May BOTM 2: Pachinko

"History has failed us, but no matter."

Pachinko

Lee Min-jin

Description:

In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant — and that her lover is married — she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son's powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations.

Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters — strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis — survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history.

I've been seeing this book in my Booksta feed for quite some time now. I saved a copy of this book even if I did not bother checking the description since I have no plans of reading it anytime soon. It's just that, I became busy last May that I need a slow read but under the genre I like. Luckily, this became the BOTM in one of my book groups as a Mothers' Day prompt. 

I dove into this book without any expectations but was quite overwhelmed that the book has 500+ pages and is divided into three parts. 

Nonetheless, this book is worth the read and worth your time. It's over two weeks since I finished the book but I am just drafting the review now (June 06). This will be a long review, so bear with me. If you'll read this, thank you.

Rating: ★★★★⋆ (4.5)

but I rate it as 5★ in Goodreads.

✹ This book review definitely contains spoilers. Read at your own risk.

This is my first Korea-Japan war fiction novel but this reminds me of Chicago Typewriter, a Korean drama I've watched recently. It has a different premise but it is also set during the same wartime.

Set in the early 1900s in Korea and Japan, Pachinko tells a story of a Korean family in three generations under the Japanese occupation - from their simple lives to hardships, to life-changing decisions and how the heads of the family learned to sacrifice, adapt, and persevere to give the best they can do in raising their children during these hard times but not entirely removing and forgetting their family origin.

The book is beautifully written with rich and excellent descriptions of the characters and the settings. There are parts wherein it felt dragging and I wished were not included because it made the book longer, but on the other hand, I understood that the author needed to include them to better support the flow of the story and to tell other characters' life, however mundane it is. 

For someone who is a slow reader, this kind of book is right for me because it's not something I would want to read in one sitting. It needs time for focus and understanding. It may be fiction but the author was able to bring the readers to another angle on how the (their) world was back then - how rampant the discrimination against Koreans especially in terms of renting/owning properties and businesses, the misogynistic mindset in a household or in general, and how a woman's life, as she mentioned a lot of times in the book, is endless work and suffering. 

Of course she is! Sunja-ya, a woman’s life is endless work and suffering. There is suffering and then more suffering. It’s better to expect it, you know. You’re becoming a woman now, so you should be told this. For a woman, the man you marry will determine the quality of your life completely. A good man is a decent life, and a bad man is a cursed life—but no matter what, always expect suffering, and just keep working hard. No one will take care of a poor woman—just ourselves.

Hansu did not believe that man was designed to have sex with only one woman... He thought a man may need a number of women...

It’s a difficult thing to be an unmarried woman, but to bear a child without a husband— The neighbors will never approve. And what will happen to this baby who has no name? He cannot be registered under our family name. 

He believed that a hardworking man should be able to take care of his family by himself, and that a woman should remain at home. 

As to the characters, I love how each of the characters has distinct personalities and principles, and ways of adapting to the time of their lives. There are too many characters mentioned in the story but if categorizing them in terms of likeability, I'll have Baek Isak, Mosazu, Solomon, Sunja, Noa, Goro, Kim Changho, and Kyunghee on my list. I appreciate all Hansu's help for his son and beloved Sunja, but I don't like his overall personality and attitude. There's also a little disappointment I feel for Yangjin.

I won't discuss each one of them but I just want to record my thoughts on some of the characters. 

1. Sunja - I seriously appreciated Sunja for not letting herself become a mistress. She's still in her teenage years and first time getting a man's attention, which made her marupok - no I am not tolerating it but at least she stood for something - choosing to let her child live and not becoming a mistress. She stopped the relationship right away even though she already developed feelings for Hansu. She also devoted herself to Baek Isak as the wife. She did her best to make up for her mistakes and to return the kindness of Baek Isak. She was really a good mother to both of his sons and I believe that she loves them equally. It's just that, I don't really like the fact that she hid Noa's real identity from him. It's very important for a person to know where he came from so I really feel bad for Noa. I wonder if she was able to tell it earlier, will Noa's life be different from what happened? 

2. Noa - Of all the characters in the book, I think it is Noa's personality that I can relate to. No, I am not the smartest but I am studious, the same as him. And these specific lines hit me right through the core. 

If anything, he wanted a very simple life filled with nature, books, and perhaps a few children. He knew that later in life, he also wanted to be let alone to read and to be quiet. In his new life in Tokyo, he had discovered jazz music, and he liked going to bars by himself and listening to records that the owners would select from bins. Listening to live music was too expensive, but he hoped that one day, when he had a job again, he would be able to go to a jazz club. At the bar, he would have one drink that he’d barely touch to pay for his seat, then he’d go back to his room, read some more, write letters to his family, then go to sleep.

He was raised as a Christian, but he felt respectful of Buddhists, especially those who had renounced the spoils of the world.

You worry a lot. That’s why you’ll be perfect. 

3. Mosazu and Solomon - Of all the parent-children relationships in the book, I think they have the best one; plus they have both great personalities as individuals. I love that despite how carefree and aggressive Mosazu was during his early childhood and teenage life, he really values and loves his family. His actions were reasonable, as Sunja assumed that's why she trusted Mosazu deeply. He may not be fond of studying, but he was ambitious (a good kind of ambitious) and patient to focus on his goals. He seriously loved his wife (I forgot the name). It's just sad that he wasn't able to fulfill the wish of his wife. I mean, practicality-wise, he has a stable job that can support the family and it's true that they are not sure what will happen if they go to America. I believe that he was just waiting for the right time. He was able to raise Solomon as a good person and made sure that he study - not for the family but so that Solomon won't be looked down on by others. He let Solomon be himself in their caged and uncertain world.

4. Baek Isak, Yoseb and Kyunghee, Hansu, and Goro - I think these five people are the constant life support in Sunja's life. Baek Isak saved her from shame, introduced her to Christianity (in a way that there is something they can stand up for), and loved her truly. Yoseb and Kyunghee provided her with a new life in Japan. Hansu supported her financially for the sake of their son, despite other motives (lingering feelings for Sunja). And lastly, Goro became the third father for Mosazu. He helped Mosazu to be on the right path. He trusted him that even though he didn't finish school, he can still achieve his goals. He may not be the best man, but he surely has good intentions for Mosazu (Sunja's family).  

Since there are many characters, I created a chart for Pachinko using the D&D alignments. 

My first draft is almost like this but Mosazu is in Chaotic Good alignment. I also talked to a few book friends of mine and they had their own comments: 

• Hansu should be in Neutral Evil
• Hansu and Yangjin aren't exactly evil
• Goro should be in Lawful Evil and Yangjin in Chaotic Neutral 

However, I stand with these alignments for now. I won't be putting into text my explanation but I am free to discuss why they are aligned like that. (But of course, later on, I will forget the book details so the explanation is time-sensitive hahaha!)

Overall, this is a book I am definitely recommending if you're a war novel / historical fiction reader.

I want to watch the film adaptation right away but from what I've heard, it will still have season 2. I don't really like watching films that are not yet completed. :/ We'll see if I'll get to watch it before I forgot the book details completely. Haha! 

Background photo grabbed from Pinterest.

This post is created on June 06, 2022, but made the publication date to May 31, 2022.