Reviews - Pachinko | The StoryGraph

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25.8k reviews for:

Pachinko

Min Jin Lee

4.36 AVERAGE

the_reading_goblin's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

eviolin's review against another edition

4.5

emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

volpedo's review against another edition

2.5

reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Small spoilers ahead.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee sets out to tell the story of a Korean family across four generations, from a fishing village in colonial-era Yeongdo to post-war Tokyo. It has all the elements of an epic — time shifts, family drama, cultural clashes — but somehow, it doesn’t quite land. The first book in particular feels slow and mechanical, and although the pace picks up in book two and three, the emotional impact never really catches up. The last few pages are genuinely touching, but by then, it feels like too little too late.

The main issue I have is the writing itself — it’s flat and often too matter-of-fact. We’re told what happens, but rarely shown what it feels like. When the book tries to dig deeper, it either states the obvious or veers into sentimentality. Characters come and go with little weight, and too many side plots that feel unnecessary or underbaked. A good example is the storyline with Haruki and his wife Ayame, which fizzles out without adding much. Or Akiko, Noa’s girlfriend, who pops in just long enough to help the author reveal that Noa’s father is yakuza — a moment that ends up making both characters feel thinner, not deeper. There’s just too much happening, and not enough of it feels real.

What’s most frustrating is that there are glimpses of a much better book inside. The early chapters about Noa and Mozasu as boys hint at something more intimate and affecting. And the final scene, with Sunja alone at Isak’s grave, is beautifully written — quiet, full of feeling, and emotionally honest. But most of the novel doesn’t reach that level. Even the parts that touch on racism and the struggles of Koreans in Japan feel distant. We’re told these things matter, but we’re rarely allowed to feel them in a meaningful way.

One character who did stick out was Yoseb — not because he was written with special care, but because his moral rigidity and small-mindedness were genuinely frustrating. At least he provoked something. Others, even the ones we follow for decades, end up feeling a bit hollow.

In the end, Pachinko just didn’t work for me. It’s long, it’s scattered, and despite a few good moments, it never really finds its emotional core. I kept reading, hoping it would grow into something richer — but it didn’t.

bookedwithamba's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

kyjason98's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional reflective sad 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

This is a beautiful book that follows a multi generation family, told in different perspectives, about their lives as immigrants in Japan both in a pre and post war context. The narratives really fit into my own research on minoritisation and how that manifests on a systemic, interpersonal, and internalised level. The author brought to the surface challenges (and strengths) of many issues: collectivist value/attitude towards family and broader societal issues such as sexuality, navigating the boundaries of cultural identity, and more. I did agree with other reviews that the last sections of the book seemed to have jumped through time very quickly, but that wasn’t a major issue, and probably reflected how I wanted the story to go on for just a little longer!

jeruen's review against another edition

4.0

This is a book that I definitely liked. After reading it, it gave me lots of food for thought, so to speak.

This book tells the story of several generations of Koreans in Japan, spanning a time from 1910 to 1989. It is a historical novel, yet it is very character-driven, centring on Sunja, who appears in the very beginning as a little girl, all the way to the end as an old great-grandmother. The book has many topics, though several central themes run throughout, including racism, power, and discrimination.

I also found this book enjoyable to read since I myself have spent some time in Japan, having lived there for almost five years from 1995 to 2000. And the fact that parts of the book are set in Osaka, the city where I was, made me reminisce and recall the old memories of my time there, which is two decades ago by now. I definitely got my interest in the city piqued, resulting in my checking things out virtually, curious to know how things have changed over the years since my departure.

This book also has made me think about Japanese society. I've never experienced Japan to be multicultural. Rather, I have always found this a very insular society, a society that is hard to penetrate. I have spent several years as a student in the local Japanese school system, and have witnessed bullying first hand. As a foreigner, people also tried bullying me, but perhaps the fact that I didn't understand the language much sort of acted as some insulation, since I didn't really understand what was going on in the first place and therefore didn't give the expected reaction, and at some point, they just gave up.

Japan is a place that while I can imagine myself visiting again, I definitely cannot imagine myself settling there for the long-term. I just don't find the acceptance and tolerance that one can easily find in other countries. I don't think I can tolerate societal homogeneity the way it is evident in Japan. I prefer variety, and somehow, no matter how much of a global city Tokyo is, there still is this glass ceiling so to speak, which makes Japanese society somehow very hard to penetrate for outsiders.

This book reminded me of all that, and reading this results in plenty of thought-provoking episodes. I definitely recommend this to anyone interested in social inequalities, as well as in Korea-Japan relations. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

See my other book reviews here.