Pachinko: This Book/Drama Is One of the Best Korean Content I Have Came Across In Soooo Long
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
I have had my own fair share of Korean drama... a little too much of it though I rarely watched in in the last eight years. I think I just had an overdose and after a few dramas, it all just looked and feel the same to me so I stopped the marathons. I did watch The Glory and as great as it was, I forgot it way too fast than I expected.
Buuuuuut...I may have just found a really great one after so long.
Book
I read the book before I found out that there was a Kdrama for it so allow me to go through this first. The book was written by Min Jin Lee and was first published in 2017. This book is a story of our main character Sunja through three generations: her childhood and young adulthood, her marriage and family up to her grandchildren during the time of Japanese occupation in Korea and the lives of Koreans in Japan.
Pachinko is sort of a pinball machine originating in Japan and it is a metaphor to the gamble that is the lives of the characters in the book, also of life itself in general. Pachinko is also an industry that Sunja's sons got into eventually.
Sunja is a daughter of impoverished parents who manage a boarding house. Even with their limitations and her father's disability, Sunja was doted on and loved. In her teenage years, Sunja fell in love with an older fish broker named Koh Hansu whom she had secret relations with until she got pregnant. On the verge of shame, Baek Isak, a pastor who just came by was her salvation. Isak married her and took her to Osaka where she was given a second chance, but even then, her life was all but a smooth sailing.
The story is set off in a Japanese occupied Korea way back before the country was divided. The storytelling may not be very poetic, but it does give a good enough nuance for us readers to imagine and emphatise with the struggles of the Korean people in their homeland and even if they travel to Japan for hopes of a better future.
This does not have varied intensities, it is just the way it is: a chronological telling of a family's struggles all throughout. I have to admit that even I often found the pace was very slow and I was getting rather sleepy reading this. This does take patience to get through and may not be a very friendly book for newbies, but it's worth the read.
As good as this was, I could only give this 4 out of 5 stars because it did lack some emotional punch - and that is not only because it does not have an intense plot. Books like The Light Through the Leaves or The Great Alone did not have very intense moments, but damn the emotional effect those book left me with were just unforgettable.
Series
The series is exclusive on Apple TV. If you're wondering if it's worth subscribing to Apple TV just for this one drama, I think that it's worth it actually.
There are slight differences between the book and the series, which is completely normal for adaptations. However, unlike other adaptations, the series fills what I think were the teeny tiny plotholes in the book and brought to life the environments that were a bit difficult to imagine when reading. The casting in this series also deserves recognition because they're too perfect for their characters. It makes empathising to the characters and their lives almost too easy, even for those who are not too familiar with this period of Korean history.
Another important thing to know is the book tells the story in chronolical order while the series alternates between different time periods.
For example, I especially like how they gave Koh Hansu a backstory in the series - but I think it's only to give Lee Min Ho more screen time because he's one of their top actors. Whatever the reason is, the backstory did give some humanity to Hansu and gave some warmth to his otherwise very cold exterior.
Last (but definitely not the least) thing that I should give kudos to is Kim Min-Ha's portrayal of the younger Sunja. Maybe it's her expressive eyes, her demeanor, or maybe everything that she gave to that role made Sunja much more memorable.
This season ends with the part where Sunja started selling kimchi in the market which is roughly half the book. There's still much to expect and I am excited for what they have for season two.
Book or Series?
I will say this time and time again for book to series/movie adaptations...but the right choice between a book and its adaptation is really personal preference. If you're not a big reader, go for any motion picture. If you like to read and are also a fan of movies/series and you got the time, by all means, go for both. It wouldn't not matter much if people will say you're missing out because the book is good or the movie is better, etc - even if either one is better, if you're not a fan of one medium, it's not gonna work out.
Getting that out of the way, I did not regret taking the time to read the book and watch the series as well. As I mentioned, the book was great but the series made it so much better. I don't know much about the Japanese occupation in Korea and it was kinda hard for me to visualise some scenes in the book so the series did help a lot with that.
If you like to read and watch motion pictures, it is worth it. However, if you like one or the other, you'd still be able to enjoy this great work as it is.
