AI ToolsNew
Tools to make learning and teaching easier
Genre
Explanation and Analysis:
Pachinko is a work of historical fiction, following a family that migrates and adapts to Japanese society. It begins with just a “fisherman” and his “wife” but quickly expands as characters marry, raise kids, and grow old. Hoonie, the story’s first named character, marries Yangjin and gives birth to Sunja. Sunja marries Isak and mothers Noa and Mozasu, who become fathers themselves. What begins as a simple, parable-like story blooms into a sprawling account of an entire family tree.
The novel borrows from the epic genre, as the Baek lineage extends and expands. Pachinko avoids the lofty classical style of Homer and Virgil, but like other sweeping narratives, its multigenerational scope gives it a sense of grandeur. Layered with interconnected stories, the novel narrates the struggles and desires of each generation as its members endure famine, navigate the landscape of World War II, and find their footing in Japan.
The wide cast of characters contributes to the sense that Pachinko has such a far-reaching impact, as it winds its way through multiple different lives. Like the tiny balls in the pachinko game itself, the novel’s characters chart their separate paths. In attending to their lives, Pachinko gives them a voice and establishes itself as a centerpiece of Asian American literature.
