Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is a gripping family saga of loss, love, desire, economics, history and war. It reads like a dastaan and Min Jin Lee definitely is a crafted storyteller. With the whiff of Khaled’s ‘And The Mountains Echoed’, Min Jin Lee narrates stories of many generations affected by war.
Sunja, teenage daughter of a crippled fisherman in Busan, rolls in the hay with a wealthy yukaza (criminal) after she falls for him. He gets her pregnant and leaves her alone. To save herself from ruin she marries an older Christian minister — Isak Baek and moves to Japan at the time of war. The story rushes through Sunja’s childhood upto the point she starts a new life in Japan. She finds a lovely family in Isak, his brother and his brother’s wife. When she has children, the war intensifies — Sunja is forced to make many decisions which change the course of her life. From one place to another, from street to farms, from bombings to aromatic kimchi and from Busan to New York — Pachinko transverses history of two Koreas through generations spanning more than a century.
There’s a little bit of everything. When Sunja gives birth to Noah, we read about his journey from being a victim of xenophobia to getting into Waseda University, falling in love and experiencing shame of being son of a yakuza. Mozasu isn’t a genius in studies but he is a real fighter who sets up an empire. After the war, the story takes a turn and the tensions between North Korea, South Korea and Japan is subtly portrayed.
“Pachinko” makes the reader experience emotional and political conflict through the lives of Koreans who immigrated to Japan. Solomon, nephew of Noah, though a student who is an economics graduate from prestigious university in US back in Japan is still a victim of racism and xenophobia. This is strikingly similar to the life of “Chengiz” from Mohsin Hamid’s masterpiece — “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”. The novel has been thoroughly researched and in the most poignant ways narrates a tale of love, loss, war and history.
“We cannot help but be interested in the stories of people that history pushes aside so thoughtlessly.”
The story mainly revolves around Sunja, Noah and Solomon. Sunja is a case example of a girl in love who falls for a scandal, but as she grows older and married — she displays astronomical physical and emotional courage. Caught between two men — and in love with both.
“In the end, your belly was your emperor.”
Noah is my favorite character from the book. He works his way up to Waseda and doesn’t give up. He fights racism, xenophobia and hate but when the truth of his life hits him he takes decisions which will make the reader throw the book at the wall.
“Fill your mind with knowledge — it’s the only kind of power no one can take away from you.”
In the build up to the grand finale, the story gets unnecessarily slow — Mozasu is a big man, he hires big rock singers for Solomon, Hana lets men violate her just to get a feeling of being independent. Yoseb’s health declines. Kyunghee cries for lost love. There are too many little stories and the writer doesn’t go into detail into any of them. This keeps you wanting for more.
This is an event driven book and not a character driven book. It doesn’t dwell into intimate thoughts of the characters. It is not something that steals the charm of the book, but I didn’t like that.
“Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee has made a place for itself in my heart and I am going to remember this story forever. Absolutely, absolutely in love with this book.
