Pachinko

I was very impressed with Min Jin Lee's historical novel about Korean Japanese in Japan, Pachinko (2017). It is clear that Lee has done her homework in that she gets most of the details about the lives of postwar Koreans in Japan right. I learned from the interview included with the novel that Lee, a first generation Korean-American who immigrated with her family when she was 7-that she wanted to write about Korean Japanese ever since she first heard about them in college. As fate would have it, Lee had the chance to live in Japan when her husband was transferred to Tokyo which allowed Lee to interview and research Korean Japanese while living there. It is an accurate portrayal of people who often have never left Japan but are not considered citizens-they must get immigration cards and need Korean passports if they want to travel. I'm curious about some of the choices that she made with the more contemporary characters in the novel, but most of the events characterized in the novel seem accurate and true to life. I'm impressed enough to want to read her first novel, Free Food for Millionaires.