Pachinko
by Min Jin Lee
⭐⭐⭐
3/5 stars
Pachinko is the story of Sunja, the daughter of a crippled fisherman, who falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant--and that her lover is married--she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan.
Overall, I liked this book well enough but I had a few issues with it.
First, there is no mention of or interaction with Pachinko at all until maybe halfway into the book. I kept wondering “ why the heck is this book called pachinko?“
Also, even though the story mostly followed Sunja, in the last third of the book especially I felt like the narrative was really wandering all over and I felt like there was never closure in the relationship between Sunja and Hansu.
I do want to say the writing was very good and compelling and I loved how strong the women were, and how resourceful they were, how they were finding ways to support their families. The book also exposed a whole other side of Korean culture and history that I was unaware of, which was very interesting and poignant.
So I would tend to recommend this book, but be aware that it is on the longer, more rambling side.
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