Pachinko, by Lee Min-jin was July’s pick for our book club – a historical fiction saga following a Korean family from the early 1900’s up until the 1980’s.
The biggest take away for me here was Min-jin’s opening line
History has failed us, but no matter.
Reading the book through a lens of an every day person is very different than reading a history book and only learning about the aftermath told by the victors. It highlights many of the struggles “the people” went through because of the political struggles between Korea and Japan at the time and how decisions being made by their government directly affected them, whether “the people” were up to date on their politics or not.
Overall, the book was enjoyed by everyone (from a…learning perspective) though the book itself seems to have an overall tone of…sadness…with some hope (at least I’d argue when thinking about what I consider the overall thesis to be).