“People are rotten everywhere you go. They’re no good. You want to see a very bad man? Make an ordinary man successful beyond his imagination. Let’s see how good he is when he can do whatever he wants.”
Yeongdo, Korea – 1911. In a small fishing village on the banks of the East Sea, a club-footed, cleft-lipped man marries a 15-year-old girl. The couple have one child: their beloved daughter, Sunja.
When Sunja falls pregnant by a married yakuza, the family face ruin. But then, Isak, a Christian minister, offers her a chance of salvation: a new life in Japan as his wife. Following a man she barely knows to a hostile country in which she has no friends and no home, and whose language she cannot speak, Sunja’s salvation is just the beginning of her story.
I’d been saving this book on my eReader since the beginning of the pandemic which later became my excuse to not watch the TV series because #BookBeforeMovieOrSeries. I eventually decided to pickup an audio version a few weeks ago so I could multitask as I had too many book-pairing projects piling up that needed to be completed.
Pachinko follows the life of one woman – from her childhood in Korea by when it had been annexed by Japan, to moving to Japan to build a home and family. This epic saga spans a period of nearly 80 years, across four generations spreading their wings further and further away from their roots.
My favourite aspect of the book is all the history it shares about Korea and Japan. As an ardent fan of Kdramas, student of the Korean language, with a growing interest in Korean history, this book had my complete attention.
The story itself is a multi-layered narrative with an ensemble cast weaving their way through. Though I had been warned that the sheer number of characters could be confusing, I didn’t think so, perhaps in part due to the audio narration.
I was unfamiliar with the term ‘Pachinko’ and thought it was an unusual title but know, having read the book and understood the meaning, it makes complete sense. Pachinko explains what it meant to be a Korean living in Japan in the early 1900s and how it affected their relationship with their motherland.
The book is rich with detail, well characterised, and deeply emotional. At the same time the author’s style is simple and straightforward that keeps you invested. While the main plot revolves around Sunja and her family, the backdrop is a colourful tapestry of the socio-political history between the two countries.
The narrator brought a measured calmness to the reading which was welcome considering the length and complexity of the novel. I thought her voice was a little soft at times but not so much to interrupt the audio experience. I do feel the pronunciation of even simple Korean terms was anglicised beyond recognition and I had to keep referring to a text version to understand. For a book about Korean history, this could have been better.
At the end, the novel had an overwhelmingly gripping story that absorbs you from the first page to the last.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Narrated by Allison Hiroto. Published in 2019 by W. F. Howes Ltd as an audio production.
Book 27 of 2023.
Aquamarine Flavours Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟.
Available on Amazon*.
*Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link which means, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.
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