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[a-novel-obsession-blog]

Go-saeng Lasting Generations from Pachinko

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, February 2017

Book 3/52 for the Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge First book I’ve read by this author Published by Grand Central Publishing

Over the course of two and a half weeks I slowly made my way through Pachinko. The novel is narrated omniscient giving the reader a detached account of a Korean family throughout four generations. The pacing and character development in the first third is wonderful, you are set up to enjoy the rest of the story of this family. But once Sunja’s two sons become old enough to start making choices about their education, I was losing some focus. The shifts in time become more abrupt, often after receiving an unexpected blow in the last sentence of a chapter. Perhaps Lee was intending for the reader to think more about the overarching idea that life is fleeting and won’t dwell on suffering? As Noa and Mozasu settle into adulthood, I was bored by their mundanity, especially Noa. I did not expect Noa’s self doubt to get the better of him! And even though it covers a lot of topics that were a bit too brief, once I completed the book, I began to appreciate it as a whole.

Pachinko is one of the most educational novels I’ve ever read. The dynamic between Koreans and Japanese was eye-opening. I had no idea Koreans living in Japan are often differentiated by whether or not they are from the North or South (something that in America is not as often referred to); that they have a difficult time becoming Japanese citizens; or that they often are not hired or given rental properties because of their race. The colonial history of Japan in the early to mid 20th century was also new to me. Throughout the novel, I was enveloped in the details around traditions of marriage, the domestic role of women (although not surprised), the assimilation of Koreans into Japanese culture and how food played a significant role in their idea of family and taking care of one another. I thought a lot about traditions and how they change by generation and tend to get lost once people move to America.

Writing long novels is a feat and I haven’t read many. I think about the amount of time the writer has to spend going through draft after draft to get (a presumably good) one, to have the right rhythm, to have well rounded, supported characters and a setting that brings the reader into the world completely. I’ve noticed many have a main character living in denial and are troubled by their sense of belonging. They’re usually faced with harsh criticism and judgement from their families, other ethnic groups, the government or some combination of them all. 

4/5  |  I understand the hype and while I can see myself recommending it to others for what I learned about Korea and Japan, I’m not confident that I would reread it in the future. I was never committed to one character over another and the two tears I had were for the idea of suffering, especially as it pertains to the Korean Japanese. The topics (on AIDS, yakuza, gay men and suicide) also were a little too light in depth.

new words: goring bull, dolt, baek il celebration, beget, ajumma, hanbok, chuseok, boshi, unayiga, conbini, tsumei among others I forgot to jot down

add’l review: The Atlantic - which links itself to Pachinko and how writing a book reflects their ideas of what justice is, That’s What She Read - **contains spoliers** but I can agree with what she is saying here

#book review #pachinko #min jin lee