Pachinko (National Book Award Finalist)

First third was fantastic! The character development was awesome and I really fell in love with the characters and felt like I understood the world they were living in. The second third was also good, but I agree with another reviewer that “the epic length and detail for this family is becoming broader, although shallower- much like a river near its delta- it’s becoming diffused and silt laden.” I still was very interested in the story and loved the writing. The last third began to feel tough for me. I was less enraptured by the book and started to slug a little bit and the only word I could think of to describe the last third was lingering. It just lingered - until it eventually just peters out and softly ends. And you realize that the story was not a big conclusion but in the long story of the family itself in its entirety. This is nice (maybe refreshing?) but also not super satisfying. The other thing I didn’t like about the end was that it got SO jumpy. I didn’t initially hate the jumping from different character and different times- the quick fast forwards often worked well. But in the last third they got a bit to aggressive and left a lot of holes. It also felt like the author would bring us deep on someone/thing, only to abruptly abandon it, leaving me to wonder if the inclusion was even necessary. Overall though, I did think it was incredibly well written, sophisticated, well researched and good at depicting the reality of racism and elitism in Japanese culture. I enjoyed reading it certainly.

This was a long book but I didn't want it to end.

Well written

This book is a historical fiction. It dives deep into a generation of family and stories. It is very intriguing and not a difficult read. It is an easy book to move through, however, some stories can be repetitive but it doesn't really effect the value of this story.

I found the book easy to read and rich in history, tradition, culture, resilience when moving to different cultures. Family ties are fundamental to support and progress especially when Asia meets West.