Pachinko Lib/E

Product description In this bestselling, page-turning saga, four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family fight to control their destiny in twentieth-century Japan, exiled from a home they never knew. There could only be a few winners, and a lot of losers. And yet we played on, because we had hope that we might be the lucky ones. In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant-and that her lover is married-she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home and to reject her son's powerful father sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations. Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters-strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, and fathers shaken by moral crisis-survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history. Review Narrator Hiroto brings a subtle, down-to-earth realism to the story of Sunja.-- "Library Journal (starred audio review)" Pachinko remains gently affecting as an audio.-- "AudioFile" A powerful meditation on what immigrants sacrifice to achieve a home in the world.-- "Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author" A social novel in the Dickensian vein...frequently heartbreaking.-- "USA Today" The novel expertly portrays the rituals and mores specific to ethnic Korean culture even as it also poignantly captures the universally complicated relationships between family members, lovers and friends. The writing is spare and evocative.-- "New York Times" An extraordinary epic, both sturdily constructed and beautiful.-- "San Francisco Chronicle" Combining the detail of a documentary with the empathy of the best fiction, it's a sheer delight.-- "Daily Mail (London)" Stunning...Despite the compelling sweep of time and history, it is the characters and their tumultuous lives that propel the narrative.-- " New York Times Book Review" An exquisite, haunting epic...'moments of shimmering beauty and some glory, too, ' illuminate the narrative...Lee's profound novel...is shaped by impeccable research, meticulous plotting, and empathic perception.-- "Booklist (starred review)" A sprawling and immersive historical work... Reckoning with one determined, wounded family's place in history, Lee's novel is an exquisite meditation on the generational nature of truly forging a home.-- "Publishers Weekly" About the Author Min Jin Lee is a writer whose debut novel, Free Food for Millionaires, was one of the Top 10 Novels of the Year for the Times (London), NPR's Fresh Air, and USA Today. Her short fiction has been featured on NPR's Selected Shorts. Her writings have appeared in Conde Nast Traveler, Times (London), Vogue, Travel+Leisure, Wall Street Journal, New York Times Magazine, and Food & Wine. Her essays and literary criticism have been anthologized widely. She served as a columnist for the Chosun Ilbo, the leading paper of South Korea. Allison Hiroto is a voice talent and audiobook narrator.