From the Bookshelf of Nothing But Reading Challenges…

Pachinko

Min Jin Lee

Start date: August 1, 2020

Finish date: August 31, 2020

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What Members Thought

May 07, 2019 Jenn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, favorites, 2019-finished, kindle

This was a book that I didn't want to end but I did want to end only to find out what would happen. When it did end I wanted more. Coming to the end of the book made me want to start back at the beginning so that I could re-live it all again.

Story started in Korea with a family who had hardships and while poor were able to get by. The story is set around Sunja and her family. The time period was a hard one for Korea and Japan. With reading this story I have to come to learn some of the history This was a book that I didn't want to end but I did want to end only to find out what would happen. When it did end I wanted more. Coming to the end of the book made me want to start back at the beginning so that I could re-live it all again.

Story started in Korea with a family who had hardships and while poor were able to get by. The story is set around Sunja and her family. The time period was a hard one for Korea and Japan. With reading this story I have to come to learn some of the history between Korea and Japan. It has made me want to read more and to learn more exactly what happened during this time.

There were times when I just threw my hands up in frustration with Sunja because she tended to always refuse help. I understood her pride and how times were back then, but her life may have been so much easier. I admire Sunja for all she went through and how she was able to survive. She was a survivor that always kept her mind working to provide for herself and her family. She was a strong woman but also a meek woman at times. (I attribute a lot of this due to the asian culture). Sunja was my favorite character in the book.

Hansu was also another character I enjoyed. He met Sunja back when he was younger in Korea. He fathered Noa. Back in those times it was shamed should a woman become pregnant without being married. Hansu may not have stayed in Sunja's life but he was always like a ghost. There was one quote he said that that stood out for me:

" Learn everything. Fill your mind with knowledge-it's the only kind of power no one can take away from you"

This is so true in life which is why it popped out for me.

Overall this book was a wonderful read for me. Probably one of my favorites for this year so far. When I came upon the end of the book I felt sad because this wonderful story had come to end and I still wanted to keep living with the family . There were quite a few moments within the story where I had to just take a small break to process some of the sad things which happened.

Definitely recommend this book.

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Mar 10, 2021 Lauren rated it really liked it

An amazing multigenerational saga akin in scope to Allende’s “House of Spirits” or Garcia Marquez’s “A Hundred Years of Solitude,” but without the magic. The novel is set against the historical and cultural challenges that Korea and Japan experienced in the 1900s.

Hoonie + Yangjin

Koh Hansu + Sunja + Baek Isak (brother of Samoel)
Baek Yoseb + Kyunghee

Noa + Risa Iwamura
1 boy, 3 girls

Yumi + Mozasu + Etsuko Nagatomi
Solomon + (Hana, Phoebe)

* Tamaguchi (farmer during WW2)
* Kim Changho (works for K ...more

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