Pachinko

by Min Jin Lee

She tried not to think about what his life was like with women. It would not have been difficult for him to find a girl to be with, and his interest in her did not always make sense.

What a man wore or owned had nothing to do with his heart and character.

Hansu did not believe that man was designed to have sex with only one woman; marriage was unnatural to him, but he would never abandon a woman who had borne him children. He

Being with a young girl made a man feel like a boy again.

There was a baby inside her belly, and this child would not have a real father like the one she’d had.

She had betrayed her mother and father, who had done nothing but work hard and take care of her like a jewel.

“Sunja, my dear child. What is upsetting you? Nothing has changed.” Hansu was confused.

Sunja had been proud of his love for them,

A woman should always have something put by.

“How can a woman do such a thing?”

“Stupid women! Every time I walk down the street, how am I supposed to face these men again, knowing that some foolish women paid my debts? My nuts are shriveling.”

In the end, your belly was your emperor.

no. The toddler, Mozasu, was sleeping in the storage room; when awake, the two-year-old tore through the dining room, but asleep, he looked like a statue of an angel.

He had taught her that children were a delight, that her boys were her delight.

Living every day in the presence of those who refuse to acknowledge your humanity takes great courage.”

feelings without any verification.

But here’s the truth: There’s no such thing as a benevolent leader.

Patriotism is just an idea, so is capitalism or communism. But ideas can make men forget their own interests. And the guys in charge will exploit men who believe in ideas too much.

“Being a man means you know how to control your temper.

The worst thing had happened: He was eating up his family’s future.

He had done this tremendous, near impossible thing, and she could not imagine unmaking it to the thing it was yesterday, before he had passed—this glittering, brilliant object that could be taken away at a moment’s notice through lack of money. She nodded, and her son understood that they would dine with Hansu.

Learning was like playing, not labor.

he had an embarrassing wish, it was this: He would be a European from a long time ago.

she would always feel like she was someone special because she had condescended to be with someone everyone else hated.

He hit her again and again, banging her head against the side lamp of the car until she stopped making any noise.

He knew that he’d loved her more than any other girl. She was not beautiful anymore, but he desired her still.

She wasn’t hideous or shameful to look at, but she had prematurely reached the stage in a woman’s life when no one noticed her entering or leaving a room.

“It is terrible to be me.”

That evening, when Noa did not call her, she realized that she had not given him her home number in Yokohama. In the morning, Hansu phoned her. Noa had shot himself a few minutes after she’d left his office.

If she needed all the men who had ever loved her to continue loving her, she would always be divided.

To a pachinko Korean? Haven’t you done enough to your poor children? Why not just kill them?”

millionaire pachinko parlor owner.

each bag filled with tapes, a Sony Walkman cassette player, imported teen magazines, and boxed chocolates.

“You shouldn’t be a mother. You have no idea how hard it is to have children.”

Yangjin, had stomach cancer.

“A woman’s lot is to suffer,”

“You brought shame on your child by having that man as his father. You caused your own suffering. Noa, that poor boy, came from a bad seed. You’re fortunate that Isak married you. What a blessing that man was. Mozasu came from better blood. That’s why he’s so blessed in his work.”

Ono said that the purpose of hard work was simple: Sex with pretty women was worth whatever it took.

Why do you think the author chose Pachinko for the title?