Pachinko is a game of chance. Rigged each morning so that only certain machines will win, the public comes en masse to try to win big. Very few win it all.
It’s an apt metaphor for the family Min Jin Lee has created with her beautifully-crafted book, Pachinko. The story of a Korean family who moves to Japan, it primarily follows Sunja as she navigates being a poor Korean, a single mother, and an even poorer Korean expatriate. The book switches narration often between characters, but Sunja serves almost as a touchstone for the reader. She is a young Korean girl who becomes pregnant by a man who is already married. When a missionary proposes to her in exchange for saving his life, she moves to Japan with him to work in a church. Unfortunately, Japan is not the most welcoming place to those it has colonized. Sunja and her husband face endless bigotry as they try to make a living, as do Sunja’s two sons and, eventually, their sons.
This is a novel about female strength. Not in an overt way, but like its female characters, it quietly pushes and successfully shares its ideas. Sunja’s mother has a motto: “a woman’s lot is to suffer”. Continually, the women in Pachinko are the ones holding everything together and keeping the family in its varying forms afloat. When her brother-in-law forbids it, Sunja and his wife create and run a successful business that keeps the family from starving. When the family must seek shelter during World War II, the women work for their keep on a farm safe from the bombs, ensuring the continuation of their bloodline.
Continuously, these women work for the bare minimum, but do so for the benefit of their entire family. They are truly the backbone of what is outwardly a matriarchy, providing when the men fail to do so and quietly being the reason the men end up succeeding. They do all of this in a country that, quite honestly, hates them. Sunja’s sons deal with bullying and discrimination at school, leading to an exploration of identity. Noa, for example, spends most of his childhood wishing he was Japanese and feeling conflicted about his Korean ancestry.
Pachkino tells the story of one family, but it is a portrayal of a part of history that is not shared with the West. Many Korean families that were told that Japan would bring them prosperity only to be severely disappointed. Min Jin Lee has made a fantastic, moving, and important book.
Update: For the past year, Pachinko has been my go-to whenever someone has asked for a book recommendation. I’ve yet to hear someone say they’ve been anything but thrilled with it.
Oh, the Struggle 