Book Review of Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
The story of Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is written against the
backdrop of Japanese occupied colony of Korea. It begins on a small fishing
village called Yeongdo in Busan, Korea where an ageing fisherman, his wife and
their only son Hoonie ran a small boarding house. Hoonie was born with a cleft
palate and a twisted foot. In 1910, Japan annexed Korea. The life of this small
family became inseparably connected to the fate of the country. The story
spreads across 5 generations that survived over 8 decades and in 3 different
countries.
Shortly after the colonisation, the Imperial Government
developed a system of methodical exploitation. Taxes were raised, freedom of
speech curbed and any form of protest was ruthlessly suppressed. Many landowners and farmers were forced to
give up their lands. Many were reduced to penury. Hoonie, his wife Yangjin and
their daughter Sunja tried their best to survive in their boardinghouse where
most of the lodgers were poor fishermen. After Hoonie died of tuberculosis, the
mother and the daughter continued the business. During this time, Sunja got
involved with, Hansu – a yakuza, a
gangster, who impregnated her, but refused to marry her, saying that he already
had a wife and three daughters.
When pastor Baek Isak, arrived at the boardinghouse, he was
suffering from tuberculosis. Yangjin and her daughter nursed him for days.
During his stay, Isak came to know about Sunja’s pregnancy and offered to marry
her. To this Sunja agreed. After they were married they left for Osaka. Here in
Ikaino there was a ghetto where Koreans lived. Isak’s brother, Yoseb and his
wife lived there. When Sunja met Yoseb’s wife Kyunghee and they became friends
instantly. This precious friendship would last till the end.
Yoseb worked as a
foreman in a factory run by a Japanese. The wage was not enough to survive in
Osaka. He did some odd machine-repairing for some extra cash. Isak joined as an
assistant pastor in a church. There he met Pastor Yoo, who in his apt words
described the deplorable conditions of immigrant Koreans in Japan,
No one will rent to the Koreans. As a pastor, you’ll get a chance to see how the Koreans live here. You can’t imagine: a dozen in a room that should be for two, men and families sleeping in shifts. Pigs and chickens inside homes. No running water. No heat. The Japanese think Koreans are filthy, but they have no choice but to live in squalor. I’ve seen aristocrats from Seoul reduced to nothing, with no money for bathhouses, wearing rags for clothing, shoeless, and unable to get work as porters in markets.
As the story moves on readers get glimpses of Korea’s
colonial past through chinks and gaps of the plot. When we were told about
racial discrimination and genocide we are reminded of a little book called MeinKampf and a stocky little man with toothbrush moustache. The images of
concentration camps and ghettos prop up. But there are other, more silent forms of
torture and racial discrimination. There are very few races in this world that
don’t have a bloodstained past of racism.
The Koreans immigrants in Japan had to take Japanese names.
There was a visible disparity between the quality of education that a Korean
received compared to that received by the Japanese. Public schools were
practically closed for Koreans. Attempts were being made to crush Korean
culture. The village teachers in Korea were forced out of jobs. The Koreans
were assessed egregiously by the Japanese government and when they were unable
to pay this exorbitant tax, their lands were confiscated. All this led to the
revolt of March 1, 1919, and to quell the crowd Japanese officials called its
military forces. Several thousands were massacred by them.
Yoseb had been an witness to all that. He had warned Isak,
Don’t get mixed up in politics, labor organizing, or any such nonsense. Keep your head down and work. Don’t pick up or accept any of the independence-movement or socialist tracts. If the police find that stuff on you, you’ll get picked up and put in jail.
Isak respected and loved his brother. Isak listened to his
advice. Still he was picked up by the police, along with Pastor Yoo and Hu. By
then, Sunja had already given birth her two sons – Noa and Mozasu. Noa was the
son of Hansu and Mozasu of Isak. The arrest had a devastating effect on the
family, particularly on Yoseb. Sunja and Kyunghee started peddling foods. Later,
when they were given jobs in a local restaurant, their hardship lessened a bit.
Noa proved to be an attentive student. Isak was freed, but Sunja found him in a
condition that was more painful than death. Sunja had prepared herself for the
worst.
The elders in her church had warned her that the Korean prisoners were usually sent home just as they were about to die, so that they would not die in jail. The prisoners were beaten, starved and made to go without clothing to weaken them.
Yoseb was inconsolable. Isak’s death was slow and painful. Noa
still knew Isak was his father. His death was a terrible shock for Noa. It
changed him. He lost his faith in God. But probably, that was not the worst.
Above all the other secrets that Noa could not speak of, the boy wanted to be Japanese; it was his dream to leave Ikaino and never to return.
In the face of social ostracism and economic
exploitation, the family found itself slowly gravitating to the Pachinko
business. Pachinko is a Japanese version of pinball game. Though gambling was
illegal in Japan, this game was not officially considered gambling. When the
player sends a ball to a particular hole, a jackpot is activated. The player is
rewarded with more balls. In the end the balls can be taken to counters and
exchanged for cash. In Japan, it is often associated with a shady
business style and the owners are called yakuza.
Pachinko by Min Jin
Lee is as much about cruelty and discrimination as it is about humanity and forgiveness.
This book is great, not only as a historical fiction, but also because of its
literary value. It is something that you read over and over again, and
every time you read it, it makes you bit different than what you were. Yes, it
has the potential to change one’s of life.
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