The range of emotions, characters and relationships is ambitious and well executed. We have women who accept their place in society, as well as women who fight through their fate and become entrepreneurs we have men with big ego problems and men who see everything as a business transaction. Korean children are bullied at school for their lineage.Īnother highlight of Pachinko is how effortlessly the various themes weave into one another. Most Koreans had three names, a Westernised name, a Korean surname and a Japanese surname (eg: Moses Baek, Mosazu Boku, Mozasu Bando). These Koreans are neither accepted by Korea nor by Japan as their true citizens. They are treated as second class citizens. The plight of Koreans in Japan made my heart shudder. In the publishing world, most of the immigrant stories concentrate around the plight of non-white people in America (usually), and hence this book is a breath of fresh air. I would recommend the book because of how well the author handles the topic of immigration. But life does not become easy with the war, culture clashes and identity crisis. The couple move to Osaka, Japan to start a new life. In order to save the family honour, Sunja’s mother welcomes a proposal by Pastor Baek who thinks marrying Sunja is a way of repaying the kindness that Sunja and her mother showed him when he was ill. Sunja is a young girl blindly in love with Hansu, an older Japanese man, She is deserted by her lover when she gets pregnant. Pachinko spans over four generations, beginning in Korea in 1900’s. It was a pleasant surprise for me to find it out and so will it be for you if you pick up the read. What is pachinko? I am not going to give you the answer either. I bet you are thinking the same question that I thought of when I read the title.

Pachinko is a multi generational saga that throws light into the plight of immigrants of Korean descent who stay in Japan.

Pachinko cover