Review: Pachinko

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This review is also found on Goodreads! :)
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Actual Rating: 3.8 stars
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To be honest, I dived into this book with the wrong mindset. During the first book, I was waiting for a noble and heroic twist to the story--something loud, grand, and thundering. Gradually, I realized this isn't always played out as such in real life. It’s usually a steady progress and manifolds from generation to generation. It's probably the reason why I didn't shed any tear on any tragedy the characters went through. That doesn't mean I didn't feel their pain, but it was subtler than resounding.

This book was not an easy read. A family saga told through four generations and gave me a glimpse of the relationship of Korea and Japan. Much like the author herself, before this book, I was not aware of the Japan Annexation of Korea. This book gave an insightful and educational tale of the state of Korea during World War II and the plights of Koreans in the hands of foreigners.

It came in as a shock to me the realization that humanity is not one-dimensional. It isn't always good vs. bad. Evil and good isn't always defined by a narrow set of rules. Through the struggles multiple generations of a family went through dealing with culture, tradition, religion, and through the struggles with identity and making a home in a foreign land, Min Jin Lee makes her reader realize that there aren't only two kinds of people. A person is multi-faceted and driven by many things encompassing both good and bad. Through MJL's omniscient neutrality of the narrator, the story was drawn with multiple colors of reality. It was brutal; it was kind; it was real.

The first parts (books) were laid out smoothly and perfectly. I was drawn to Sunja's small family and ancestors. The gentle-hearted Hoonie and the quiet and persevering Yangjin. Their traditional Korean family was so vivid and so real in my mind. The middle part of the book was confusing and unsatisfying. The struggles Sunja went through were told in detail, but the transition from one point in time to another is so sudden and unsatisfying. There were parts when MJL promptly terminates chapters with something along 'and then he died...' I get that in a perfect execution, this will create a sudden increase in drama and interest, but often there were no lead up to it nor any denouement after it. When drawn as a graph, it would resemble a sharp decline instead of a curve.

The last part, however, was a complete mess for me. The story revolved more on the last two generations of Sunja's family, and I felt so detached from them. I didn't care much for them, not even for Noa and Mozasu. That, plus the messy relationships of characters confused and disenchanted the book for me. This would have been a solid 4-star book if it weren't for that last book. The only thing I loved about the last book was the last chapter, when the focus went back to Sunja and Isak. That last chapter almost made me cry.

What gripped me most about this book is Sunja and Yangjin. It was difficult to relate to the characters about their Korean heritage, but being part of a minority was something I can somehow understand, even to a small extent. Most of all, I related to these characters as a woman. How they made a home where home wasn't. Their strength made me realize how enduring women are. For me, they are the best part of this book. Still worth a makes-me-love-reading tag.

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