Pachinko
I love a good epic family saga. Especially one that deals with an area of the world or a part of history that I'm not all the familiar with. By watching a large cast of characters interact with and be affected by real historical events, I gain a better understanding of those events. I also have an easier time remembering all the people and dates when I have an emotional story to hang them on. Pachinko tells the story of a family of Korean immigrants to Japan. The story begins when teenaged Sunja finds herself pregnant by a married man. In order to save face, she marries a minister who is passing through town on his way to Japan, where his brother lives. The book follows the ups and downs of this family of immigrants who do what they can to survive and even thrive in a country that doesn't want them when they have no home to go back to, Before reading this book I had only a passing familiarity with the animosity between Koreans and Japanese. This book helps lay out all the ...