Both sweepingly ambitious in scope and deeply personal PACHINKO follows one Korean family's
desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs across decades and generations-from the Japanese
annexation in 1910 through the Great Depression and World War II all the way up to the late
1980s. The chronicle begins humbly with a hardworking family: a fisherman his wife and their
sole surviving child. Though the family endures their fair share of hardships they mark the
beginning of a long line of descendants whose adversities passions and joys pervade this
remarkable account of Korean history. Hoonie a saintly father born with a cleft palate and
club foot is only the beginning of a Dickensian cast of characters exceptional men and women
in exile from a homeland they never knew and caught in the indifferent arc of history: a young
unwed mother afraid of social disgrace the tubercular minister who saves her a powerful
gangster who pulls strings to control his loved ones' lives from afar and many more. Although
years pass and the family evolves drastically from its modest beginnings a strong sense of
shared cultural history ties them together and gives their lives deep roots. As they experience
great joy dark yearning and moments of triumph and despair this hugely satisfying novel
explores the enduring questions of faith family culture and identity.
