Pachinko
Ratings479
Average rating4.2
Talvez se a trama não se perdesse mais pro fim em personagens secundárias em vez de focar nos principais, teria levado cinco estrelas. A estrutura e ambição com o tema foi tratado revela um certo maquinismo que incomodou. Ainda assim, excelente.
I absolutely loved this book. I had a bit of a hard time following who was who at some points, especially as more characters were added and tracking on Korean and Japanese names, but somehow I still had it together in the end and felt incredibly connected to most of the characters.
Hmm... It was... weird. I liked it. I liked the people, even Hansu. :-D But it was weird.
I'm not much of a novel reader but I thought this was too long. Enjoyed learning about the culture and history of Japan/Korea. Found the plot boring; lots of detail could have been better left out.
I really enjoyed the beginning and middle of the book. I learned a lot about the history of Koreans in Japan and all of the discrimination that they had faced. However, once the book reached the Etsuko, Solomon, and Hana arc, it became a chore to read. I couldn't relate to any of the more “modern” characters and wished that Mozasu's friend Haruki had more of a story of his unique struggle.
This book was absolutely fabulous. I've always loved immersing myself in a new culture, learning what it is to be somebody else, in a different era, living by different rules. At turns heartbreaking and heartwarming, exotic for its setting and characters, universal in what moves people and makes life worth living, this only goes to underscore how alike we all are. The running thread of discrimination and prejudice, of what pits ‘us' against ‘them' is so alive and fresh throughout the book, but unfortunately an all too common occurrence. I'm a Romanian living in Northern Italy, and I feel that this kind of mentality has blighted relationships between Northern and Southern Italians for many years, then it was the Romanians' turn in the 90s, now it's somebody else's turn. Written with a deft hand, this was poetry for the soul and food for thought.
4.5
I really enjoyed this story, it explores so many different topics and I loved to read more about Korea/Koreans and Japan/Japanese characters, especially during the Japanese annexation of Korea and then WWII. I like how it shows the complex situation and how it affects the characters.
A perfectly enjoyable read but didn't live up to the hype. Ultimately, it's wide but not deep.
Pachinko is a really good generational historical fiction story set in an era I knew virtually nothing about. Starting in Korea in the 1930's and spanning to the late 1980's it follows a Korean family who immigrated to Japan and their struggle to survive and find a place and home in a country that constantly reminded them of their foreign status despite multiple generations having grown up in and even born in Japan. It's eye opening, heartbreaking and yet somehow quietly inspirational too. I learned a lot and yet there is a very human side to the story that prevents it from just being historically factual. The characters are mostly well formed and will make you both want to throw the book in frustration at them and hope and cheer for them. It's an emotional roller coaster. The only things that prevented it from being a full five stars was the fact that it was a bit slow and draggy in parts and went off on a few unnecessary tangents here and there that prolonged the story further out than it needed to be. Also just a personal preference for books that have a more poetic language, I found this very plain writing and that could certainly be due to the translation and nature of the story so not really a nock against it, but a personal preference on my part. Definitely recommend reading Pachinko though, it is a very worthwhile read on many levels.
For more than half of the book I felt pretty sure that I was going to give a 5 stars review. Beautiful historic background, compelling characters, interesting plot, etc... everything was going great. Then, all of a sudden, the characters started to act “out of character” and the plot pretty quickly slid to melodrama, then to soap opera and then to absurd, like in the worst B movies in which the actors that were supposed to be smart do the most stupid things...
Pachinko is a generational story, spanning decades, which is set during a time when the Japanese invaded and took over Korea. We follow the story of Sunja, her children and grandchildren and witness the pain and harships they suffer while living in Japan.
There were a few times I became confused between chapters. The author tends to jump from one chapter to the next, dropping you into the characters' lives years later, while simultaneously introducing another character. It's easy to catch back up after a few paragraphs but it can make the flow feel a little stinted.
That being said, this is easy to get lost in. The horror and fear Koreans had to constantly live in was absolutely heartbreaking. This isn't a side of history that is often written about, but I think should be. I am half-Korean and often wonder what my mother and her family went through before coming to America. She doesn't speak of her youth or of where she grew up.
If you enjoy historical fiction I say pick this one up and take your time with it. Go into this one knowing what you get is an ever-present sadness and lives that, while filled with short bursts of happiness, are ultimately clouded in oppression and gloom. It can be a hard read, but it's worth it.
This book follows several generations of ex-pat Koreans living in Japan in the 20th century, during a time of sweeping political and industrial change. The narrative begins and ends with a woman named Sunja, a modest, proud, and hard-working Korean woman who moves to Japan before the birth of her first son – she is the sturdy fulcrum of the family, which is an unexpected perspective in a culture that historically did not respect women as such. While the backdrop is one of immense, ongoing suffering, there is an equal hopefulness in the love of family, resilience, and moments of joy. The prose is stoic and deliberate, and the narrative is paced so perfectly that it's hard to believe 50+ years have elapsed by the last chapter.
I learned so much from this book about the tensions between Japanese and Koreans (had no idea!), as well as the cultural traditions surrounding both cultures. Eye-opening stuff. I felt like some of the characters weren't as developed as I wanted them to be, and less-important characters were given too much real estate, while some characters' plot lines weren't neatly tied up. The ending felt a little rushed as well, especially compared to the expert pacing in the rest. But given the scope of the novel, these are minor complaints. Overall, it was a transporting, informational, beautiful read.
El libro empieza bastante bien, pero segun va avanzando me da la sensacion de que la autora misma queria acabar ya con todo esto y va metiendo mas y mas personajes y dando saltos en el tiempo mas y mas grandes pero es como que solo ha colocado el esqueleto y le falta toda la chicha del principio.
Alguien ya lo ha dicho, este libro empieza con 5 estrellas y acaba con 2.
Not a book I would normally pick up, but so glad I did. It follows 4 generations of a Korean family that move to Japan. The writing is vivid ( I feel like I've been to the street markets and sat at their table) yet somehow unemotional. The straightforwardness can shock you, leaving you to reel in your feelings without anything to hold onto. Watch out for that.
I got attached and I'm sorry it ended.
A glimpse of the struggles and discrimination Koreans faced living in Japan, as well their struggle of trying to find an identity - never being accepted as Japanese, but not quite Korean either.
Dialog felt clunky towards the end, and the characters introduced in the last section felt more shallow and one dimensional.
Stunning! I only picked this up because it was 99p on sale, not having heard of it before, and was surprised to come on here and see it well and widely reviewed and so highly rated. Apparently I've been living under a rock.
Pachinko spans four generations of a Korean family living in Japan. It is huge in scope in that respect, but has a slice-of-life approach to detailing the goings-on of these characters and we truly get to see them at their best and worst. There isn't so much a plot as there is a story.
For a novel so big (mine said 500 pages!) it flew by surprisingly quickly. Highly recommended.
Usually I try to choose books for my Around the World project that primarily represent one country, but this one is about the intersection between countries and cultures, linked by war, cultural dominance, and emigration. I didn't know about Korean immigrants as an underclass in Japan, and this multigenerational saga brought that history to life.
Living everyday in the presence of those who refuse to acknowledge your humanity takes great courage.
Why is it so much harder to talk about the books I loved?... It was well worth the 681 pages of (don't ask me why the Romanian translation is that long). For two days I lived and breathed along the characters in this book. My favorite book of the year and not doubt among my all-time favorites.
I really enjoyed this book and can truly see why it has received so many rave reviews, high accolades and was a National Book Award finalist in 2017. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction. This is a book about family ties. The bias that affected Korean expats in Japan at the end of WWII was harsh and I had no idea how bad it was until I read Pachinko. The hardships the characters faced gave me a renewed sense of appreciation for all that I have been blessed with in my life. The writing style was wonderful and I look forward to reading more books written by Min Jin Lee.
- I read the digital version and listened to the audio version simultaneously which I was able to borrow from my library via the Libby App. I just ordered the hardback version from the Book of the Month club, as well, because I know I'm going to be reading this one again and again!
Summer Reading Challenge:
The book is better: Read a book being adapted for TV
or film this year.
Armchair traveler: Read a book set in a destination
you want to visit. – Japan
Pachinko is the story of four generations of a Korean family. The story begins with the tale of Sunja, who finds herself pregnant and without a husband in early 1900's Korea, and who is saved by the kindness of a young minister who marries her and takes her to Japan.
It's a huge story, with lots of fascinating characters who suffer through the humiliations of discrimination and poverty, the destruction of war, and the vagaries of love.
I must thank my many blogger friends who told me over and over about the excellence of this book.
I lived in Korea for 2 years in the 1970s and used to travel there for work in the '90s, visiting most recently in 2011, and while that doesn't make me an expert on all things Korean, the story this novel tells about Koreans in Japan wasn't as unfamiliar to me as it seems to have been for a lot of readers. Lack of familiarity with the cultures seems to have been part of the reason US readers have responded so well to it.
In 1977 I spent some time in Osaka with some friends. We went to a Pachinko parlor–perhaps run by Koreans, although I wasn't aware of that–and we each played for a while. I was a pin ball addict in college, so I could definitely relate. We each won a lot of balls from our games and the parlor exchanged them for bundles of ballpoint pens. Puzzled, we managed to ask what we were supposed to do with the pens. We were then guided down an alley behind the parlor where we exchanged the pens for cash.