Books and Jams Readalong discussion

You made it! I am very excited to hear your final thoughts on this book. What will your rating be? How do you feel now that you've finished.

Here are 2 questions from the discussion guide at the back of my book.
1. Even in death or physical absence, the presence of many characters lingers on throughout the book. How does this affect your reading experience? How would the book have been different if it were confined to one character's perspective?

2. Why do you think the author chose Pachinko for the title?

Thanks for reading along with me again this month! I can't wait to see your thoughts on this one. Feel free to pop back in even after you've finished so you can read and respond to other people's comments as well.

I just finished. I really enjoyed it and gave it 5 stars.

1. The characters whose memories lingered on really gave this an authentic feel, like memories of our own loved ones in real life. There were some deaths that I was shocked by because I saw things in my mind happening very differently in the story, like Isak and Noa. The same goes with a couple characters who did not die sooner. It would have been so much better for the favored characters if they had died sooner, like Joseb and Koh Hansu.

2. One idea I had is in the Pachinko game, those who run these parlors cleverly adjust the pins to affect the odds and game play for the players. There were many characters in this book whose single or multiple acts affected the others. If it had not been for Koh Hansu, for example, just think how different things would have been for everyone in this book. Some characters would not even have been born, and what about the matchmaker? Hoonie may never have found a wife without the matchmaker. Also, what about the ones who really had no care for how their words or acts would affect those they were supposed to care about - like Akiko, for example. She was cold and numb to the effects her words would have on Noa, and this ended up affecting his entire family and their future.

Thanks for letting me participate in this read along. :)

I just finished the book and gave it four stars. It was an emotional book for me until the the number of POVs became too much for me to feel connected to any of the characters.

I had no favorite character for the last third of the book, maybe Masuzu? I strongly disliked Hanna. The other characters I felt for them in some sections and but not all the time.

I actually liked the descriptions of the characters and the author certainly succeded in making them come alive from the pages. The description of places were also effective imo. It was detailed but not too detailed to overwhelm me which sometimes happen in period books.

Therefore, it was a very good book but not a perfect one for me.

I loved it - overall - and gave it 4 stars!

I enjoyed the writing style and was interested from the beginning, and yet I didn't really get into the story until I was about 75 pages in. I typically don't like having to keep up with too many characters (lol), but they were all written so well and each setting (i.e. the fishing village where the story started, Osaka, the farm...) were all so descriptive, that it kept me wanting to see what would happen next.

This was my first time joining in for the readalong and I thank you for doing it!

Yay! Finished this book tonight. I gotta say, this third section is my least favorite. I just loved following Sunja and her story, but as we got to the next generation I didn't care quite as much. I loved Solomon, but not his relationship with Hana.

I found the discussion on what it's like being Korean in Japan to be so interesting. Loved the different perspective Phoebe brought to the family in explaining how different things were in America.

I think overall I will give this book 4 starts as well.

I just finished reading Pachinko and rated it four stars. The writing was descriptive and beautiful, and I was invested in the lives of the Korean women especially.

I did not enjoy the story as much when it veered off into the lives of Ayame and Etsuko. I would have preferred the story remain about Sunja and her immediate family.

The relationship between Solomon and Hana was unpleasant and uninteresting to read. I did not like her as a character, or all the overt sexual situations she was involved in. Solomon’s business dealings also became uninteresting to read about.

Overall this was a well written story about the tense relations between Korea and Japan told through the generations of a family. I enjoyed this month’s pick and would recommend this book to others!

Finally finished this book. The history of Koreans in Japan was something I knew nothing about, so that was very interesting but sad to hear. I think I’d give this book 3 and a half ⭐️. I enjoyed it but it did get too much with multiple narrators or characters. A few times i had to search the names in my Kindle to see who this person was. But I did enjoy this book