Welcome back to R&W’s deep read of Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee. In this episode, Shari and Rhea spend most of their discussion lamenting Noa. Oh, Noa. Noa!! How could you! The pain. The agony. The heartache.

But there is more to cover. They discuss Mozasu’s life, Solomon’s growing up as a Korean-Japanese, Hansu’s cracking demeanor, Haruki’s strange chapters, and everyone’s deep suffering. They discuss major themes they see continuing to develop, especially: home, fate, suffering, and—a new one—curses. They also discuss the interrelatedness of all these things and how they shape identity, our sense of home, our sense of belonging, our sense of agency in determining all these things.

Our last discussion of Pachinko will air March 25th.

We will be doing a Pachinko bonus episode on April 1st, in which we react to the Pachinko TV series, airing on Apple TV, as well as other articles/podcast episodes we’ve digested during our month of reading.

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