To be clear, I did thoroughly enjoy it and it is a page-turner. However, I couldn't shake the nagging feeling that the book was heavily edited to appeal to a larger audience. In a few place, Lee's writing does shine, but these moments are thinly dispersed. On a different level, I was fascinated about the historical details of the 20th century Korean / Japanese relationship. Being half Korean born just before the 80s, some of the questions towards the end of the book did resonate with me - of which the pachinko game is an apt metaphor.