Pachinko was an absolute emotional rollercoaster as we began in a fishing village in Korea and were whisked away to Japan. The biggest focus of this book was the discrimination that Koreans face and faced in Japan, with them facing discrimination even once they were born there. This book highlighted so well, how in every society we 'other' people and brand them as "criminals or yakuzas" in the case of Koreans, and "dirty", "poor", "ill-bred", "ill-educated". To name but a few terms. This book broke my heart because it is all based on truth of what Koreans faced in Japan before WWII, during WWII and after.

However, this book is not just about the discrimination that Koreans faced. It is about a family that starts with the daughter Sunja of a couple in Korea and how the trajectory of her life and her decisions have impacted on her children and grand-children. We follow her journey to Japan with her new husband and the trials and tribulations they face their as she moves in with her brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Then she has her two sons, and we begin to follow their stories. Still always coming back to Sunja and her involvement in their lives. This story revolved around family and the support, heartbreak and problems that can happen within families.

Min Jin Lee crafted such strong characters, and although at times she did drop people out of the limelight who we thought you would learn more about. She did a fantastic job weaving the different storylines together for these characters and making me grow attached to them. I would not say I necessarily liked them all, but I did not believe that to be the point. Min Jin Lee wanted you to empathise and to feel what this family went through and how families can splinter, change and grow.

I was utterly drawn in with this book which surprised me as I thought it would be a little dry at times considering the length and the topic. However, I really enjoyed this one and finished it in only a few sittings. At times I could not put the book down and could not stop thinking about it. So it was really worth the read!

NB/ for those that do not know what Pachinko is, Pachinko is a gambling machine that has pins in. It was a machine commonly associated with criminals and Koreans in Japan because it was not seen to be a respectful profession.