Janet G

“If life allowed revisions, she would let them stay in their bath a little longer, read them one more story before bed, and fix them another plate of shrimp.”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

“They were treading on uneven ground with an invisible boundary between them. Both were defined by their culture. Amisha had no choice but to bow to the conventions of her society. The few rules that she defied, she did so hoping there would be no cost. “I would want someone who believed in me,” Amisha finally answered. “That’s it?” he asked, amazed. “That would be more than I could ever hope for. It is what I would want for my daughter if I ever have one.” “A daughter, hmm?” Stephen smiled. “But as things are,” Amisha said, hesitating, “I don’t know if here would be the right place for her.” Stephen seemed shocked. “You would not want her in India?” “If India became a place where she could choose her path, then yes, I would want her here. It would be her home. We . . .” She paused, thinking of Deepak. “We would be her family.” Amisha considered her world as it was now. The choices that didn’t exist. “But I would want her to have more than I have.” “More?” Stephen asked, encouraging her to continue.”
― Sejal Badani, The Storyteller's Secret

“That’s what relationships are about, right? Seeing the good first and then slowly piecing in the bad until the full picture reveals itself.”
― Sejal Badani, The Storyteller's Secret

“Why did her family think pachinko was so terrible? Her father, a traveling salesman, had sold expensive life insurance policies to isolated housewives who couldn’t afford them, and Mozasu created spaces where grown men and women could play pinball for money. Both men had made money from chance and fear and loneliness. Every morning, Mozasu and his men tinkered with the machines to fix the outcomes—there could only be a few winners and a lot of losers. And yet we played on, because we had hope that we might be the lucky ones. How could you get angry at the ones who wanted to be in the game? Etsuko had failed in this important way—she had not taught her children to hope, to believe in the perhaps-absurd possibility that they might win. Pachinko was a foolish game, but life was not.”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko