NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

In this long novel covering 70 odd years and the lives of four generations of a Korean family in Japan, 1910 – 1969, Pachinko gives us an insight into the conditions and discrimination experienced by Korean refugees in Japan. We enter into the daily lives of the characters, their beliefs, aims, habits, relationships, and developments, from subsistence farming to affluence and modernity. The role of women is important. The language is simple and direct, in perfect keeping with the subject matter.

Pachinko is not only a book about the Koreans in Japan. It is a story universal in its message – a story about an immigrant’s life, lack of affiliation, and about building one’s life wisdom. It’s a novel that depicts the role of women in traditional society, the strength of tradition, and religion in Asian culture. It’s a novel about the merciless fate that – just like in a popular game, allows only a few to win, while the rest is doomed to lose. Life is Pachinko and human beings with their dreams, needs, and aspiration are like an inert ball, moving on the surface of the arcade game.

Pachinko is an epic story that explores the lives of generations of Koreans who emigrate to Japan during the early part of the 20th century. The book addresses universal themes of family, duty, and identity.

An intergenerational and epic saga told from different perspectives illuminates the plight of immigrants and shreds the rigid notion of families.