In 2022, I decided to focus my reading on a specific theme each month. January’s theme was historical and speculative fiction, and I selected seven books to read that fit the theme. My favorite book this month came from my themed selections: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee.
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.
(summary from Goodreads)
I was not familiar with the impact of Japanese colonialism on Korea, nor with the challenges and prejudice Koreans faced if they moved to Japan. It was fascinating to see twentieth-century historical events (World War II, the partition of Korea) with a different lens than the one with which I learned about them, i.e., from a non-Western perspective. The cast of characters is large, but I did not find it difficult to keep them straight and felt invested in each one.
As with most historical fiction I read, Pachinko served as a jumping-off point for me to dig deeper into the specific setting and situation, that is, the Korean diaspora in twentieth-century Japan. In said digging, I read this fantastic article that points out anachronisms and errors in Pachinko that wouldn’t be obvious to those unfamiliar with the culture depicted in the book (like myself).
Overall, I really enjoyed Pachinko. It was tough to choose one favorite book for the month, but it has to be this one. Rating: five out of five stars, plus one more viewer excited for the forthcoming TV adaptation.
January’s also-reads and ratings (out of five stars)
Theme reads
- A Clash of Steel, C. B. Lee: four stars
- The Conductors, Nicole Glover: four stars
- So Many Beginnings, Bethany C. Morrow: four-and-a-half stars
- Pachinko, Min Jin Lee: five stars
- A Sitting in St. James, Rita Williams-Garcia: five stars
- The Plot Against America, Philip Roth: four stars
- The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick: four stars
Others
- Red Notice, Bill Browder (book club): four stars
- Watch for the Light, anthology: five stars
- The Final Girls Support Group, Grady Hendrix (book club): three-and-a-half stars
- The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster: five stars
- God Bless This Mess, Hannah Brown: three-and-a-half stars
- Somebody’s Daughter, Ashley C. Ford: four stars
- Weather Girl, Rachel Lynn Solomon: four stars
- Daughter of the Moon Goddess, Sue Lynn Tan: four stars
- Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: five stars
- The School for Good Mothers, Jessamine Chan: five stars
- The Yellow Wall-paper and Other Writings, Charlotte Perkins Gilman: four stars