This month’s selected text for the book club I am involved with is Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. My dear friend, Jheri, recommended this book for us to read this time around, and I was quite inspired by Jheri’s reasoning; she explained to our group that while we have covered some historical fiction, we haven’t read much historical fiction narrated by someone other than a caucasian individual. It was a positively valid point, and so we agreed to read Pachinko, a historical fiction novel that tells an incredibly moving story about hardship, cultural differences, tragedy and family.
Pachinko is Lee’s second text, which is incredible considering how well she writes, and it begins by following a young girl named Sunja living in Korea. Sunja assists her mother with the work associated with owning a lodging house for local fishermen, and when she meets an interesting, older man in her hometown, she quickly falls in love with him and becomes pregnant. Unbeknownst to her, the man is highly powerful and wealthy, and also married with three children. He vows to care for Sunja and their child, but Sunja is so appalled by his secrets that she prevents herself from seeing him again.
Sunja finds herself in a precarious situation, only to be offered marriage by an incredibly kind man whom Sunja and her mother nursed back to health from tuberculosis. He is a minister and believes in marrying Sunja and providing for her and the child, so that he can repay his debt to the women for saving his life. The young woman accepts his gracious offer, having absolutely no comprehension of what could stem from this interaction in the future.
I have learned a tremendous amount of knowledge about Korea and Japan in reading this text, and in addition to it being highly educational, it’s also an incredible tale about the power of love and family. It is definitely a read and not a rid.
ontheedgeofeverything 