"This epic multigenerational tale about Koreans in the Japanese colonial era is unforgettable. It's vivid. Evocative. Totally immersive. A star of stars."
The kernel of the idea for this story came to Min Jin Lee in 1989, after attending a guest lecture series at Yale. An American missionary based in Japan was giving a talk about the "Zainichi" a word often used to describe Korean Japanese people who were migrants from the colonial area or their descendants and had lived a troubled history of legal and social discrimination against the Koreans in Japan. And wow, she certainly did the story justice.
Spanning nearly 100 years, from Yeongdo, Busan, Korea in Book I (1910-1933), to Osaka, Japan in Book II (1939-62) and Pachinko in Book III (1962-1989) we follow Sunja and her family through the generations. We meet her as a teenager in Yeongdo, the little rocky island where she grew up, which stayed impossibly fresh and sunny in Sunja's memory. When she is saved from destitution by a travelling minister, we follow her to Osaka where she meets her brother-in-law and sister Khunghee, and starts to build their new life. A life that throws challenge after challenge at them in this hostile country.
As her sons grow into men, we follow Sunja's journey: Noa is desperate to go to a Japanese School, to Waseda University, and Mozasu never wants to go to school at all. Two brothers so dissimilar from each other. On a cruel path hated by the Japanese her son Mozasu had no interest in his studies and after a run in with the law he became a pachinko boy.
Everything seemed to lead to Pachinko. Sunja's grandson Solomon who tries to hide his ethnicity is told: "In Japan, you're either a rich Korean, or a poor Korean, and if you are a rich Korean, there is a pachinko parlour in your background somewhere." The pinball business was seen as dirty, stinking with a strong odour of poverty and criminality. It seemed to taint everything. And the decisions Sunja made as a young girl keep coming back to haunt her.
Cruelly sad. Your heart will break again and again. Yet you will read it hungrily, unable to disconnect from the story. Unable to pull yourself away from the pages.
Oh the heartbreak. Sunja pedals kimchi and confections, so Noa could go to school. She's a first generation matriarch, who sacrificed much of her life for the next generation. His father died from harsh imprisonment during the colonial era. A woman's lot is to suffer after all.
It's about belonging and identity. About pride and honour. About suffering and stoicism. About defying your destiny. And love, of course love.
Revelation after shocking revelation suckerpunches you. The horror of every twist and turn. A story of resilience and survival. Against all the odds.
Beautifully written, this is a heartbreaking story about four generations of one family, a story, an era, a plight, a tribute I will never forget. Stunning.
| Primary Genre | Romance / Relationship Stories |
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