Reading Order
Pachinko Reading Order
Min Jin Lee's Pachinko (2017) is a complete standalone novel. There is no sequel. The novel follows a Korean family across four generations — from Sunja's girlhood in early-20th-century Japanese-occupied Korea through her grandson Solomon's life in 1980s Japan — organized around the premise that to be Korean in Japan is to be permanently defined by others' perception of you regardless of who you actually are. Pachinko was a finalist for the National Book Award and one of the most discussed literary novels of 2017.
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Pachinko
Complete Pachinko Book List
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Pachinko
Min Jin Lee·2017·Standalone — a Korean family across four generations in Japanese-occupied Korea and Japan, from the 1910s through the 1980s; a National Book Award finalist about identity, survival, and what gets passed down
Pachinko — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Pachinko a standalone?
Yes — Pachinko is a complete standalone novel. Min Jin Lee's debut novel, Free Food for Millionaires (2007), is an earlier entirely independent standalone.
What does pachinko mean in the novel?
Pachinko is a Japanese gambling parlor game — a form of pinball-slot machine hybrid — that was one of the few industries Zainichi Koreans (Koreans living in Japan) were allowed to enter during the novel's historical period. The game is partly a symbol of the narrow options available to the characters, and partly a literal business that the family enters. It has the reputation of being low-status and the reality of being profitable — an apt metaphor for the family's position in Japanese society.
How long is Pachinko?
Pachinko is approximately 490 pages and covers about 70 years of the Sunja family's history across four generations. Min Jin Lee spent decades researching and writing it — she has said she worked on the novel for nearly 30 years in different forms before publication.
Is Pachinko being adapted?
Yes — Pachinko was adapted into a television series for Apple TV+, premiering in 2022. The series was praised for its performances and its visual approach to the material; it was renewed for a second season. The series presents the story non-linearly, cutting between the 1910s and 1980s timelines.
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