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A review by soozereads
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
5.0
I loved this book! I knew I would and I'm glad it lived up to my expectations. I can't decide if it's 4.5 or a 5, but I need time to gather my thoughts about this book anyway before I review it.
Edit
Having lived in Korea and visited Japan I'm surprised it took me this long to look into the history of these two countries. Of course, I knew the basics but not how this affected the people of each country or how they felt about each other. Min Jin Lee really brought these years to life and by highlighting how the colonization of Korea and the subsequent wars affected it's citizens. She did this by following one family who live in Japan, never quite fitting in. I read another review that suggested the title Pachinko is an analogy for the randomness of Korean lives in Japan. A few were lucky but many were not and had very difficult lives. I love this idea and want to find more books on this topic. I've always felt that the best historical fiction makes one interested enough to research more into that period and that's what this book did for me.
Edit
Having lived in Korea and visited Japan I'm surprised it took me this long to look into the history of these two countries. Of course, I knew the basics but not how this affected the people of each country or how they felt about each other. Min Jin Lee really brought these years to life and by highlighting how the colonization of Korea and the subsequent wars affected it's citizens. She did this by following one family who live in Japan, never quite fitting in. I read another review that suggested the title Pachinko is an analogy for the randomness of Korean lives in Japan. A few were lucky but many were not and had very difficult lives. I love this idea and want to find more books on this topic. I've always felt that the best historical fiction makes one interested enough to research more into that period and that's what this book did for me.