Pachinko
by Min Jin Lee · first published 2017
5mentions
4recommended by
5HN commenters
2018–2025first – last mentioned
80% recommend20% neutral
In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant--and that her lover is married--she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son's powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations. Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love,
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…https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/8a8b0f34-bdec-4e08-bad8-... -The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (This one is kind of a rough read.): https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/8a740c2e-a536-47c8-8d67-... -Pachinko by Min Jin Lee: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/c906e464-dc41-4f82-9601-... -The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/297187a2-ad88-4b2b-a453-... -Bear Town…
on “Ask HN: Books about people who persevered when no one else believed in them?” ↗For people who are looking for a book to read and also interested in learning about the immigrant life in Japan, I can highly recommend the historical fiction novel “Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee. It follows the story of multiple generations of a Korean family that moves to Japan sometime after the Japanese annexation of Korea. It describes in detail the struggles mentioned in…
on “Forget about overpopulation, soon there will be too few humans” ↗Three Booker prize winners I’m particularly fond of: The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is another recent literary favorite
on “Books I Loved Reading in 2024” ↗Pachinko by Min Jin Lee stuck with me more than anything else I read this year. It is a work of simple beauty. It’s a story of several generations of poor Korean women who eventually immigrate to Japan. The front…
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗…civility and social skills" A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride -- "a shocking and intimate insight into the thoughts, feelings and chaotic sexuality of a vulnerable and isolated protagonist" Pachinko by Min Jin Lee -- "Pachinko follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens…
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗