Plot: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee(spoiler alert)

이 책은 제가 2021년 8월에 읽은 변호사 출신 한국계 미국인 이민진 작가가 쓴 소설입니다. 이 책 역시 킨들과 함께 오디오북으로 읽었는데요. 우연히 서점에 갔다가 책이 2권인 것을 보고 어쩐지 길더라 라며 놀라 웃었던 책이었습니다. 1900년대 4대에 걸친 일본에서의 이민과 그 시절 역사를 소설에 녹여내어 좀 더 실감나게 읽었습니다. 한국인 등장인물이어서 등장인물의 이름과 지명을 기억하는데 좀더 수월하고 친숙했었습니다 ㅎㅎ 한 가지 재밌었던 점은 성우가 미국인인데 우리가 놀랄 때 하는 의성어 '엄마', 이름 뒤에 붙이는 '야' 예를 들면 선자'야' 를 나래이션할 때 이질감이 느껴지면서도 어딘지 모르게 꽤 자연스럽게 표현하려고 해서 웃었던 기억이 납니다. 

 

책의 난이도는 중급 이상이면 무난하게 읽을 수 있는 책이고, 한국 문화를 영어로 표현하면 이렇구나 라고 배울 수 있는 책이기도 합니다. 

책을 완독하고 얼마 지나지 않아 미국에서 드라마가 만들어 진다고 이야기는 들었었는데, 최근 드라마로 만들어져 애플티비에서 방영중이라는 이야기에 더 신기하고 반가웠습니다. 

 

아래는 역시나 제가 책을 읽고 배운 단어, 표현으로 영작한 줄거리입니다. 파친코 드라마 1화가 무료여서 유튜브에서 봤는데, 원서와 다른 부분도 있고, 다른 리뷰글을 보니 원서가 더 재밌더라는 평들도 꽤 있었습니다. 한국문화가 배경으로 친숙하여 크게 어렵지 않은 소설이어 꼭 읽어보실 것을 추천드립니다. 

 

Rating: 4.0/5.0

 

 

아래에서 줄거리 요약 부터는 스포일러가 포함되어 있습니다. 

 

2021's 8th novel: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

 

It is a 4-generation family story during the colonial era in the 1900s and after, and the history begins in Yeongdo, Busan, Korea. Yangjin and Hoonie, the first generation, ran a boardinghouse, and Sunja was their one and only surviving child after three losses. Hoonie, a cleft palate, and a crooked foot, marveled at his daughter without any deformities the oldest sibling had had. 

 

After Hoonie's death, Yangin and her 13-year-old girl managed to run the business and in the meantime, Sunja fell in love with Koh Hansu, a crafty businessman and the most powerful broker at the open-air market for seafood. A 3-month date resulted in the moment Sunja broke up with him, knowing he had been married with three girls in Osaka. Isak, one of the lodgers in the boardinghouse, wanted to marry Sunja not only in return for yangjin's good care of him suffering from the same disease Hoonie died from, but also in response to what God he thought was speaking to him in the study of the book of Hosea. 

 

Making a commitment for their marriage, they went to Osaka where Yoseb, Isak's brother, lived, knowing the truth about the unborn. Noa was born and loved by his uncle Yoseb and anti Kyunghee. Six years afterward, Sunja gave birth to a boy, Mozasu. That year, Isak was arrested for being against the Japanese government, trying to help Hu, a sexton, accused of mouthing the words of the Lord though he was supposed to pledge allegiance to the Emperor during the mandatory Shinto shrine ceremony. Isak had been imprisoned for 2 years and in the mean time Sunja managed to take care of Noa and Mozasu assisting Kyunghee making Kimchi in a restaurant Ko Hanso owned, not knowing it. With Isak released to home, the captivity and torture led to a loss in the family. 

 

Years passed, and Noa went to Waseda University financially supported by Koh Hanso while Mozasu worked in a Pachinko parlor. Noa left home and quit school when he learned Koh Hanso was his biological father, which he loathed it since he found Yakuza the filthiest criminals in the country, and Koh was a Yakuza. 

 

Mozasu was married with a boy, Solomon, and became a widower losing his wife, who got hit by an inebriated driver. In Nagano, Noa ran a pachinko parlor and was married to a Japanese woman, and had four children. This was uncovered by Koh's investigators and Sunja went to see her son. Noa had been Japanese for 16 years since he left home because he didn't want anyone to know he was Korean and his blood from a Yakuza. He committed suicide a short while after Sunja left him. 

 

Over the years, Solomon had attended international schools because Mozasu wanted him to get a fair shot. Solomon, who majored in economics, worked for a British bank after graduating his college. His Japanese boss I believe trapped him taking advantage of the fact that he was Korean, which was used for a real estate transaction project. He ended up working in a pachinko parlor like his dad Mozasu and uncle Noa.