Pachinko by Min Jin Lee: book review

Pachinko (2004, English translation 2017) is set in a poor fishing village in Korea from 1910 to 1989.

Twenty-seven-year-old Hoonie is cleft-lipped and club-footed when he has an arranged marriage to fifteen-year-old Yangjin. They have a daughter Sunja. She is thirteen when her father dies, and her mother takes in boarders. This is the story of Sunja in Japan, when in 1933 a Japanese boarder, a Christian minister named Isak, marries Sunja and takes her to Osaka.

Their sons, Noa and Mozasu, resume the tale from 1939 to 1962, and during the 1944 bombing of Osaka. The boys want to leave farm life: Noa wants to be educated, and Mozasu wants to be a businessman. Mozasu eventually works as a foreman at six pachinko (arcade game) parlors at the age of 20, and is promoted to manager.

From 1962-1989 the boys marry and the tale continues. Time passes quickly: ‘The marriage was a stable one and eight years passed quickly. The couple did not quarrel.’ This summarizes the excitement readers can expect.

This is a generational story – a long, long, long generational story. Far too long. The themes of love and loss, courage and despair, generosity and bigotry, and family relationships are well explored, but the book is in need of an edit. It is neither well written, nor riveting, nor suspenseful, although some parts are interesting – readers just need to persevere to find the gems in the story.

In the acknowledgments, the author states that after graduation she was pondering her future: ‘I sought distractions.’ So this novel is a distraction. And it reads like a distraction, rather than a passion, a labour of love, or a need to impart a message. Moreover, she states, ‘I have had this story with me for almost thirty years’ yet she has not found time to edit it. This is a tragedy. Despite being a bestseller, it could have been a well-written bestseller, but it isn’t. It is not easy to connect with the characters – time passes, so do their lives, and all of the years are said and done in a sentence, yet there are far too many sentences.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

2016 update on Rike Park, Tbilisi: from construction to busy park

From a flat patch of uninteresting dirt, Rike Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, has transformed in four years (from 2014-2016) into a busy park full of trees, flower beds, sculptures, fountains, and events. Rike (Rikhe) Park is on the left bank of the Mt’k’vari River (the Kura River) near the Old City of Tbilisi. The Peace Bridge links the right bank to Rike Park. Rike Park is below the hillside Presidential Palace and, via cable car, it is the starting point for the ride to Sololaki Ridge (with the Narikala Fortress and the Mother of Georgia statue). The glass box-shaped cable car terminus was opened on 23 June 2012, and since then the park has continually developed into a ‘people’s park’ where people can walk around, eat at the nearby restaurants, sit next to the statue of American president Ronald Reagan, climb the steps to Avlabari district, and access the sights of Meidan Square, the Peace Bridge, the Metekhi Church, the Old City, the waterfall, the sulphur baths, and t...

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog