111 pages • 3 hours read
Min Jin LeeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Pachinko spans almost eighty years, taking place in Korea, Japan, and the United States. The story concerns five generations of people and begins in 1910, with the family suffering from poverty and colonization. Future generations gain financial success, especially as Mozasu becomes rich from the pachinko business and Solomon works in the international banking business. Compare and contrast the first generation of the family (Hoonie’s parents) with the fifth generation (Solomon’s generation).
In addition to siblings, there are several single-child households. Hoonie and Yangjin have one child, Sunja, and Mozasu and Yumi have one child, Solomon. In both instances, one of the parents dies young, and so the other must raise the child as a single parent. Compare and contrast the relationship of Yangjin and Sunja early in the novel with the relationship that Mozasu and Solomon develop later in the novel.