Les Billes du Pachinko by Elisa Shua Dusapin

 

Stories of Korean families in Japan are not too often mentioned or made it into the big literary mainstream, meaning by it translated or written into English or French, Spanish etc. The success of Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, dued for storytelling reasons as well, had also a component of novelty as it featured an aspect not too often talken about. Unless you live in this part of Asia and do have access to main media and society narratives.

Les Billes du Pachinko, the second novel by French-Korean writer Elisa Shua Dusapin is short, but a gem of a narrative, told at a slow human pace on an evocative voice. Claire, about to celebrate her 30th anniversary, arrives in Tokyo during the summer trying to spend some time with her ailing grandparents and eventually prepare their trip back to Korea. They are refugees from Korea after 1953 when the Korean war started, but they never actually integrated into the Japanese society. It is a refuse to give up their identity, probably hoping in an illusory return. With Claire, knowledgeable of Japanese culture, they will rather speak in English than in Japanese. The grandfather has a Pachinko parlour, like many other Koreans who were no left with any other economic or social option. She is spending the time until the trip is decided tutoring a Japanese girl, Meiko, whose father disappeared, as many other sudden disappearances happening in big number in Japan.

The book does not delve into political and social problems, but either makes you curious to find out more about the case or gives you enough hints to understand the underpriviledge condition the Koreans in Japan were assigned, even nowadays, after so many years. Instead, it creates a fine net of symbols and meanings that the readers is invited to connect and discover.

But Les Billes du Pachinko is not aimed to stir revolt and anti-discrimination feelings. Instead, it chisels feelings of belonging and longing, of connecting and searching for roots in a world on the move. I loved both the empathic tone and the storytelling. It gives me hope of a world made up of good stories with complex humans and their complex feelings.

Rating: 4.5 stars