by Nancy,
As we have two months to read Pachinko let’s finish this first part at Book 2, Chapter 9 - Osaka 1949.
Pachinko is: the multi million dollar pinball gambling industry dominated by Korean Japanese, an immigrant community that has been unwelcome and ill treated for generations.
The name of the book seems a metaphor representing the life of Sunja and her family. Life is a gamble sometimes you win-sometimes you lose.
Spanning nearly 100 years and moving from Korea at the start of the 20th century to pre and post war Osaka and finally Tokyo and Yokohama the novel highlights the struggle of the Korean people in Japan.
Some questions for us to think about while we read this first part:
Early on Sunja is made to feel shame for her pregnancy. How does the idea of shame persist throughout the novel both in a sense of morals and identity?
Who seems the better father, Hansu or Isak?
The better provider, the better man?
The definition of home is another theme to Pachinko, Ms Lee prefaces the novel with a Charles Dickens quote.
“Home is a name, is a word, it is a strong one, stronger than magical ever spoke or spirit answered to, in strongest conjuration.”
Is this applicable to the novel?
How does the concept of home and belonging evolve throughout the story?
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteI hope you are all fully recovered from COVID, and back to being healthy again. We have all had our booster shots here but cases seem to be everywhere in the valley so I feel it is only a matter of time before we contract it.
We’ve had some really hot and humid weather over the last few days but today is rainy and cool so I’m really appreciating it. I must be getting old, complaining about the heat haha.
I would love to read more crime novels, they are such fun and different.
Do you have any suggestions?
I’m open to anything, haha.
We have some good Australian crime writers, do you have any suggestions for American writers?
So far I’m really enjoying Pachinko and I’m glad we’ve broken it up into two parts. It’s so long and I’ve had to re borrow it from the Library too!
The sense of shame Sunja is made to feel about her pregnancy really is such a common worldwide thing. This idea of pure and impure, soiled goods is so universal and so wrong. It makes me think back to Breath, Eyes, Memory and the abuse perpetrated to ensure virginity in Haitian culture.
Sunja, herself believes in these stereotypes and sees herself as lucky to find someone who’ll marry her and spends her life [so far], feeling grateful and also accepting of the shame and prejudice she has supposedly caused herself and her family. She feels she must atone and be above reproach and constantly proving herself worthy. There is so much wrong with this and it runs so deep at a societal, gender and culture level I am at a loss to feel this will ever be change.
Who was the best father? I realise now this is a stupid question to ask but I feel it might be a little better to ask, within the context of the story and the historical time it is set who appears to show the most honourable parental qualities?
So within context, the ability to provide for your family, which seems of utmost importance in Korean families of this time I would have to say Hansu [so far], maybe that will change as the story progresses. Isak seems the most loving father, spending time teachings son’s, but is willing to be imprisoned for his beliefs knowing he is going to leave them destitute. So…..so far they’re both a bit dodgy. Hansu may not be the most honourable of men, but can provide for his family and may turn out to be ok.
Family life and home seems to be an integral part of life for the characters in our novel. Sunja’s good memories of a loving family and home in Busan and the home she creates in Osaka with Isak family seems to reflect this.
I feel the Dickens quote is very applicable to our novel as home and family and its importance are central themes.
I’m looking forward to the next part of our story and how everything turns out.
Love Nancy
HI Nancy,
ReplyDeleteHope you and the family are well. We are significantly better post-Covid. We’ve had a wide range of weather here. Just this past weekend we had a warm spring day on Saturday and snow on Sunday. Very crazy. I went through a crime novel kick while in college. I was a huge fan of James Grippando back in the day. But I am open to reading whatever you suggest!
I finished Pachinko. I had no idea it was a game. Maybe because I’m not much of a gambler? I don’t know but I see how Ms. Lee uses the name as a metaphor. Another thing I learned from this novel was how significantly the Japanese discriminated against Korean immigrants. I was honestly so surprised. I knew that most of the Asian cultures don’t particularly like the other Asian cultures but I didn’t realize the severity of it. It really made me feel worse for Sunja and her family.
Certainly the theme of shame for women isn’t new both in literature and history. I am not a huge feminist but it does bother me that men are allowed to “sew their wild oats” whereas women are not “allowed” the same type of freedom. When a man has sex outside of wedlock, it is no big deal but women have been stoned for such things. I think Sunja valued herself admirably. She could have taken a cushy life as a mistress but she knew her worth. She valued herself and wouldn’t become just another whore that Hansu could use and dump.
Isak was a very noble character but I wish, like Yoseb, that he had given up his morals to escape jail. I felt that he was an excellent father. Since Hansu had wanted Sunja to be his mistress in Korea, Hansu would have been more like a guest to Noa rather than a father. He intended to continue working in Japan and visiting Korea periodically for business so he wouldn’t have been a full time father figure. To me, that makes Isak the better father. There is more to parenting than monetary contributions. And even though Sunja and Isak married because of Noa, I really felt that the two of them deeply loved each other. Sunja’s fling with Hansu was a teenager’s crush; an infatuation that unfortunately resulted in pregnancy. What she and Isak had was more love, respect and kindness.
I look forward to discussing the rest of Pachinko with you. I found a couple of books at the thrift store that peeked my interest. Maybe we could add them to our list. I will include the names in a later post as I do not have them with me now.
Much love to you!
Katie