Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Click the image to purchase

Culture clashes, feats of survival, and a testament of hope. “Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee is a hulking work of art (490 pages) that speaks across generations of a family and across countries.

Lee wields pachinko, a Japanese game which is a cross between a pinball and a slot machine, to symbolize the dizzying nature of fate. Operating pachinko parlors is a way for the family at the heart of the novel, which we see grow over several decades, to clamber out of poverty.

The novel takes place during the second decade of the 20th century. We first meet the earnest and deformed Hoonie, a Korean who marries local girl Yangjin. The couple eventually has a daughter, Sunja, who matures in the Korean port city of Busan. As a teenager, Sunja is taken advantage of by wealthy Korean gangster, Koh Hansu, who becomes a vital benefactor when Sunja moves to Osaka and marries another, giving birth to Hansu’s child.

A story of love and loss, where Korean and Japanese cultures collide, and the gorgeous descriptions of these experiences prevail, “Pachinko” is a necessary reading for anyone looking to become fully immersed in a beautifully crafted tale.