The Pachinko Parlour

More about the book

Poetic, delicate, and mysterious, "The Pachinko Parlour" follows Claire, a young Swiss woman spending the summer in Tokyo with her grandparents. She hopes to embark on one last significant journey with them to Korea, their homeland, which they have not visited since the war. Her grandfather runs a pachinko parlor, a gaming hall filled with pinball machines that he holds dear. As her grandparents continually postpone the trip, Claire takes care of Mieko, a Japanese girl living alone with her mother. This marks the beginning of an extraordinary friendship. Elisa Shua Dusapin masterfully explores themes of generational connections and the longing for home.