Ask 'Pachinko' Author Min Jin Lee a Question!

[Jo, Our Shared Shelf Moderator]

Dear OSS Members,
We are very excited to announce that 'Pachinko' author Min Jin Lee has very kindly agreed to answer some of our questions!

Please leave a question in the comments below, and *fingers crossed* yours might get chosen to be answered by Min Jin Lee herself!

Can you please have your questions in by Sunday June 16th.

Thank you all,
The OSS Moderators

[[deleted user]]

Sweet!
Quick question: what's the deadline if you have the information?

[Toska]

How nice!
Actually I have a few questions:)
-why did Noa continue to visit Isaek's grave? -why did he commit suicide or in general why did he feel the need to stop his connection to his family?
-what is the message that you are aiming with this story/book?
-would you describe Sunja as a feminist?
Thank you for giving the opportunity

[[deleted user]]

As for now I have 3 questions:

- what did you wanted to express by "history has failed us, but no matter."? That is a question OSS Team asked us and there many answers but I'd like to know yours.

- what book about intersectional feminism (not Western centered if possible) would you recommend to OSS community?

- Mozasu and Noa developed two different personalities. One was peaceful and studious (view spoiler)[ and became too absorbed by perfection that he did not tolerated what was not pure in his opinion (hide spoiler)], while the other was a spark of life full of energy. Mozasu followed a different way. I remember they were compared to their father but I do not remember any comparison to Sunja. Was it on purpose or just unintentional?

Edit:
- I'm at the beginning of part 3 and I just put my book aside (view spoiler)[ since Yumi died letting Mozasu alone to raise their child. (hide spoiler)] and it brought another the following question into my mind (I put the spoiler brackets for that one because it's kind of needed): (view spoiler)[ In your book raising a child alone after the parent of the couple died seem to be recurrent theme. The mother of Sunja raised her daughter alone, then Sunja lost her husband and took care of her boys almost alone and now it's the woman who died and the man who will raise his child without his SO, why did you make the choice to let one parent passing away leaving the other one with a kid to raise? (hide spoiler)]

I'll add other questions later.

[iirma]

I am interested and curious to know why Min Jin Lee chose Sunja as the central character. There is a sense of watching the delicate machinery of life as the reader follows the plot focusing from one character to the next, and Sunja is our focal point for the majority of the books' span. Why is Sunja the protagonist and not any of the other characters in the book?

[Ana Pau]

Who was the most challenging character to write?

[Leelynn]

How do you feel about Pachinko being adapted on film? Are you involved in that project the way you would like?

[Becky]

What inspired you to write about pachinko parlours?

[Jen]

Which character, if any, do you most identify with in Pachinko?

[Mindy]

Hi!! My book club read Pachinko two months ago and it was a huge hit! I wondered if you considered leaving off some of the endings and writing a sequel to continue the stories and characters a little further. Also, I would love a sequel. It is a beautiful book.

[Helena]

As a metaphor for life, what do you think is ultimately the meaning of “Pachinko” in the book?

[Abi]

Pachinko had a really big impact on me. The issue of identity hit close to home and I recently found out about my grandmother's life during the Japanese occupation and Korean War. Pachinko seems to me a story shared by an entire community and across generations, and I was wondering how you balanced between writing a fictitious story and staying true to history (also since a lot of the only available information recorded by Imperial Japan at that time was distorted and misleading)? I'm also curious to know if in the process of writing you found it difficult to go on because of all the hardship and sorrow faced by the characters (who might have been real) that you'd written. Pachinko was a very emotional read so I'm interested to know if you had any blocks on the road to finishing it. Thank you so much for writing this book and including so many small and yet very distinct experiences unique to the culture!!

[Jelena]

As part of my Masters course, I've been studying Korean migrant communities and their histories in several countries. I'm currently writing a paper on the Zainichi Koreans and was wondering why Min Jin Lee chose to end the story in 1989? Also, education is a recurrent theme in the novel, but there is very little mention of ethnic Korean education, was this for a reason?

[Judit]

Frist of all, I loved the book! I'm really grateful for finding it through OSS.

My question would be: How did you know that you need to end the story right where you did?

[Anu Priya]

I am halfway through the book and I love the way you have portrayed the emotions of each character in the book. It has so many flavors. History, culture, power, wartime, poverty, love, family and even more. It felt like each character has their own take on the story.

My question would be: In your mind, do you think Sunja is a survivalist when it comes to her kids? Or is she accepting the offer of Koh Hansu's help because of the love she has for him?

[Rose]

Are you proficient in Korean? If so, how much of a role, if any, did you play in writing the Korean translated version of the book? Are there parts of the story or characterization that you think are harder to express in one language vs. the other?

Also, how were you able to balance the four(?) generations and keep everything organized so that there were interactions but it didn't get too confusing to follow?

[[deleted user]]

I haven't finished the book yet but I'm really curious to know what are your thoughts on the male characters in the book? There are times when I got frustrated by their way of thinking (Yoseb, for instance, is very controlling of Kyunghee) but I understand that it is normal considering the time period and setting. I am particularly interested to know more about the significance of Hoonie's character.

Also, you wrote very vividly of all the details surrounding Korean's life in wartime Japan. How did you carry out the research for your book?

[Dorothy]

I’ve just finished the book and I loved it a lot. Thank you for this opportunity!
My question would be: When you were doing researches and interviews in Japan, have you come across stories of Chinese people living in Japan? If there is any, are their experiences very much the same as those of the Koreans?
Thank you and OSS Team!

[Jo, Our Shared Shelf Moderator]

Thank you to everyone who asked a question :) this thread is now closed and we hope to bring you Min Jin Lee's answers to some of these as soon as we can.

Thank you,
The OSS Mods