I practically inhaled this novel, reading in bed late into the night as I remember doing with Gone With the Wind about sixty years ago. Lee's multi-generational saga of a Korean family in Japan chronicles the difficulties immigrants face, their survival skills, their struggles, their failures, and their triumphs. Rich with detail, packed with raw emotion, Pachinko is an up-close look at one family, pre- and post WWII. The three-dimensional characters demand the reader's attention and empathy. Strong women, weak women, moral men, pragmatic men, and all the ramifications of forbidden love and its consequences make this a compelling read. And the broader story, the heartless treatment of immigrants and minorities, resonates here and now, even as our own government steals children from their parents, caging them and denying them basic necessities. Highly recommended.
I practically inhaled this novel, reading in bed late into the night as I remember doing with Gone With the Wind about sixty years ago. Lee's multi-generational saga of a Korean family in Japan chronicles the difficulties immigrants face, their survival skills, their struggles, their failures, and their triumphs. Rich with detail, packed with raw emotion, Pachinko is an up-close look at one family, pre- and post WWII. The three-dimensional characters demand the reader's attention and empathy. Strong women, weak women, moral men, pragmatic men, and all the ramifications of forbidden love and its consequences make this a compelling read. And the broader story, the heartless treatment of immigrants and minorities, resonates here and now, even as our own government steals children from their parents, caging them and denying them basic necessities. Highly recommended.