Pachinko Book Club Post #3
Added 2022-03-15 19:13:24 +0000 UTCGahhhh we are only ten days out from Pachinko release!
Let’s dive in to some questions
1) Do you agree with Yoseb that Hansu’s money is “filthy” or with Sunja that it’s a pragmatic choice to support Noa?
2) What are you thoughts on Yoseb telling Kim Chango he can marry Kyunghee after he is dead?
Side note: why do I hate Yoseb and also feel crushed by him on a regular basis?
3) Do you agree with Kyunghee that it’s impossible to love two men at once. Or see how Sunja possibly could?
4) Mozasu is growing up. How does his definition of success look different than his hyungs? Which brother do you find yourself drawn to more and why?
5) Thoughts on Hansu’s relationship to Noa. How is it problematic and how is it genuine? Or is it neither of these and something else?
6) Were you surprised that Akiko’s observation that Hansu was Noa’s father shattered him? Do you think he was genuinely surprised or just in furious denial? How did you react to his outburst at Sunja?
7) Also how did you react to idea that Akiko viewed Noa as a Korean first and a person second. Is she with him in part as an act of rebellion against her racist parents and is that also problematic?
8) We are seeing generational shifts occurring in these chapters. Sunja’s descendants have a chance at economic security that would have been unbelievable to her as a poor, helpless, pregnant immigrant. Why does it matter so much when Solomon grabs a yen note on his 1st birthday?
9) Hansu is violent after Yumi wedding. Does this scene in the car with his young mistress impact your desire to see him as a misunderstood romantic hero or confirm your view he is just a bad dude?
10) How do you think Sunja views Hansu at this point in her life?
Comments
I agree with all of this. Although I am a sick puppy who wanted more redemption with Hansu but alas… I wonder how the drama will depict this relationship? Noa just makes me so angry and sad
Megan Erickson
2022-03-20 21:42:30 +0000 UTC1. Hansu’s money was filthy, but he had a responsibility to support Noa. Sunja rejected the money first offered by Hansu when she got pregnant, but I saw that as her refusal to be his mistress. Maybe I’m applying modern day thinking regarding child support, but allowing Hansu to pay for Noa’s education was the right choice. 4. My opinion of the brothers shifted as they grew up. Noa started as the darling child: bright, kind, and with high ideals; Mozasu didn’t do well in school and was prone to fighting. But Noa grew to be ashamed of his Korean heritage, while Mozasu made the decision to work in a business that was associated with being Korean. Noa embraced the Japanese bias and prejudice against Koreans and Mozasu defied those same biases by working hard and loving his family. So, yeah, I’m definitely Team Mozasu. 5 & 6. The relationship between Hansu and Noa was tragic. Noa was totally receptive to Hansu’s help as his benefactor; his 180° turn against Hansu and (more importantly, in my opinion) Sunja, was willfully ignorant – he didn’t want to understand what happened. Sunja provided a succinct explanation but Noa had already made up his mind. In most fiction, the problems seem to occur when a character doesn’t provide an explanation for their behavior, and while Sunja withheld the truth, she came clean as soon as she was confronted. Noa used the discovery that Hansu was his father to immediately reject everything associated with his true parentage. I found this to be ironic because Isak, the man Noa looked up to and had believed was his father, was completely non-judgmental and kind regarding Sunja’s pregnancy. I don’t think Noa’s contempt of Hansu was genuine; as Akiko pointed out, Noa looked just like Hansu who was paying for Noa’s education and lavish apartment. How could he not have suspected that Hansu was more than just a generous man who wanted to help his fellow Koreans – or that Hansu’s money was rooted in corruption? Furious denial is a good description. 8. CLOY was my first experience with the doljabi custom – and I found it delightful! My understanding is that grabbing the yen note was foretelling that Solomon would experience wealth in his life – and sure enough, by his 3rd birthday the family had moved into a brand new 3 bedroom home. 9. I believed that Hansu was a bad dude ever since he made the moves on 16 year old Sunja without disclosing that he was already married and had no intention of marrying her. The violence against the young woman just cemented that belief. While it was horrific, I was kind of relieved because it meant the author had no intention of giving Hansu a redemption arc.
Kathi
2022-03-19 20:52:35 +0000 UTCAlso huge shout out to Mozazu. I love him. Noa? I want to have more sympathy but I think of everything Sunja did for that boy...and I'm just like GOD DAMN IT NOA.
Megan Erickson
2022-03-16 17:49:49 +0000 UTCI am really up for that Becky! It's fun to think about it. This read I've thought about Yoseb way more which is interesting. Han-su I did problematically love the first time I read the book, I mean I just am into grey characters (like Jamie Lannister in Game of Thrones). But when he beats up the 18 year old girl and destroys her face in the back of the car? I was like okay...the author KNEW someone like me would be like BUT HAN-SU and she was like Nope, we aren't playing this game.
Megan Erickson
2022-03-16 17:49:09 +0000 UTCSidenote: I personally love thinking like this (not something I do very often) and answering these questions. I wonder if this would be fun to do with a live a drama as it unfolds, if people are having trouble fitting in book reading.
Becky
2022-03-16 16:19:35 +0000 UTC8. Yes. I think this signifies a huge shift in hope/possibility for their family’s future path and how they all sacrificed to get there. 9. I don’t really see Hansu as a romantic hero or a bad person. I see him as needy and in forever-longing to be a better version of himself than he is. I think Sunja is appealing to him because she has a fortitude, intelligence, and pride in herself that he wishes he had stuck with for himself, so he admires her and wants to be as close to her as he can without ruining it, but he messes that up at times. 10. I don’t know! She’s a remarkably practical human being, but do we ever get over first loves, especially when the power dynamic was so large and the tangible results (a baby) so consequential??? Not possible, I think. I can’t think of word that would capture the largess of his presence in her mind and life even when he’s “absent” for years.
Becky
2022-03-16 16:17:38 +0000 UTC5. Largely problematic because it’s built on a very large piece of truth being absent. 6/7. This section was super interesting. While Akiko’s view of Noa is problematic, I actually think it just reflected Noa’s deep view of himself back at him, which is why he reacted so strongly. He had to be in various layers of denial about Hansu, otherwise why was taking his money fine when he was a “friend” of the family but not fine if he’s Noa’s father? Noa’s reaction to Sunja didn’t quite make sense to me because Noa had been presented as so rational up until this point. This behavior wasn’t exactly rational to me. The only way I can make sense of this is if the denial bubble burst. Otherwise, this character just took a weird left turn.
Becky
2022-03-16 16:17:28 +0000 UTC1. I think I might be a filthy pragmatist, so I have no issue seeing his money as both. 2. This scene was a little odd to me. I couldn’t decide if this was consistent with Yoseb’s values – wanting Kyunghee to be happy (doesn’t seem like that’s been driving him up until this point, though it’s clear he loves her), a practical effort toward wanting Kyunghee to be taken care of (seems more likely) or just some misguided pre-death ramblings (also felt plausible). I will be keenly interested in how they bring Yoseb to life in the drama. He’s seems like a very tricky character to get right. I don’t actually hate him. He just seems like a huge boulder everyone has to work through repeatedly. 3. Can definitely love two men at once. Love is complex. 4. I’m trying not to answer every question with BOTH 😊
Becky
2022-03-16 16:16:43 +0000 UTCI really wanted to be able to do this but all my reading ends up being homeschool related.
Lauren Cohen
2022-03-15 19:14:42 +0000 UTC
