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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 28, 2026
Pachinko is an ambitious and deeply human family saga that spans generations, countries, wars, discrimination, migration, and the complicated question of what it means to belong somewhere. Min Jin Lee’s greatest strength is her ability to place ordinary people inside enormous historical circumstances and show how history is experienced not through political speeches, but through work, poverty, family, shame, love, and the constant struggle to preserve one’s dignity.
Sunja remains the emotional centre of the novel, and her story is particularly powerful because Lee does not turn her into a conventional heroine. Her strength is quieter: endurance, responsibility, sacrifice, and an almost stubborn commitment to her family. The novel is at its best when it explores this kind of ordinary courage.
I also loved the central metaphor of pachinko itself. The idea that life is partly determined by circumstances we never chose, while we still have to keep playing, gives the entire novel a surprisingly coherent philosophical foundation.
However, the novel is not without its weaknesses. Its greatest strength — its enormous scope — is also its greatest limitation. With so many characters and several generations to cover, some characters feel considerably more developed than others. At times, the narrative moves so quickly from one life to another that certain emotional moments do not receive the psychological depth they deserve.
I also found some of the social and historical commentary somewhat too explicit. There are moments when Lee seems to explain the meaning of an event or character rather than allowing the reader to discover it independently. The novel occasionally feels as though it wants to make sure we understand its message, even when the story itself is already powerful enough to communicate it.
The pacing can be uneven as well. Some sections are beautifully immersive, while others feel more functional, almost as though they exist primarily to move the family history forward. Because of this, I sometimes felt that Pachinko was stronger as a portrait of a community and a family across time than as a consistently intimate psychological novel.
Still, these shortcomings do not diminish what Lee achieves. This is a novel about people who cannot choose the history into which they are born, but who must decide what kind of people they will become within it.
A moving, thoughtful, occasionally uneven novel — but one whose central question stayed with me long after I finished it: how much of our lives belongs to us, and how much do we inherit from those who came before us?
Sunja remains the emotional centre of the novel, and her story is particularly powerful because Lee does not turn her into a conventional heroine. Her strength is quieter: endurance, responsibility, sacrifice, and an almost stubborn commitment to her family. The novel is at its best when it explores this kind of ordinary courage.
I also loved the central metaphor of pachinko itself. The idea that life is partly determined by circumstances we never chose, while we still have to keep playing, gives the entire novel a surprisingly coherent philosophical foundation.
However, the novel is not without its weaknesses. Its greatest strength — its enormous scope — is also its greatest limitation. With so many characters and several generations to cover, some characters feel considerably more developed than others. At times, the narrative moves so quickly from one life to another that certain emotional moments do not receive the psychological depth they deserve.
I also found some of the social and historical commentary somewhat too explicit. There are moments when Lee seems to explain the meaning of an event or character rather than allowing the reader to discover it independently. The novel occasionally feels as though it wants to make sure we understand its message, even when the story itself is already powerful enough to communicate it.
The pacing can be uneven as well. Some sections are beautifully immersive, while others feel more functional, almost as though they exist primarily to move the family history forward. Because of this, I sometimes felt that Pachinko was stronger as a portrait of a community and a family across time than as a consistently intimate psychological novel.
Still, these shortcomings do not diminish what Lee achieves. This is a novel about people who cannot choose the history into which they are born, but who must decide what kind of people they will become within it.
A moving, thoughtful, occasionally uneven novel — but one whose central question stayed with me long after I finished it: how much of our lives belongs to us, and how much do we inherit from those who came before us?
October 17, 2026
pačinko me podseća da najviše volim romane koji govore o običnim ljudima i njihovim borbama, patnjama i pobedama kroz decenije
Did Not Finish
October 22, 2026Razočarenje.
October 29, 2026
Rekoh sebi posle Parazita da sam završila s Južnokorejcima, uzeh da čitam Pačinko i naravno DNF. Upropašćena predivno gradjena priča 100 strana pred kraj.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews