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A review by atomic_tourist
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
PACHINKO broke my heart over & over & over... A thoughtful, tragic saga of a Korean-Japanese family. Despite its specificity, this story is universal: it will tug at your conscience and deepen your ability to feel love, loss, and regret.
Even though my family's story is so, so different, I cannot help but think of my great-grandparents who escaped the Holocaust and how their emotions would have compared to what Yangjin, Kyunghee, and Sunja have gone through.
In reading the interview with Lee Min-jin (at the end of this edition), I could easily see why PACHINKO stands out-- she had spent **decades** researching for this book, including gutting her first manuscript after living in Tokyo and interviewing Korean-Japanese for background.
Through her diligence, Lee wrote a novel so transcendent that I felt like I was *living* through history instead of just reading about it. Historical fiction is so often very obvious-- important generals & presidents who befriend or court the main characters, etc. But Min-jin's masterpiece is the opposite of obvious. In fact, her characters and their opinions + lifestyles complicate and bring to life the history of Japan's imperial pursuit in Korea.
Even though my family's story is so, so different, I cannot help but think of my great-grandparents who escaped the Holocaust and how their emotions would have compared to what Yangjin, Kyunghee, and Sunja have gone through.
In reading the interview with Lee Min-jin (at the end of this edition), I could easily see why PACHINKO stands out-- she had spent **decades** researching for this book, including gutting her first manuscript after living in Tokyo and interviewing Korean-Japanese for background.
Through her diligence, Lee wrote a novel so transcendent that I felt like I was *living* through history instead of just reading about it. Historical fiction is so often very obvious-- important generals & presidents who befriend or court the main characters, etc. But Min-jin's masterpiece is the opposite of obvious. In fact, her characters and their opinions + lifestyles complicate and bring to life the history of Japan's imperial pursuit in Korea.