Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Title: Pachinko
Author: Min Jin Lee
Publication: February 7th, 2017
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Read: January 9th, 2017
Summary:
A new tour de force from the bestselling author of Free Food for Millionaires, for readers of The Kite Runner and Cutting for Stone. Pachinko follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens to shame them all. Deserted by her lover, Sunja is saved when a young tubercular minister offers to marry and bring her to Japan. So begins a sweeping saga of an exceptional family in exile from its homeland and caught in the indifferent arc of history. Through desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs, its members are bound together by deep roots as they face enduring questions of faith, family, and identity.
My Review:
Lou's mind stars: ✭✭✭✭✭
The first book I read this year and definitely one going into my list of favorite books.
I usually don't read much books which mix history events with fiction because they are often too loaded on the history part, which tend to bore me but I was pleasantly surprised by Pachinko. It is a family saga which follows a Korean family through the years, starting from 1910 when Japan anexed Korea to contemporary years. We get to have a glimpse how things were to the Koreans people during all these tough years and their feeling about the separation of what we know now as the two Koreas. The characters are very well portrayed and the story is well documented without being too historical.
I will definitely check more of Min Jin Lee's books in the future.
*book received from the author via Netgalley for an honest review*
