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A review by goblinhearted
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
4.0
This is a re-read for me! I read this for the first time a handful of years ago and I really enjoyed it - enough to pick it up again. I have a weakness for long family sagas that span decades. The author did a really good job of encapsulating the political atmosphere that existed between Korea and Japan throughout the early and mid 1900s and how this might have impacted a family living during this time. (I'm also a fan of novels about suffering and hardships, so this one was right up my alley.)
It's a long one, too, and doesn't linger on a specific character for too long. Instead it jumps between characters, sometimes not giving you a satisfying conclusion for a particular event. However in this way, it felt very realistic. Life is not full of many satisfying conclusions.
I did not expect it to take me nearly a month to finish though! It is not the type of novel that you devour in one (or even a few) sittings. It's heavy and moves slow but it was always nice to return to whether I read through one chapter or a dozen in a sitting.
It's a long one, too, and doesn't linger on a specific character for too long. Instead it jumps between characters, sometimes not giving you a satisfying conclusion for a particular event. However in this way, it felt very realistic. Life is not full of many satisfying conclusions.
I did not expect it to take me nearly a month to finish though! It is not the type of novel that you devour in one (or even a few) sittings. It's heavy and moves slow but it was always nice to return to whether I read through one chapter or a dozen in a sitting.