Dropping in late. I was hoping this would be my first month that I’d participate but life got busy and, even though I read the book, I just started reading the thread yesterday. Agree with others although I think I liked it more than most. But agree about many of the comments including the suicide which just felt like it came out of nowhere and then the next chapter was set in the future. I had to go back and make sure my kindle hadn’t skipped over a section. What I liked most was learning about something I didn’t know–largely the relationship between the Koreans and the Japanese and how difficult it was for Koreans during that time in history.
I thought I read that The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley is the August book. If that’s correct, is there a July book or is this an every other month book club? (Can you tell I’m brand new?!)
@bookworm and @Mary13: one of my book clubs chose The Truth According to Us - Annie Barrows. The discussion is next week. Annie Barrows “co-authored” The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society with her aunt Mary Ann Shaffer.
Although I finished “Pachinko” a couple days after this discussion started, I just haven’t had time to read the posts and comment. I know the next selection has already been chosen, but I’ll add my 2 cents anyway …
I “liked” the book well enough, but didn’t “love” it. Parts of it dragged for me, while other parts, including some pretty major life events, were covered in a couple of paragraphs. Some parts of the plot were hard to follow/seemed disconnected.
When did Sunja realize Hansu was a mobster? When she met him in her home village he was a fish trader/merchant, right? And I always figured he wanted to support her and Noa because Noa was the son he never had with his wife. Continuing the male line is a big thing in most cultures.
Re: Solomon – Agree with others here that Kazu used him to get the woman to sell her property, and then had no further need for him. Kazu tried to give the impression he wasn’t prejudiced against Koreans, but he really was. I didn’t understand why, after being fired, Solomon then believed his only option was to enter the pachinko business.
Two years ago H and I did a 3 week trip to South Korea & Japan. (Our S is in the USAF and did a 1 year assignment in South Korea.) Before we left I was a little concerned about the potential language barrier, but we had no problems in either country. The Koreans love Americans. It does seem, though, that most Koreans have continued animosity toward the Japanese.
I’m fine with “The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley” as the next book selection. I bought the Kindle edition in April – maybe it was on sale? Also, as it turns out, “Pachinko” is the September pick for my RL Book Club. (We don’t meet during the summer.) I doubt I’ll re-read it, though.
We were staying at a resort in Florida for a wedding last weekend and when we were leaving was checking the drawers to make sure we left nothing behind and found one drawer was full of books including this one! Wish I’d checked the drawer when we arrived - would have been a good read on the beach.
When we listed what we’re reading now or have read recently, I forgot to mention a book I really enjoyed: The Woman Who Smashed Codes, by Jason Fagone. It’s nonfiction, about a couple – mainly about the wife, Elizebeth Smith Friedman – who were instrumental during WWII in breaking the codes that both the Japanese and the Germans were using. Fagone tells the story in a very interesting way, with lots of details about how she got into breaking codes in the first place as well as technical (but not overwhelming) details about the codes themselves. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
I was at a book festival this weekend and Min Jim Lee was one of the featured authors. She spoke at two sessions and the second was about Pachinko. I went to the session on Pachinko.
Before getting to the book, she spoke to the current situation in the US—specifically the current policy of separating and putting kids who illegally cross the border with their parents in “detention camps.” She thought it was evil and said she worried where our country was headed. She was very emotional and almost cried as she was speaking about this and explained that just before the start of the Korean War her father was sent away (from what became North Korea to the South) by his mother so he would be safe. He never saw his mother again—she didn’t give details. She collected herself and said she didn’t believe in the “pursuit of happiness”.
It was a 75 minute session including Q/A—here are are some of the things I learned about her life and how she came to write the book, which was what she discussed. There were probably 200+ people at the session.
-Min Jin Lee immigrated to the US with her parents when she was 7 (she is now 50) and settled in Queens (Elmhurst). She spent lots of time in libraries as a child because she was very shy. She loved American classics.
-It took her 20 years to write Pachinko—she wrote it, abandoned it, and then went back to it.
-she didn’t believe it would sell and was surprised to get an agent.
-She is a Yale graduate with a Georgetown law degree. She worked in big law and hated it—quit her lawyer job (her husband was employed) and started to write her first novel. (Pachinko is her second novel).
-She is a self-taught writer. Didn’t do an MFA but went to lots of writer’s workshops and worked with writers in NY (before they were famous, e.g., Jhumpa Lahiri).
-She spent time interviewing Koreans living in Japan and learning about their situations, especially those involved in pachinko parlors. She did this while living in Japan in for 4 years.
-Her husband is part Japanese (a banker) and they moved to Japan because her husband’s job took them there (he didn’t turn down the assignment because he was compensated extremely well and they needed money to help a family member).
-She read a passage from the book where Mozasu takes his son Solomon to get his “dog tags”. Her reading was very moving.
-She received a standing ovation when she finished.
Overall, I thought Min Jin Lee was warm, witty, and well spoken. I bought her first book and a copy of Pachinko for a friend who was with me. We chatted when she signed the books and it turned out my friend grew up in the same place in NY where MJL now lives! Glad I went to see her—she and Louise Penny were the best presenters at this festival.
@Bromfield2, thank you for the full report! Very interesting. It makes me like the book more, even if that’s not logical. (Maybe that’s one reason authors go on book tours.)
Here’s my “what are the odds” story of the day: My husband and I were out of town this weekend visiting an old friend we hadn’t seen in years. He gave us a tour of his home, and lo and behold, leaning against a table in his basement workshop was an old pachinko machine! I exclaimed, and he asked, “You know pachinko?” Do I know pachinko?! Well, not really, but I feel like I do. Anyway, the machine was from the 1940s (bought at auction) and looked pretty much like a giant-size version of those little games with the silver balls that used to be prizes in boxes of Cracker Jack. Fun to see one close up.
@Bromfield2 thanks for much for that excellent description of Min Lee’s presentation. I’ve watched so many of her interviews, and she is most engaging, serious, but has a sense of humor, too.
Your description of Min Lee’s emotional discussion about the current t state of “immigration” affairs struck a nerve with me. I wondered what she would think about all of this as I read the book. I didn’t want to interject any “political” vibe into the discussion, but it was so hard not to, given the premise and theme of the book, and Min Lee’s personal life as an immigrant. She is a proud American, and very grateful to the many kind people who helped her along the way. Today’s political climate is so contentious, and heartbreaking.
I just spent yesterday at the American Revolution Museum in Philadelphia- reflecting on how we got to where we are today. Not sure the founding father’s would approve.
On a lighter note @Mary13 what an amazing, astounding, incredible coincidence that you would be in the same room with a pachinko machine just days after reading this book! What does it mean???!! B-)
And, Mary13 you so know pachinko !
