BOOK OF THE MONTH
Pachinko
Description
A New York Times Top Ten Book of the Year and National Book Award finalist, Pachinko is an extraordinary epic of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family as they fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan (San Francisco Chronicle). NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2017 * A USA TODAY TOP TEN OF 2017 * JULY PICK FOR THE PBS NEWSHOUR-NEW YORK TIMES BOOK CLUB NOW READ THIS * FINALIST FOR THE 2018DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE* WINNER OF THE MEDICI BOOK CLUB PRIZE Roxane Gay's Favorite Book of 2017, Washington Post NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * #1 BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER * USA TODAY BESTSELLER * WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER * WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER There could only be a few winners, and a lot of losers. And yet we played on, because we had hope that we might be the lucky ones. In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, 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. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son's powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations. Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters--strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis--survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history. *Includes reading group guide*Show more
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Community Reviews
it's a good book but just didn't do much for me
I'm really sorry about all the women and whatever they were overcoming all their life
and to be honest, I'm a bit tired of all these books where stupid useless men are doing idiotic things, and women have to deal with the consequences
I'm really sorry about all the women and whatever they were overcoming all their life
and to be honest, I'm a bit tired of all these books where stupid useless men are doing idiotic things, and women have to deal with the consequences
“Pachinko was a foolish game,” Lee writes, “but life was not.” The reader could be forgiven for thinking that the reverse might also be true. Min Jin Lee’s “Pachinko” is honest writing, fiction that looks squarely at what it is, both terrible and wonderful and occasionally as bracing as a jar of Sunja’s best kimchi.
The last third of the novel felt rushed and the ending somewhat abrupt, but still, this was a meticulously researched and fascinati...read more
A compelling story that provided such insight into Korean culture during a tumultuous period in the history of Korea.
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