Pachinko: The New York Times Bestseller - Softcover

Lee, Min Jin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 178669137X ISBN 13: 9781786691378

Publisher: Apollo, 2017

Synopsis

* The million-copy bestseller*
* National Book Award finalist *
* One of the New York Times's 10 Best Books of 2017 *
* Selected for Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf book club *

'This is a captivating book ... Min Jin Lee's novel takes us through four generations and each character's search for identity and success. It's a powerful story about resilience and compassion' BARACK OBAMA.

Yeongdo, Korea 1911. In a small fishing village on the banks of the East Sea, a club-footed, cleft-lipped man marries a fifteen-year-old girl. The couple have one child, their beloved daughter Sunja. When Sunja falls pregnant by a married yakuza, the family face ruin. But then Isak, a Christian minister, offers her a chance of salvation: a new life in Japan as his wife.

Following a man she barely knows to a hostile country in which she has no friends, no home, and whose language she cannot speak, Sunja's salvation is just the beginning of her story.

Through eight decades and four generations, Pachinko is an epic tale of family, identity, love, death and survival.

About this title

Review

'Stunning ... Pachinko is about outsiders, minorities and the politically disenfranchised. But it is so much more besides. Each time the novel seems to find its locus – Japan's colonization of Korea, World War II as experienced in East Asia, Christianity, family, love, the changing role of women – it becomes something else. It becomes even more than it was' New York Times.

'A deep, broad, addictive history of a Korean family in Japan enduring and prospering through the 20th century' David Mitchell, Guardian.

'Luminous ... a powerful meditation on what immigrants sacrifice to achieve a home in the world' Junot Diaz.

'A long novel, but it never feels it - Min Jin Lee's storytelling is effortless' Stylist, Pick of the best new books for 2017.

'Gripping ... a stunning achievement, full of heart, full of grace, full of truth' Erica Wagner.

'The work of a writer in complete control of her characters and her story and with an intense awareness of the importance of her heritage ... Told with such flair and linguistic dexterity that I found myself unable to put it down. Every year, there are a few standout novels that survive long past the hype has died down and the hyperbolic compliments from friends scattered across the dust jacket have been forgotten. Pachinko, a masterpiece of empathy, integrity and familial loyalty, will be one of those novels' John Boyne, Irish Times.

'We never feel history being spoon-fed to us: it is wholly absorbed into character and story, which is no mean feat for a novel covering almost a century of history' Financial Times.

'An epic, multi-generational saga' Mail on Sunday, Best of 2017.

'A great book, a passionate story, a novel of magisterial sweep. It's also fiendishly readable – the real deal. An instant classic, a quick page-turner, and probably the best book of the year' Darin Strauss, New York Times-bestselling author of Chang and Eng.

'A long, complex book, it wears its research lightly, and is a page-turner. You can sense the author's love and understanding for all the characters, the good and the flawed' Irish Examiner.

Book Description

A victorian epic transplanted to Japan, following a Korean family of immigrants through eight decades and four generations.

About this edition

• Publisher: Apollo
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 178669137X
• ISBN 13: 9781786691378
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 560