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challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is a generational story about the struggles of a Korean family living in Japan through the 1900s.
Thoughts while reading:
-I love how this begins. It feels like you're swept away by the setting and the characters, and it's immediately absorbing
-I really enjoy all the details about Sunja’s life and her family. And Isak and his family are so likable
-So far, the pacing of the story has been great. Reading about the struggles the family faces and seeing how they try to overcome it is really fascinating. I love Sunja’s relationship with her sister-in-law, Kyunghee. I love seeing Sunja’s strengths as she speaks to the pawnbroker. I feel bad that Yoseb’s pride and good intentions hinders the family
-I love the whole section of how Sunja and Kyunghee work towards selling kimchi
-The characters are so likable, despite their flaws. I admire their humility and their hard work. I didn’t expect to see the reintroduction of Hansu
-I feel really bad for Yoseb. I guess as a reader, we know he’s suffering from radiation and I can’t imagine the pain he’s going through
-I’m really rooting for Noa and Mozasu’s success
-I’m so saddened by the tragedy that keeps befalling the family, first with Mozasu’s wife being killed in a car accident, and then with Noa. I find it so interesting to see how values change over the generation (showing that people are more comfortable with dating and sleeping with their partners before marriage), and yet, other values are so deeply rooted that the next generations haven’t shaken them. It’s so sad that the Koreans have lived in Japan for so long, yet still don’t find acceptance
-I hate how, even once it reaches more modern times, there’s still so much prejudice
I feel like I'm still processing this one and will be thinking about it for a while. I found the characters largely very sympathetic and interesting. Despite the hardships that the characters faced, I like how the story focused on their strengths and how they try to prevail. Though it wasn't perfect, I enjoyed it very much so I'd still give it a 5 out of 5
Thoughts while reading:
-I love how this begins. It feels like you're swept away by the setting and the characters, and it's immediately absorbing
-I really enjoy all the details about Sunja’s life and her family. And Isak and his family are so likable
-So far, the pacing of the story has been great. Reading about the struggles the family faces and seeing how they try to overcome it is really fascinating. I love Sunja’s relationship with her sister-in-law, Kyunghee. I love seeing Sunja’s strengths as she speaks to the pawnbroker. I feel bad that Yoseb’s pride and good intentions hinders the family
-I love the whole section of how Sunja and Kyunghee work towards selling kimchi
-The characters are so likable, despite their flaws. I admire their humility and their hard work. I didn’t expect to see the reintroduction of Hansu
-I feel really bad for Yoseb. I guess as a reader, we know he’s suffering from radiation and I can’t imagine the pain he’s going through
-I’m really rooting for Noa and Mozasu’s success
-I’m so saddened by the tragedy that keeps befalling the family, first with Mozasu’s wife being killed in a car accident, and then with Noa. I find it so interesting to see how values change over the generation (showing that people are more comfortable with dating and sleeping with their partners before marriage), and yet, other values are so deeply rooted that the next generations haven’t shaken them. It’s so sad that the Koreans have lived in Japan for so long, yet still don’t find acceptance
-I hate how, even once it reaches more modern times, there’s still so much prejudice
I feel like I'm still processing this one and will be thinking about it for a while. I found the characters largely very sympathetic and interesting. Despite the hardships that the characters faced, I like how the story focused on their strengths and how they try to prevail. Though it wasn't perfect, I enjoyed it very much so I'd still give it a 5 out of 5