A well-done multi-generational family saga is always entertaining, particularly when it takes place in interesting times and locations. This novel fits those criteria. Min Jin Lee follows a Korean family in Japan for three generations. She not only tells an ever-fascinating human story but also highlights the immigrant experience, applicable to any people who are discriminated against and looked down upon because of their "otherness."
The story begins in Korea, where a genial man and his wife eke out their living running a boarding house. Their beloved daughter Sonja marries a missionary who is on his way to pastor a church in Japan, even though he knows she is pregnant by another man. That child, the son of a Korean gangster, and her second son, the child of the preacher, face the plight of children born and raised in a country not their own, not ever having known their country of origin. They don't quite fit in either place.
One son finds a path by running pachinko parlors, an occupation deemed acceptable for a Korean in Japan. (Pachinko is a kind of combination of pinball and a slot machine which is still popular in Japan.) The other passes himself off as Japanese, always being afraid of being found out.
This is a very satisfying read. Lee's prose is unadorned and straight forward, without flourishes, yet perfect for a plot-driven story. Her characters face hardships on many levels, exacerbated by being strangers in a strange land. Pachinko was a finalist for the National Book Award. I recommend it as entertaining, informative, and instructive..
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