A New York Times Top Ten Book of the Year and National Book Award finalist, Pachinko is an “extraordinary epic” of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family fighting to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan (San Francisco Chronicle).

In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant–and that her lover has a secret–she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and reject her son’s powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations.

Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan’s finest universities to the pachinko parlours of the criminal underworld, Lee’s complex and passionate characters survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history.

Pachinko’s synopsis

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️❤️

I loved this book! The main character manages to be both innocent and strong.

We will follow the story of this family over the decades and see their decisions regarding career, family, love life and more over the years. I found it so real and at the same time it taught me so much about Japan and Korea that I became more interested in Asian culture.

I recommend reading for people who enjoy dramas and training novels (which follows a character over decades). Also readers who want to know other cultures will learn a lot!

Interested about the book? Buy it here.