You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.36 AVERAGE
4.36 AVERAGE
3.5
I get why people rate this highly— it’s an interesting topic and setting and the plot moves quickly. But there’s so much time compression and summary without subtlety. The amount of ground it tries to cover forces a narrative distance that’s more like a bird’s eye POV and even when the narrator tells the reader exactly what a character is thinking or feeling, I never felt close to them. I was thirsty for intimacy with a character.
Still a worthwhile read if one wants to know more about Korean culture— esp that of the war generation that emigrated to Japan.
I get why people rate this highly— it’s an interesting topic and setting and the plot moves quickly. But there’s so much time compression and summary without subtlety. The amount of ground it tries to cover forces a narrative distance that’s more like a bird’s eye POV and even when the narrator tells the reader exactly what a character is thinking or feeling, I never felt close to them. I was thirsty for intimacy with a character.
Still a worthwhile read if one wants to know more about Korean culture— esp that of the war generation that emigrated to Japan.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Going back and lookin i love her!! I literally can not stop thinking about her <3
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I can tell why people like it - this book is emotional and spans a length of time and generational divide that is honestly and truly impressive. I learned a lot from this book about the time period (basically the entire 1900s) and how Koreans were treated throughout and long after the Japanese occupation of Korea.
It felt more like a long musing about what life might have been like for a Korean family to live in Japan.
Spoilers past this! I'm thinking through my thoughts. Specific references to events are tagged out.
There's a huge overarching irony that the only real ways this family was able to lift themselves out of the 'dirty/inconsequential Korean' stereotype in the eyes of the Japanese was by either 1) hiding the fact that they were Korean at all (which did not end well at all) or 2) earning money and becoming rich in the only lucrative career that would even hire Koreans - Pachinko - and even that career still doesn't absolve them of negative stereotypes completely since it's colloquially known to be a favored industry of Yakuza. Nearly everyone in that family is good, and while they're not perfect and have made mistakes, they have decent moral compasses. Even though they tried to haul themselves up honestly, they were never able to shake the stereotypes from heavily affecting them and their ability to be seen as equals to Japanese - even as the 90s began and it affected their youngest son's career. It's a wildly impactful story, especially learning about this historical event for the first time. It reads really well. I listened to the audiobook and I didn't have any trouble picking it up every day.
This book is definitely not plot-driven (I never really knew exactly where the book was going), however, I'm a true sucker for a character-driven story, and this book didn't feel like that either. The book is structured by character - as each character is born and grows, we watch them grow and make the decisions that would affect themselves and their families for the rest of their lives, for better or for worse. However, there were many jarring time skips that felt clinical and like the author was simply telling us in bullet-ponted facts what happened. For many of the characters, even after spending so much time with them/getting to know them, when the story decided to move on from their story, all other moments in their lives were explained clinically and quickly, and it made me a little sad. I'm thinking about the uncle, Yoseb, who treated the boys as his own sons, who's story relevance ended when he came back from his factory work burned and deformed, an event that changed his and his wife's life but was simply explained in maybe one sentence. The book sort of tossed him aside. Kyunghee got a very scant ending too. When Baek Isak got captured, it was very suddenly many years later. The he returned, died quickly(this was full of emotion), and timeskipped again (without emotion!), all explained as chronological events, which was extremely jarring after emotionally connecting with him as a character while he and Sunja began their lives together. Noa, whom we spent a lot of time getting to know, realized his parentage and then very suddenly timeskipped to 10ish years later when he had made a new name and had a family with four children, unknown to anyone. Yumi, whom we came to love after learning about her background and goals and aspirations, died suddenly, and the story simply time-skipped to when Solomon was older, with very few mentions of how sad Mozasu was when she died. It felt like every time you got close to a character, their story would end abruptly. It felt more like an observation of many characters' lives instead of a study of their characters. This is what I'm really trying to say!
It's cool as a historical fiction weaving of generations. I also know you kinda have to wrap up stories quickly unless we want this book to be 25+ hours. I just felt like I wasn't able to grab onto any one character, and that's not my preference when reading.
It felt more like a long musing about what life might have been like for a Korean family to live in Japan.
Spoilers past this! I'm thinking through my thoughts. Specific references to events are tagged out.
There's a huge overarching irony that the only real ways this family was able to lift themselves out of the 'dirty/inconsequential Korean' stereotype in the eyes of the Japanese was by either 1) hiding the fact that they were Korean at all (which did not end well at all) or 2) earning money and becoming rich in the only lucrative career that would even hire Koreans - Pachinko - and even that career still doesn't absolve them of negative stereotypes completely since it's colloquially known to be a favored industry of Yakuza. Nearly everyone in that family is good, and while they're not perfect and have made mistakes, they have decent moral compasses. Even though they tried to haul themselves up honestly, they were never able to shake the stereotypes from heavily affecting them and their ability to be seen as equals to Japanese - even as the 90s began and it affected their youngest son's career. It's a wildly impactful story, especially learning about this historical event for the first time. It reads really well. I listened to the audiobook and I didn't have any trouble picking it up every day.
This book is definitely not plot-driven (I never really knew exactly where the book was going), however, I'm a true sucker for a character-driven story, and this book didn't feel like that either. The book is structured by character - as each character is born and grows, we watch them grow and make the decisions that would affect themselves and their families for the rest of their lives, for better or for worse. However, there were many jarring time skips that felt clinical and like the author was simply telling us in bullet-ponted facts what happened. For many of the characters, even after spending so much time with them/getting to know them, when the story decided to move on from their story, all other moments in their lives were explained clinically and quickly, and it made me a little sad.
It's cool as a historical fiction weaving of generations. I also know you kinda have to wrap up stories quickly unless we want this book to be 25+ hours. I just felt like I wasn't able to grab onto any one character, and that's not my preference when reading.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated