Pachinko
4.8
36
5
1
Paperback(Reprint)
USD
12.79
$12.79
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781455563920 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Grand Central Publishing |
| Publication date: | 11/14/2017 |
| Edition description: | Reprint |
| Pages: | 512 |
| Sales rank: | 437 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.40(d) |
About the Author
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Pachinko
4.8 out of 5
based on
0 ratings.
36 reviews.
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A page turner of breadth and depth, of fully developed and interesting characters. A light on the experience of people lost in the twists and shuffle of history that are nearly invisible to Americns.
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Well written and flowing, I thouroughly enjoyed this author
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excellent on multiple levels
thank you ms. lee
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Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It can be a bit lengthy at times and has too many outside unrelated characters thrown in, but overall a good read.
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Such a good book! I just couldn't stop reading it. I love how all the characters are important and all have a story.
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This book was selected by my book club. Long book but very enjoyable read.
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One if the best books I've read in a long time. I looked forward to coming home from work to read it.
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Well I enjoyed reading the story and related and the characters were interesting, I felt that I was reading a book of short stories rather than one cohesive story.
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Covering a time period spanning 1910 to 1989, Pachinko is indeed a saga, but a compelling one. It is difficult to summarize due to the many characters and their stories, but essentially Pachinko follows one particular Korean family with a central character named Sunja. The storyline covers family life, first love, affairs, hidden sexuality and the incredible oppression of the Korean people both in their occupied home country and in Japan where many immigrated hoping to make a better life.
Though I enjoyed following the different characters and their stories throughout, what I found the most interesting in Pachinko, is as others have noted, this unknown history of occupation. I enjoy reading history and historical fiction, but I didn't know Japan occupied Korea at any point, nor of the ghettos Koreans were confined to when trying to make it in Japan. Min Jin Lee does an excellent job of chronicling this history and making it more personal through individual characters.
Though I rarely read sagas, I found this well worth the read and loved how much I learned. The writing is similar to Lisa See's books aside from the fact that it spans a longer period of time and is every bit as educational and enjoyable. A wonderful blend of history and fiction.
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What a great book. I didn't want it to end.
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I was immediately drawn into the characters and love who they become in time although some times so shockinly tragic, it's life- The family bond is so strong.
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This book brings to light that no matter where you go racism is alive. It truly does give you something to think about and how it is dealt with. Open your mind and learn for this excellent work.
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This book took me on an unexpected journey to a world so unfair and often cruel. But the humanity, compassion, and realities of life give great honor to the everyday people we all tend to ignore. Beautifully written.
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This is a wonderful book that brings a bygone era to life.
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When I was a child, my friend's father had a pachinko machine at his house. We used to play with it, and I found it endlessly fascinating. When I saw this book, I picked it up based on the cover and title alone.
In some ways, Pachinko reminds me of a book I recently read, The Woman Who Breathed Two World. While that book was just ok for me, I thought Pachinko was much more enjoyable. I was interested in the life of Sunja and her family. I had no idea of the discrimination faced by Koreans living in Japan. Even those who are third or fourth generation born in Japan are still thought of as Koreans. It seems really shameful.
Pachinko follows the life of Sunja from her birth in Korea, until she is an old woman in Japan. She marries, has children, becomes a grandmother. I found it all fascinating. I enjoyed the writing style and felt invested in the characters. The pachinko in the title comes from the job Sunja's son works at. He is an employee at a pachinko parlor, a type of gambling parlor. In Japan, many of the pachinko parlors are owned by Koreans, and it is considered a disreputable profession.
The life of Sunja and her family is filled with hardship. I found myself rooting for her family, hoping they could find happiness.
If you like multigenerational sagas, I think you will enjoy this book. I stayed up late to finish it, that is how good it is. I had to know how Sunja's story would turn out.
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REVIEW:
I loved this novel. I was a little daunted to find that it ran to almost 500 pages and I found myself so enraptured by this saga that I finished it in a day (I came out bleary eyed, but I did it)!
I am not normally a fan of anything that has to do with relatively modern history (I was a toddler during the Korean War, but still) and even family sagas usually leave me a little daunted -but once I picked up this book I couldn’t put it down. This book made it effortless for me to actually learn something and to see it from these peoples’ perspectives was just emotionally both draining and uplifting.
This book was emotionally draining, a revelation, intelligent, not ‘in your face’ religious, educational, romantic ( sort of), filled with love and was written in such a way that I could actually see pictures in my mind of what the characters looked like. I don’t think I have had a book fascinate me in such a long time.
I concur with many reviewers that the style of the book changed as you neared the conclusion -but it was simple for me to see why and I appreciate that the author took the time to make these distinctions. We went from one changing generation to another and when the author hit the 60’s and 70’s she made sure to change the tone for the younger generation to show these changes in the world -the sexual revolution, a stronger women’s liberation, a country coming back into its own etc.
I highly recommend this book to those who like family saga’s, 20th century history and high drama books.
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great+writing+and+storyline.++couldn%27t+stop+readin.
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engrossing+story+of+a+culture+and+place+very+far+away%2C
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Really enjoyed this book. I couldn’t wait to get back to the story each day.
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I loved how well the story was told. Concise without the need for extra words everything was said beautifully. I felt as if my immigrant story about duality and acceptance was being told.
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The story invokes such empathy for the characters, you cannot help reading more and more, you become so invested in their fate. The author paints their lives with such an intimate design, this is truly a work of art, infused with emotion and history.
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Fabulous book. Kept my interest the whole way. Love the writing and the conversations.
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Poignant, enthralling, historically fascinating. I could not stop reading. Memories of my fixation with the Pearl S. Buck books of my youth washed over me with warm, loving currents.
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Well written book about the sad plight of those of Korean descent living in Japan even if they were born there. The characters are unforgettable; the setting enlightening.
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I learned a lot about Korean culture and the Koreans’ experience while living in Japan.
I appreciated this family’s steadfast ethics in face of great adversity.
And I thought that each person in the saga was well described-the good and the bad- . At the end, I was sad to see them go..
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