“Forgotten Reflections” by Young-Im Lee

“Forgotten Reflections” tells two stories: one of feisty village girl Iseul, trying to survive during the Korean War, and the other of her granddaughter Jia, who goes on a quest to find out about her dying grandmother’s past instead of studying for her end-of-school exams like the dutiful, obedient girl her mother wants her to […]

“Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee

Pachinko In “Pachinko,” Min Jin Lee weaves a multigenerational story of a Korean family in Japan from the pre-WWII Japanese occupation of Korea to the 1980s. Surviving–or not–war, partition, discrimination, and rejection, the Baek/Boku/Park family rises from desperate poverty to wealth through shrewd entrepreneurship, an unstoppable work ethic, and pachinko, a gambling business of dubious […]