Reading Guide: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Pachinko is a moving tale about four generations that starts off as a slow read, but quicks off in the latter chapters. The lengthy text captures the immigrant experience of a Korean family in pre-WWII, during and post-WWII Japan, and how they navigate their evolving identities across class, race and culture. It starts off on the sunny seashores of Yeongdo, Korea, where the reader is introduced to a teenage Sunja, the daughter of crippled boardinghouse owner and his wife, in the 1900s and her meet-cute with her first love, Hansu — a wealthy merchant from Osaka, Japan. The next few chapters take us on a journey of loss and betrayal, from a jaded romance and the loss of childhood innocence, and Sunja’s perceived redemption that ends in the slums of Osaka. Sunja’s fate becomes sealed to a foreign country as an expecting mother and wife a Presbyterian parish minister living in a one bedroom apartment with her in-laws. Sunja goes from a working class citizen in her country, content with the modest life her mother had sustained in their boardinghouse, to a second-class immigrant in Japan where she has no family and can neither speak the local language.

Min Jin Lee’s writing is sharp and straight-forward, even though it reads slow at several points in the book. She chronicles Sunja’s life as a daughter, to a teenage mother, then as a young widow and finally, a grandmother. It covers eighty decades of familial love, complex identities, poverty, death, discrimination and how the circumstances of one family changes forever when one member is introduced to a Pachinko parlour (i.e. a gaming machine) and what it means for their belonging in society.

Sunja’s two sons: Noa and Mozasu have six years between them and are very different, in terms of their values, desires and motivations. One is determined to change his status as a second-class citizen and sees his Korean-ness as a sign of backwardness which he wishes to shed off, thereby sympathising with his colonisers, while the other rejects the idea of organised education in a country where he realises at a very young age that he’ll never be accepted. This contrast is particularly important when they both take different life trajectories that ends in the same industry, on opposite sides of Japan.

This has definitely become one of my favourite books (and no, it’s not because it’s being made into a K-drama starring Lee Min-ho), and for this week’s reading guide, I decided to put together 17 questions that offer some insights on this enthralling read:

1. The opening line: “History has failed us, but no matter.” sets the tone for the rest of the book. What do the socio-cultural implications of the characters’ status as Korean immigrants in Japan tell us about colonial history? And how does this relate to the idea of a nation as an ‘imagined political community’?
2. Sunja is the long awaited child of her parents who devotes herself to her parents’ business from a young age. How does her social isolation play out in her encounter with Hansu? Do you think her socially-stunted background is responsible for the series of events that play out over the next few decades?
3. Isak takes on a wife who’s yet to love him and a child that’s not his. Was this an act of bravery and selflessness? How does his behaviour contrast with that of his brothers, Samoel and Yoseb?
4. The central female characters in the novel, Yangjin, Sunja and Kyunghee all experienced childbearing issues. How does this reflect in their attitudes and behaviours throughout the book? At what critical points do these attitudes come to fore and alter the family’s circumstances?
5. Sunja learns to love Isak. Is this genuine or out of a sense of duty and gratitude? How does this contrast with her love for Hansu at different points in the novel?
6. Noa’s paternal roots are called into question at different times during the book, what does this say about our preconceived notions of fatherhood?
7. The lives of the characters play out inter-spatially, cutting across class, race and gender, how does this shape the goals and ambitions of Noa and Mozasu when contrasted with Isak and Yoseb, or Sunja and Kyunghee?
8. Which character do you see yourself most in? What choices do they make that you would have done differently?
9. Which character do you like the least? Do they have any redeeming qualities?
10. The family is confined to two religions in Japan: Christianity and Japanese indigenous religion. What does this tell us about the colonial experience in East Asia, and how can this be juxtaposed with your country’s history?
11. Popular perceptions of Mozasu, and Hansu’s yakuza operations show different attitudes towards wealth in the same society, and how this is shaped by ethnicity. What does this say about the thin line between licit and illicit wealth, and how culture shapes perceptions and attitudes towards this?
12. Shame, survival and blood ties are common themes that play out over eight decades. At what critical point do these themes align or conflict in the book?
13. What does Min Jin Lee’s fixation on what it means to be a ‘good Korean’ vs ‘good Japanese’ tell us about the immigrant experience? If applicable, how does this tally with your own immigration experience? How should one balance being a good citizen of your country of origin with being a good immigrant in a country struggling to accept to you?
14. Three characters act as major love interests in the younger generations: Etsuko, Hana and Phoebe. Whose story resonated the most with you and why?
15. What do you think of Solomon and Kazu’s friendship? Do you think Solomon’s ethnicity was seen as a tool or threat to Kazu?
16. Akiko is a minor character that alters the lives of the family forever. Do you think her and Noa really loved each other?
17. If the story had been written solely from Hansu’s perspective, how would that have changed some of your responses above?

You can purchase Pachinko on Amazon or Waterstones, and I thought to leave you with a quote from the book, something for us all to think about:

“Sunja-ya, a woman’s life is endless work and suffering. There is suffering and then more suffering. It’s better to expect it, you know. You’re becoming a woman now, so you should be told this. For a woman, the man you marry will determine the quality of your life completely. A good man is a decent life, and a bad man is a cursed life — but no matter what, always expect suffering, and just keep working hard. No one will take care of a poor woman — just ourselves.”