Book 34 - History SURPRISE

Title: Pachinko Author: Min Jin Lee Genre: era-spanning historical fiction

"Lee is at her best describing complex behaviors and emotions with unadorned, down-to-earth language". 

Zimmerman's quote from this article succinctly captures the ease and fluidity with which Min Jin Lee shows us the lives of an expansive cast, whose intricately connected lives span early 20th-century Korea to Japan in the late 80s. The writing is simple and beautiful, and the narrative moves among the various POVs so effortlessly that as the reader you barely notice that you've stepped into someone else's head. 

What I really loved about this novel that I haven't noticed in other lifetime-spanning books is that the story jumps forward at unexpected times. We witness the characters just on the cusp of huge events, or moving in that direction at least - and then in the next scene, we've jumped forward in time and the characters (and us, the readers) are now dealing with the aftermath. If someone were to tell me about that aspect of the novel, I would probably just write it off as lazy writing - this scene is too tough to write so ima just flip on ahead - but that's not the case AT ALL. In fact, I'd argue that this privacy the author provides for her characters makes them and their stories that much more believable. They have their secrets, their troubles, their lives, and although we get a glimpse of all that, none of it is truly ours. It's an interesting choice to have characters look back on the immediate fallout of events instead of having the reader slog through heavy, emotional scenes, and somewhat serendipitously this stylistic choice reminds me of what I'm trying to do in my own writing: write for fun. Waaaat?? Seems easy, but alas it is NOT.

One Last Thing...

I learned a lot about this time in history without meaning to - I was fooled, I tell you, FOOLED! I wish all history was taught like this, through the eyes of those who [might have] lived through it, on all sides (instead of by the wieners - ahem, WINners). The author does such an incredible job of showing you the social issues through her cast's experiences, dialogue, and general place in the world.

LOVED IT. SIMPLY LOVED IT.

Rating: 🍬 🍬 🍬 🍬 🍬/5