those that have beautiful prose along with a compelling story. But, this is lacking here.

Anyhow, I like how the author has chosen "Pachinko" for the title. Life is a game after all that one has to keep playing even though luck rarely favors you in the hope that maybe someday it will. Read the book to know what Pachinko really is. :P


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