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A review by aishaayoosh
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
5.0
An absorbing, distressing and heartwarming saga of four generations set in the time of the Japanese occupation of Korea.
The story that follows is a deeply wrenching one of migration, circling around themes of in-between identities, belonging and acceptance.
Personal stories coalesce with national histories. We are shown the effects of Japan’s occupation of Korea (which began in 1910), and the after-effects of the bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, and so on until 1989. You never feel history shoved down your throat but it is there in the background absorbed into character and story.
Koreans have suffered from the discrimination that all immigrants face, plus an added dimension that comes from their having been colonial subjects.
It seems as if the novelist is showing us how migration can fracture a family far beyond a single generation. It is a long book but it is written with such charm you hardly want to put it down.
This is definitely one of my favourite books and I recommend alongside the theme of colonialism spanning generations: Kintu (Uganda) and Home Going (Ghana).
The story that follows is a deeply wrenching one of migration, circling around themes of in-between identities, belonging and acceptance.
Personal stories coalesce with national histories. We are shown the effects of Japan’s occupation of Korea (which began in 1910), and the after-effects of the bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, and so on until 1989. You never feel history shoved down your throat but it is there in the background absorbed into character and story.
Koreans have suffered from the discrimination that all immigrants face, plus an added dimension that comes from their having been colonial subjects.
It seems as if the novelist is showing us how migration can fracture a family far beyond a single generation. It is a long book but it is written with such charm you hardly want to put it down.
This is definitely one of my favourite books and I recommend alongside the theme of colonialism spanning generations: Kintu (Uganda) and Home Going (Ghana).