Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee

Lee, a Korean-American, writes that she got the idea for this book back in 1989 when she was a junior at Yale and attended a lecture given by an American missionary in Japan.  From the talk, she learned about a schoolboy in Japan who was bullied by his peers because of his Korean ancestry.  The boy committed suicide.  This story stuck with her all the years that followed and lead her to research and write this widely-praised novel.  Pachinko follows the fortunes of a family of Koreans over most of the twentieth century, first living in their home country under Japanese rule and later in Japan, where they are always considered “foreigners” even after being born in the country for generations.  The history of this anti-Korean prejudice in Japan, largely unknown to me and evidently still prevalent today, was a fascinating backdrop this affecting family saga.  A central character is Sunja, an innocent and impoverished young girl whose affair with a powerful man, later revealed to be a member of the yakuza, leads to a pregnancy that will change the lives of all around her.  Satisfying in all respects, a book I couldn’t put down.  490 pp.