Pachinko

This had been recommended by so many of you, so I had it sitting in my TBR pile forever! I decided to take it with me to Cape Cod and I am so glad I did. While it took me a while to get into (to be honest, the first parts dragged for me a bit as there were so many characters, I had a hard time keeping them straight. But by page 200 (it’s a long book!) I was INVESTED and could not put it down. The book begins in Korea, following a poor (but hard working and respectable) family starting in the 1930’s through 1989. The plot really begins when Sunja (the only daughter of a crippled man and his wife) accidentally gets pregnant. She is disgraced as her wealthy lover already has a family that she didn’t know about, and can’t marry her. A handsome pastor offers to marry her and bring her to Japan, saving her dignity and giving her a new life. The book then follows their children, and then their grandchildren. It is fascinating. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know about the anti-Korean racism in Japan. I enjoyed this book immensely and also learned a lot from it. Order on Bookshop.org or Amazon.