Pachinko
Written by Min Jin Lee
Narrated by Allison Hiroto
4.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Yeongdo, Korea - 1911. In a small fishing village on the banks of the East Sea, a club-footed, cleft-lipped man marries a fifteen-year-old girl. The couple have one child: their beloved daughter Sunja. When Sunja falls pregnant by a married yakuza, the family face ruin. But then, Isak, a Christian minister, offers her a chance of salvation: a new life in Japan as his wife. Following a man she barely knows to a hostile country in which she has no friends, no home, and whose language she cannot speak, Sunja's salvation is just the beginning of her story.
Min Jin Lee
MIN JIN LEE is the author of the novels Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko, a finalist for the National Book Award and runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Lee is the recipient of the 2022 Manhae Grand Prize for Literature from South Korea and of fellowships in fiction from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is a writer-in-residence at Amherst College and serves as a trustee of PEN America and a director of the Authors Guild. She is at work on her third novel, American Hagwon, and a nonfiction work, Name Recognition.
Related to Pachinko
Literary Fiction For You
All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Measure: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tom Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunger Games Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yellowface: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Covenant of Water Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beneath a Scarlet Sky: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kindred Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Pachinko
657 ratings37 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The story of four generations in a family. The struggles, triumphs, the love of a mother, the suffering of women.
Through this story I've learned alot about the Japanese-Korea(s) history and culture.
Beautifully written but left me wondering what next? Does this continue? But then again it reminds me that need not end. - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5A good topic addressed by putting down plain characters with zero chemistry to follow between people.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Must read for people who is interested in history between Japan and Korea.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pachinko
What a beautiful story. Only with this story I now understand how much korean suffered during the war and forced to live away from home.
It is sad to live as a forever foreigners and 2nd class citizen in another country, not to mentioned being discriminated and distrusted your entire life.
I wonder if the situation got better with the newer generation.
I saw the series on Netflix too and sadly the series only filmed 10% of the story and absolutely left out all events after war.
I strongly recommend this book, beautiful written with details of the background and korean culture. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book broke my heart but what a true depiction of what life is isn't it wild that we go round and round in life thinking that we have more pain than others and that we are better people yet at the end of it all we are all the same we need to learn to forgive we need to learn to be happy with what we've got and we need to learn to be kind to each other.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The book is amazing, I also loved The narrator. If I haven't read My Brilliant Friend this would be The best book I read this year
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Having started this after hearing an overly enthusiastic review by a fellow book club member, I ended up being a tiny bit disappointed at the end. I was expecting a more epic story, but I still enjoyed the rather journalistic style of the author.
What I liked best was finding out about the history of Koreans living in Japan following their war and world war 2. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved every second of it and even my mother got the book and read it. so impressive!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Unfortunately unlistenable due to very strange narration. The voice actress sounds like a robot. Her inflections are unnatural and it's really taking away from the story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5At first it seems slow, really long, and I was absolutely about to quit it, but I'm glad I decided to give it a chance.
The story is gorgeous.
I recommend this If you're into Korean and Japan history - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Such a beautiful book and so well researched and written. Absolutely loved if
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Interesting book about 4 generations of Koreans, trying to find "their way" in Japan.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A beautifully narrated transgenerational story, with a strong woman at its heart ♥️
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hacia mucho que no leía un libro que me gustara tanto. Es simplemente hermoso.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Oh my God! What a delight it was to listen to this book via scribd. I loved it so much. Some people know how to tell a story and Min Jin Lee is one of the best story tellers. I would recommend this book to anyone! I learned so much.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is amazing. I didn't think that they were suffering until I read this book. I expect japan to change. Nevertheless, I believe that there are many good people in the world.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Really great book! Min Jin Lee is a spectacular writer ❤️❤️?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the best books i’ve reD (listen). Full of plot twist and there are soo many things you can learn from this book. Racism, love, youth, conflict and so on.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The book ebbs and flows through the world war via the eyes of a Korean family. It's tragic. It's sad. And yet still exhilarating and beautiful.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I rarely read novels but this one deeply touched me greatly. Magnificent book!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A must-read book. Absolutely beautiful story of a korean family and how Pachinko parlors changed them forever.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Engaging story, delightful narration, accompanied my long weekend very well
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Really disappointed, the book was building up all of these interesting characters and for nothing. It's a really long book that could have been edited down especially since the last third of the book is really rambling and pountless. The ending is a bit of an anticlimactic flop.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The book highlights the struggles of 5 generations of Koreans within the backdrop of the war, sociopolitical challenges of the times
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really enjoyed this book. The deep historical context opened up a world previously unknown. Great descriptions of both people and place.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very moving book about a family from the 1930s to 1990
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I like this audibook. The narrative and the story were very interesting. It made me think and appretiate what I have more.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lee shows us a side of the relationship between Korea and Japan that was not very clear to me before.
The family dynamics are severely influenced by the politics of their circumstances.
I found many of the characters captivating and some of them really sad. The saddest for me was Noa. I thought what happens with Noa was a brilliant move on her part to make the story closer to real life.
The different characters were totally relatable for me and diverse, within a family, like it happens with most families and most people.
I can only recommend this book. It is a great read.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Such a wonderful layered book. I loved it. Charting many generations of a family and their joys and tribulations in Korea and Japan. Perfect
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was amazingly interesting. It starts in South Korea during the Japanese domination and tells the story of this family, generation through generation, until the '90s. The characters and their surroundings are neatly described and you learn so much about the Korean and Japanese cultures and their history through them. Highly recommend!
1 person found this helpful