Pachinko

By Min Jin Lee, 2017

Ugh, glad this one’s over. It started out good, but about half-way through, it became trash, full of all kinds of sex for no good reason, and pointless interactions, except to reinforce how racist the Japanese were (are?) towards the Koreans. This was our 3rd title for the Old Town Library Book Club. Historical fiction from 1910s to 1980s about a Korean family who start out in Korea but move to Japan and generation after generation face the destructive prejudice of the Japanese, but they are stuck. They survive and become quite wealthy because of Pachinko – a vertical pinball machine that is played in parlors.