Yeongdo, Korea 1911. In a small fishing village on the banks of the East Sea, a club-footed, cleft-lipped man marries a fifteen-year-old girl. The couple have one child, their beloved daughter Sunja. When Sunja falls pregnant by a married yakuza, the family face ruin. But then Isak, a Christian minister, offers her a chance of salvation: a new life in Japan as his wife.Following a man she barely knows to a hostile country in which she has no friends, no home, and whose language she cannot speak, Sunja’s salvation is just the beginning of her story.Through eight decades and four generations, Pachinko is an epic tale of family, identity, love, death and survival.
My Review:Story of Sunja, her journey from a small Korean fishing village where her parents run a boarding house. She becomes pregnant at a young age and a young priest Isak who offers to marry her and takes her to Japan. She learns to love and respect her husband and her new family. She shares a close bond with her sister in law. But being an immigrant is not easy in Japan, her struggle to raise her children after her husband’s death. Her children’s struggle as sons of poor migrant Korean despised by the Japanese. The main story line is around the resilience of strong female characters who work hard for their families to survive in difficult times in order to support their families. Sunja is a strong woman who endured a lot in life, her struggle as a daughter, wife and mother with sheer determination to survive under the worst circumstances. Pachinko is a book which gives us a deep insight to the intimate details of a refugees trying to carve out a place for themselves.It is one of those books that leaves an impression on your mind. I read this book recently during the ongoing lockdown due to Covid 19. Purchased it on kindle. I highly recommend this book, especially during these trying times as the book acts as a motivational tool for enduring difficult times by determination and will to survive.
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