Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

This deeply moving and insightful story brings “a long and troubled history of legal and social discrimination against the Koreans in Japan.” 

The story starts before WWII and depicts the struggle of Koreans for their freedom from occupying Japan. And after the war, it portrays Koreans living in Japan and their limits imposed by the foreign land, and their struggles for better lives and hope for better treatment.

In 1932 the Depression is felt throughout the world. In the occupied Korea by Japan, young Sunja and her mother are getting by boarding rooms. One day, a man Baek Isak knocks on the door looking for a room for a few weeks. He turns out to be a Protestant minister heading to Osaka, Japan, where his brother lives and many other young Korean men go in search of work. Shortly before moving to Osaka, Isak and Sunja marry. Once in Osaka, Isak and Sunja get to know not only Japanese people, but also Koreans, his fellow emigrants, who after all turn out to be not the same Koreans as the ones living in his homeland. Foreign land seems to test each person. They live with Isak’s brother and his wife. Their family expands. They go through some tough times supporting each other. 

The story continues through the next two generations, showing continued struggle of limits imposed by Japan on Koreans born in Japan.

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