赤パンの本棚 akapan's bookshelf

タグ: ENG_Historical Fiction

  • “Pachinko” Min Jin Lee (2017) Review | Zainichi Korean female epic

    “Pachinko” Min Jin Lee (2017) Review | Zainichi Korean female epic

    Pachinko
    Min Jin Lee, 2017
    US
    512 pages
    Read in 2021.10
    check price on amazon.com


    ✔ Korean zainichi in Japan
    ✔ Historical fiction World War Two
    ✔ Mother and daughter relationship


    🔽 Review summary 🔽

    ★★★★★ Life of a Korean woman who survived all the difficulties the life threw at her. And about her beloved ones, Korean or Japanese. Life is a Pachinko. It’s not fair. You’re bound to lose. But you keep playing. An epic.

    🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

    Life of a Korean woman who survived all the difficulties the life threw at her.
    And about her beloved ones, Korean or Japanese.

    By narrowing down the novel to one woman’s life, it tells about real struggles, somehow making it universal.
    The history of Japan and Korea, or Japanese and Koreans, is not an easy one to fully grasp – because it’s still alive.
    The war is partly to be blamed but it’s not that simple.
    The book is rich, depicts how little luck or timing could change your life, it is probably difficult to understand if you’re not Asian beyond it being “fascinating”.

    Again Koreans do better in storytelling.
    It’s dramatic, but that’s how it was in Japan up to the early 90s.

    Life is a party, Fellini says. But here this novel tells you, life is a Pachinko. It’s not fair. You’re bound to lose, but you keep playing.

    🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

    ●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

    Pachinko (National Book Award Finalist)

    ●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
    Pachinko: The New York Times Bestseller 

    ●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
    Pachinko. La moglie coreana (italiano)

  • “Fires on the plain” Shohei Ooka (1952) Review | Crossing the line as a human

    “Fires on the plain” Shohei Ooka (1952) Review | Crossing the line as a human


    Fires on the plain
    Shohei Ooka, 1952
    野火
    大岡昇平
    Read in 2021.10
    check price on amazon.com

    ✔ World War Two Historical fiction
    ✔ Solitude of a solder
    ✔ Taboo as human


    🔽 Review summary 🔽

    ★★★★★ Isolated at the war on the field, he questions everything. It's haunting, but not merely because the plot is shocking, it's because, even people like me, who never had the experience, can recognise his internal struggles.

    🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

    I had always wanted to read it, but hadn't, and when I finally started reading it, I just wanted to get it done with and delete it from my memory. 
    Too painful.
    It's so daunting and it haunts you, it's about a man who's completely isolated during the war and he questions his survival, moral, humanity, everything outside of him as well as inside.

    You're on the edge and a step away from the death. Do you trust or not, and what do you trust, yourself? others? Can he trust himself to stay a human or will he cross the line?

    The book is haunting, but not merely because the plot or its description is shocking, it's because, even people like me, who never had the same experience or anything remotely close, can recognise his internal struggles.

    🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

    ●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

    Fires on the Plain (Tuttle Classics) 

    ●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
    Fires on the Plain (Tuttle Classics) 

    ●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
    --
  • “Sea of Poppies” Amitav Ghosh (2008) Review | Leading up to Opium War

    “Sea of Poppies” Amitav Ghosh (2008) Review | Leading up to Opium War

    🔽 log 🔽
    Sea of Poppies 
    Amitav Ghosh, 2008
    559 pages
    Read in 2025.12
    check price on amazon.com


    ✔ A gripping trilogy from an Indian author
    ✔ Strong, inter-cultural friendship on a slave ship
    ✔ Historical fiction


    🔽 Review summary 🔽

    ★★★★★ In India, under British, Opium farming leading up to the Opium War. You meet some interesting strong characters. It’s gripping, a grand storytelling.


    🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

    I'd heard of it for a while and finally, finally started and instantly it was obvious, this is one if those great books.

    In India, under British, Opium farming leading up to the Opium War.
    That's already enough for me to like the book even without even opening it. 

    And immediately you meet some interesting strong characters.
    Deeti who had a miserable married life, Paulette and Jodu and their unique friendship, a delicate Raja, Zachary who leads us into the mesmerising journeys.
    They all meet on Ibis the slaving ship, all carrying their own destinies - it's as intense as it sounds.
    Some of detailed descriptions of ship and sailing are hard for me to follow but that doesn't stop me from getting excited at every page.

    It's a trilogy so there are 2 more books to go to give the full view on the story but so far, it's gripping, grand storytelling.
    Need to read 2 and 3 soon.
    🔽 Related pages 🔽
    tag インド/India

    🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Sea of Poppies

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Sea of Poppies: Ibis Trilogy Book 1 Kindle Edition

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Sea of Poppies: Ibis Trilogy Book 1 (English)