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The Best Korean Literary Fiction
I review Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
I haven’t done much this week because I’m reading a book that is HARD TO PUT DOWN. It does exactly what literary fiction is supposed to do and that’s why I am going to tell you why Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is hands-down one of the finest reads of this decade.
#1 IT TAKES YOU TO ANOTHER TIME:
The book is a saga touching the lives of three generations of a Korean family as they drudge through during the pre and post World War II scenarios. The dingy little houses where they live, the family’s public bath trip each night after dinner, crunchy Kimchi that the protagonist Sunja, sells with her sister-in-law, the lure of a Pachinko parlour — they are such sensory treats. The author paints a whole new world right in front of your eyes.
#IT ADDS TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE:
How many of us knew the pathetic condition of the Korean populace when Korea was colonized by Japan in the early 1900s? It ended with the World War II, specifically the Atomic Bombs.
The book tells us, through its interesting range of characters, how Koreans were forced to migrate to Japan and then made to serve in the worst of conditions. It’s an eye-opener on many fronts.
