Read and Cook with Robbie Cheadle – Pachinko by Min Jin Lee and traditional Belgian food #fiction #bookreview #belgianfood

Picture caption: banner for Read and Cook with Robbie CheadleMy review of Pachinko by Min Jin Lee Picture caption: book cover of Pachinko

Pachinko is an amazing family saga set in Korea, Japan and America from when Japan took control of Korea in 1910 to 1989. Admittedly, this book was a real eye opener. I had no idea the japanese treated the Koreans so badly and how much the Koreans suffered, both in Korea and in Japan if they immigrated. This discrimination, abuse, and racism towards Koreans by Japanese people continues right up to the end of the book in 1989. It did leave me wondering what the current situation is for people of Korean descent living in Japan.

The book starts with the story of Hoonie, the son of a poor fisherman and his wife who was born with a cleft lip and a club foot. The couple are hard working and have a good sense of business, taking in lodgers and building a secondary business as a boarding house for working class people. This business helps them maintain a reasonable life during the first years of the Japanese occupation when the livelihoods of ordinary Koreans were devastated by high taxes and poor treatment. A matchmaker arranges a marriage for Hoonie, despite him being illegible in terms of cultural law due to his disabilities, to the daughter of a farmer rendered destitute by the colonialization. Hoonie and his wife, Yangjin, continue to build the boarding house business and have one surviving daughter, Sunja. Hoonie dies when Sunja is still a girl and Yangjin and Sunja continue the business alone. When Sunja is sixteen she is singled out by a wealthy fishtrader, Koh Hansu, a Korean living in Japan, who slowly woos her and ultimately seduces her. Sunja becomes pregnant and hopes to marry her loves, but discovers he is already married with three daughters. He proposes to support her as his mistress but Sunja rejects this idea as it goes against her principles. Fortunately for Sunja and her mother, salvation arrives in the form of a sickly Korean minister, Baek Isak, who is travelling to join his brother in Japan. Sunja marries Baek Isak and goes with him to start a new life in Japan as a minister’s wife. The story continues with Sunja and Baek’s lives in Japan and their family of two sons, Noa, son of the wealthy Korean fisherman, and Mozasu, Baek’s son. The saga ends years later when Sunja’s sons are older men with childen of their own.

Sunja was an excellent character. The author aptly captures the innocence of a young girl and demonstrates how Hansu inveigles his way into her life, ultimately seducing her. Hansu is not depicted as being a terrible man in these early days. He wants to support his son and Sunja and keep up his relationship with her but on his terms. These terms would result in Sunja and her mother’s disgrace in their community and her son having no name, but so would Sunja’s having an illegitimate child. If Baek hadn’t entered the story, practically, Sunja would have had to capitulate to Hansu’s request as there would have been no other way for her and her mother. Sunja is a woman of much inner strength and she accepts her situation and marriage to Baek and does her best to be a really good mother and wife to him. She demonstrates much fortitude in overcoming the difficulties she faces in Japan and shows that she is hard working and also has a good business brain and survival abilities. I felt that Sunja was a magnificent tribute to the fortitude and resourcefulness of many women forced to face terrible hardship and find a way to feed their children.

Sunja’s second son, Mozasu, is another wonderful character. Hard working and also an astute business mind, he makes the most of his situation and builds a good business for himself and his family. He also manages to overcome a lot of hardship and tragedy. He is a devoted father to his only son and demonstrates much support of, and affection for, his own people and community. He is not a criminal personality despite being involved in a gambling business that is rigged as all such business must be. He does his best to help other people and be as law abiding as possible in a society aimed at subjugating and even destroying Koreans. His attitude towards the end of the book, when faced by a disappointing (to him) decision by his son, is exemplary and shows what a good parent he was and sensible in the face of life facts. 

The author demonstrates in many places his deep understanding of the human condition. One particularly striking demonstration of this understanding is towards the end of the book when Sunja goes home to see her sick mother. This scene really stayed with me and, having experienced similar situation with aging relatives, I found it deeply compelling. 

I highly recommend this compelling and fascinating read that shares so much information about the history of Korea and Japan between 1910 and 1989 and also shows a deep understanding of people and their relationships, reactions, and emotions.

Purchase Pachinko from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Pachinko-National-Book-Award-Finalist/dp/1455563927

Exploring Belgian food and street art

Today, we are exploring Brussels in Belgium and some of its food and street art. This is because I am currently in Brussels.

Picture caption: Traditional Flemish Carbonnade, a beef stew. Very delicious Picture caption: Meatballs in tomato sauce

Both of the above meals are served with potato chips.

Picture caption: pancake stack with strawberries.

The pancake stack was delicious and the perfect blend of slightly sweet from the syrup, offset with the slightly sour berries.

The above images are all of Paul’s tea room in Brussels where we ate the pancake stakes. Great food and coffee.

Picture caption: Seafood paella for two. This was excellent.
This is the restaurant. If you enlarge the picture you can see the menu.

Brussels is famous for its street art. I’ve included two pieces below. The first is Tintin street mural and the second is called The Pipes.

About Roberta Eaton Cheadle Picture caption: Robbie Cheadle author photograph 2025

Roberta Eaton Cheadle, is a South African writer and poet specialising in historical, paranormal, and horror novels and short stories. She is an avid reader in these genres and her writing has been influenced by famous authors including Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Amor Towles, Stephen Crane, Enrich Maria Remarque, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Colleen McCullough.

Roberta has two published novels and a collection of short stories and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories included in several anthologies. She is also a contributor to the Ask the Authors 2022 (WordCrafter Writing Reference series).

Roberta is also the author and illustrator of seventeen children’s books, illustrator to a further three children’s books, and the author and illustrator of four poetry books published under the name of Robbie Cheadle, and has poems and short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

Roberta’s blog features discussions about classic books, book reviews, poetry, and photography. https://roberta-writes.com/.

Find Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Blog: https://wordpress.com/view/robertawrites235681907.wordpress.com

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/robbiecheadle.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertawrites

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Roberta-Eaton-Cheadle/e/B08RSNJQZ5

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This segment of “Read and Cook with Robbie Cheadle” is sponsored by the Midnight Anthology Series and  WordCrafter Press .