A review by kenzieburns
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A truly touching story spanning 4 generations of love, loss, and everything in between. I'll start by saying: this book is definitely a slow build kinda read, but I was so entranced with the story and the characters that I hardly noticed the lack of action until reflecting on each part. I think the author did a good job of balancing storytelling/immersion in the characters with small tidbits of revelation of deeper meaning/symbolism behind somethings. There were times in the book where I wanted to throw one (or more!!) of the characters against the wall, or shake them and say "why are you being so stupid???" but I think that's a sign of really well-written characters. I also appreciated learning more about the Korean immigrants' experience and struggle in living in Japan during the 20th century. Noa's story is particularly heartbreaking, and I stared at the page where
he shot himself for a bit too long, thinking "wait, what? no! what? for real? no!!" and the way that it wasn't really talked about anymore after the fact?? Like, he really truly died. Heartbreaking.
The author also balanced transitions really well, as in switching from focus on one generation/characters to the next. I felt like I was growing with the characters, and by the time narrative focus shifted to the next generation, I was ready to move on to their perspective. I also have to take a moment to reflect on the title and how it played into the story:
"Pachinko" didn't really come up until midway through the book, and even then it was just a job for Mozasu at first. And, Mozasu was written to be a bit unlikable, in my opinion, until Noa rejected his heritage and you really only had Mozasu to support. The symbolism of Noa's suicide, even when he was the "good" child, but Mozasu's prosperity thanks to embracing his heritage as Korean is particularly striking. Also, Soloman's eventual rejection of Western life to instead run the pachinko business really speaks to the whole idea that you can't escape your heritage, and maybe you shouldn't try to. And that sometimes, the only choices life gives you are "bad" ones.
One thing I'm left thinking about is how the characters in this novel were constantly delt hard hands, from Sunja's struggles bearing a bastard child to a minister to <spolier> Solomon's termination because of "bad looks" , and it was so, so hard for them to get by, let alone get a leg up. Like, they had to make some of the "bad" decisions they did, because there was no way for them to survive otherwise. It really put some perspective on the immigrants struggle for me, in a light I hadn't really seen it before. Like, the playing field is never level, and everyone's choices need to be taken in context of the rest of their lives, because they truly might not have had any other options.
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