Rich and Emotional Story with Pacing Issues

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is a compelling slice-of-life story that drew me in with its deeply fleshed-out characters. While the pacing felt slow in the beginning and rushed toward the end with jarring time jumps, I found the book to offer a profound insight into Korean and Japanese cultures, spanning decades of family struggles and survival. Sandra Oh’s narration was superb, bringing emotion and authenticity to every scene. Though the pacing didn’t always work for me, I still found the book rewarding, especially for its attention to character development and cultural exploration. I would highly recommend it to those who enjoy books rooted in reality and personal experiences.

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family dynamics

I enjoyed listening to this book and learning about the Japanese and Korean countries, and how they are intertwined.

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Supurb

Through my tears I write this review.

A magnificently written book of a time you dont get to hear of often. I highly recommend this book.

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Sandra Oh is the best. Excellent story and excellent storytelling. Reminiscent of Pearl S Buck and Amy Tan .

Liked every minute of it!! One thing I knew was coming was the Yakuza incident at the end and not worth mentioning, just trying to get my 15 word minimum.

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1 person found this helpful

Blew me away

Sandra Oh did an amazing job narrating this book. The story came to life in my mind and omg this is in my list of my fave book of all time! I had to pause several times to control my tears. Time can sometimes be cruel.

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Lovely Story

This is not in my genre, so I’m not sure what the usual expectations are. However, I found the situations and characters engaging, recognizing parts of my own life and feelings throughout. The author seizes on truth subtly. A vast time frame was not daunting, though I found what was not dwelled upon a little surprising. Characters came and went, storylines are unfinished, and the story is inconclusive overall. But that is not its point, which is new for me. Great narrating by Sandra Oh, who gives credibility to all the Asian influences in words and names seen in the novel.

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chapters all mixed up, trying re-downloading twice didn't works

makes it impossible to enjoy, constantly flipping trying to find where you've left off takes all enjoyment gmfrom book

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Mixed feelings

Let me start by saying I thought I would maybe I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it rather than listen to it. I found it difficult to follow sometimes because the Korean names were unfamiliar, and it felt like Oh changed the pronunciation of their names leaving me unsure who the characters were at a number of points. This was compounded by the narrative's main character constantly shifting with the passing of time.
I loved the first part of this story, and I wished that the author had just stuck with 2 generations and perhaps writing a sequel. I was very invested in the stories of these people, their country, their customs, their struggles, and their successes. As further characters were added I began to lose interest and by the last third of the book I speeded up the narration rate so I could get through it quicker. I felt bad about this until I read some reviews on Good Reads that felt the same way. Actually many reviewers started out liking it a lot, then struggled to finish.
So 5 stars for the first third of this story, three for the middle third, and 2 for the last part. And 0 for the chapter about public sex in the park, which seemed totally out of place and gratuitous.

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