Finished this morning!
I’m listening to it again, since I finished it earlier in the month & listened to another book afterwards. Looking forward to the discussion!
Finished last night. Read it at one stretch, no notes and rereading isn’t possible - my memory will have to suffice for the discussion! The library won’t let me renew as there are too many people waiting for the book.
^^^You read 500 pages in one stretch? It took me about a week to read it all.
So several of us won’t have the book in front of us when we discuss it. I was looking at my notes last night and am very thankful I made them! It took me a minute to recognize the names. Since they are Asian names and not easy for me, it’s a darn good thing I wrote them down.
My D borrowed it months ago and needs to return it so I can review the details.
Received the book on Mother’s Day and just finished.
Me too, just finished
Got about half way and ground to a halt. When I picked it back up I had to reread several chapters to remember who was who. This isn’t my norm, I love historical fiction and family sagas. Hoping I won’t have to reread too much this weekend.
No spoilers, but is there a surprise ending so that those of us who are still reading will not be able to be in the discussion?
Nope, not in my opinion, although if you’ve only read half there will be characters that are introduced in the second half. It’s definitely a saga.
Yes, I think there are some conclusions to some of the characters’ story lines in the second half of the book which you may or may not care about knowing ahead of time.
I think there’s a very important development that I found quite shocking.
I agree about the ending. So, dragonmom, hurry up and finish.
Somebody pm me and tell me what you saw as the surprise ending because I just didn’t see one. :-?? There’s stuff that happens along the way but I didn’t feel there was a surprise ending or development.
It’s June 1st! Welcome to our discussion of Pachinko. For those who find them helpful, here are the discussion questions (which can also be found at the end of the book):
One of the reasons I was in favor of choosing this book is that I thought I might learn something, and boy did I. I knew nothing about the animosity between the Japanese and the Koreans. Nothing. So that was eye-opening from a historical perspective. In terms of its strengths as a novel though, I was more enamored of the book at the beginning than I was by the end. I think I began to weary of the relentless suffering. So many deaths, so many unhappy marriages, so much pain – and whenever a tiny bit of joy was found, it was snatched away (Yumi and Isak’s untimely deaths). Also, I liked the characters less as the novel proceeded. Hana, for example. Not a fan. I pitied her, but could not warm to her in any way.
To begin at the end:
Mozasu said it best: “Man, life’s going to keep pushing you around, but you have to keep playing” (p. 378).
I think that’s one of the themes of the novel.
Weirdly, even after nearly 500 pages I learned very little about the game pachinko itself, despite the fact that it’s the title, as well as the occupation of some major characters.
So interested to hear all your thoughts!
(Also, just a personal P.S.: I started a new full-time job in May, which keeps me away from the recreational internet during working hours. So my posts may show up at off-peak times. Carry on!)
I listened to Pachinko 2x. The narrator was very good, IMO. I thought her cadence gave the book a slight fairy tale feel.
I was ignorant of the second class citizen status of Koreans living (& born in) Japan.
My father traveled East Asia for business in the 70s, and on one trip, he brought home a Pachinko machine! So, I have played. It’s upright pinball, essentially. I don’t remember much about “winning”.
I was definitely struck by the suffering of the women in the book. They had to work very hard, especially when poor and without modern conveniences. Yangjin, on her death bed, noted she had lost the compulsion to work. The only time in her entire life! It was finally time for her to relax and die.
The part where Phoebe is in the kitchen talking to Sunja & Kyunghee, and says her mother doesn’t cook! And Sunja & Kyunghee wonder what in the world will Soloman & their children eat! Reminded me of my MIL, who also grew up poor in a rural part of another country and saw her role in life very similar to Sunja, Kyunghee, and Yungjin.
They are part of a generation that worked and served and cared for others in their family. It’s really hard for me to wrap my head around how hard the women’s lives were, and how little autonomy they had.
One more thing and I’ve got to go. I was shocked and so so so sad to hear Yungjin (on her death bed) rip into her daughter Sunja and pour such criticism on her. I was Team Sunja all the way, and it hurt to have her own mother say those things.
Lastly, Noa’s death took me completely by surprise. I must have exclaimed like the characters on the audiobook! Whaaaa? Hansu had warned Sunja to stay in the car. He thought it a bad idea for her to jump out and speak to Noa. I don’t “get” the cultural shame, etc.
Completely shocking.
Great book selection! I’ll check in later to hear what others thought!
I feel the same way about the book as @Mary13 . I really liked the first 80% of the book. It went downhill after Noa died.
Pachinko is a good name for the book. I didn’t know it was a pinball game until I looked it up back when we were first considering the book. Like a pinball game they move forward, get bumped around and then go down again. Even when they find wealth, they don’t find happiness. The game, their life, is set up for them to lose.
Congratulations on the new job, Mary. I hope it’s something both personally and financially rewarding!
I also didn’t care for the end of the novel. I felt the first two thirds or so was very well crafted and the characters well developed. The author showed us their secret thoughts, their motivations, how they felt. I could identify with them and I also learned a lot about Korean-Japanese relations. In the last third of the book, however, I felt as if the characters were introduced too quickly, and I didn’t understand at all what made them tick. For example, the girl (Hana? I had trouble with the Asian names) who was promiscuous and died of AIDS – but I have no idea why she was the way she was.
It’s possible that the author was trying to show us how the Korean culture transformed over the century. It was an interesting contrast to have Solomon dating the American girl of Korean heritage who couldn’t adapt to living in Japan. She was so different from the other Korean women in the book.
I thought the modern characters continued the themes of being an outsider, predjudice & bias, bad blood, your destiny determined by the sins of your parents/family, etc.