Pachinko
by Min Jin Lee
Summary
Sunja, the daughter of a boardinghouse keeper in Japanese occupied Korea, falls pregnant by a married yakuza and chooses instead to marry a gentle minister bound for Osaka, beginning a four generation saga of a Korean family enduring poverty, war, and relentless discrimination in Japan. Lee builds the family's fortunes around the pachinko parlors that offer one of the few businesses open to Koreans in Japan, turning the game into a metaphor for rigged odds and stubborn persistence. The novel became a bestseller and later an acclaimed television series.
Historical Context & Significance
The novel was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award for fiction, which went to Jesmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing. Lee spent nearly three decades developing the story from its first draft to publication.