The Pachinko Parlour – A Mellow Book About Identity (Women in Translation Month)

Posted On August 14, 2023

Hi Readers! I am back with the fourth book and its review for Women in Translation Month! I didn’t like this much at all, though I can understand why it appealed to a few readers. I was attracted to this book because I had loved Pachinko by Min Jin Lee and also because this book’s cover is gorgeous! Lesson learned. Never judge a book by its cover! Anyway, this is going to be a short review too because it was a short book.

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~

The days are beginning to draw in. The sky is dark by seven in the evening. lie on the floor and gaze out of the window. Women’s calves, men’s shoes, heels trodden down by the weight of bodies borne for too long.

It is summer in Tokyo. Claire finds herself dividing her time between tutoring twelve-year-old Mieko, in an apartment in an abandoned hotel, and lying on the floor at her grandparents: daydreaming, playing Tetris and listening to the sounds from the street above. The heat rises; the days slip by.

The plan is for Claire to visit Korea with her grandparents. They fled the civil war there over fifty years ago, along with thousands of others, and haven’t been back since. When they first arrived in Japan, they opened Shiny, a pachinko parlour. Shiny is still open, drawing people in with its bright, flashing lights and promises of good fortune. And as Mieko and Claire gradually bond, a tender relationship growing, Mieko’s determination to visit the pachinko parlour builds.

The Pachinko Parlour is a nuanced and beguiling exploration of identity and otherness, unspoken histories, and the loneliness you can feel amongst family. Crisp and enigmatic, Shua Dusapin’s writing glows with intelligence.

~~THOUGHTS~~

Nothing fascinating happens in this 176-page book. You’d think that why not read it if it’s just 176 pages. But, honestly I’d have skipped it if I had known how the story is written. The blurb makes it quite interesting but what is mentioned in it is all that happens.

In some books you can feel the emotions of characters who are torn when they are still seeking the big questions revolving their own identity. We see Claire’s grandparents who were born in Korea but had to flee to live in Japan because of the war. We see Claire who can speak French, English and very little Japanese and Korean. We see how difficult it is for a grandchild to communicate with her grandparents because of they don’t have a common language between them. All they can do is speak in broken sentences in a combination of languages to be able to live together. But, the conversations that are intense and beyond the day-to-day, I wonder how are they talked about without a genuine heart to heart.

There are exceptional books where the concept of identity is written beautifully. In this one, it just felt way too flat. If you love plot driven books then this one’s not for you. If you love character driven books with satisfying character arcs then this one’s not for you either. If you love books where things happen between the lines, then you might like it. But the space between the lines is so narrow that you might miss the overall intention of the book.

I remember reading Winter in Sochko last year and I had the exact same thoughts about that book too. I definitely won’t be reading Elisa Shua Dusapin’s books from now. I hadn’t liked a few other books about identity such as The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri and Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. The subject of identity and belonging in itself is fascinating to read about but I suppose only few authors are able to achieve the perfect level of subtleness to it. I have loved books on similar topics such as How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart by Florentyna Leow, Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee and That Long Silence by Shashi Deshpande. I have rated The Pachinko Parlour by Elisa Shua Dusapin at 1.5/5 stars!

Until next time,