Pachinko

This book was absolutely fabulous. I've always loved immersing myself in a new culture, learning what it is to be somebody else, in a different era, living by different rules. At turns heartbreaking and heartwarming, exotic for its setting and characters, universal in what moves people and makes life worth living, this only goes to underscore how alike we all are. The running thread of discrimination and prejudice, of what pits ‘us' against ‘them' is so alive and fresh throughout the book, but unfortunately an all too common occurrence. I'm a Romanian living in Northern Italy, and I feel that this kind of mentality has blighted relationships between Northern and Southern Italians for many years, then it was the Romanians' turn in the 90s, now it's somebody else's turn. Written with a deft hand, this was poetry for the soul and food for thought.