BOOKS FROM SOUTH KOREAPachinko : The New York Times Bestseller
by Min Jin Lee
Tags:
Set in Japan
Female author
Description:
* The million-copy bestseller* * National Book Award finalist * * An instant New York Times Bestseller and one of their 10 Best Books of 2017 * * Selected for Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf book club * 'This is a captivating book... Min Jin Lee's novel takes us through four generations and each character's search for identity and success. It's a powerful story about resilience and compassion' BARACK OBAMA. Yeongdo, Korea, 1911. Teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a fisherman, falls for a wealthy yakuza. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant – and that her lover is married – she refuses to be bought. Facing ruin, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle minister passing through on his way to Japan. Following a man she barely knows to a hostile country where she has no friends, Sunja will be forced to make some difficult choices. Her decisions will echo through the decades. Spanning nearly 100 years of history, Pachinko is an unforgettable story of love, sacrifice, ambition and loyalty told through four generations of one family.
Reviews:
(1 year ago) |
25 Feb, 2023
I enjoyed the multi-generational story. I felt I could relate to the characters because they felt like real people. It truly is an epic tale that helps you see history through a different lens.
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(4 months ago) |
14 Jul, 2024
Beautifully written. Well reseached. A lovely family saga, (I quite like a good family saga) with well developed characters, good descriptions of all the areas and events going on around the lives of the family during some very difficult times. I had no idea of the unpleasant lives that Korean nationals living in Japan during these times.
There are a lot of characters, a couple of times I got confused. The story is written from different points of view, which I enjoyed. It did jump forward quickly at times.
I particularly enjoyed the author’s notes at the back of the book, explaining a little about the writing of the book and the interview. I am giving this book 4 stars out of five.
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