Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

This historic drama has all the elements I love about a book - great characters and a compelling story that we follow through several generations of the same family, from Korea to Japan and beyond. In the background of Pachinko is Japan's occupation of Korea and the experience of Koreans in Japan before, during, and after this occupation. 

We begin in the 1880s in Korea. Hoonie is the son of parents who run a boardinghouse for fisherman. Their lives are meager, but stable. Hoonie eventually meets his wife, Yangjin, through a matchmaker and she joins him and his parents at the boardinghouse. Hoonie and Yangjin have a daughter, Sunja who manages the boarding house with her mother after Hoonie's death. Eventually, Sunja's path intersects with two men and she is presented with different choices that will have far-reaching effects on her and her family's future. She marries and immigrates to Osaka with her husband, living with him, and her brother and sister-in-law.

Sunja has two sons, raising them in Japan with her husband and his family. During World War II, the majority of the family is relocated to a farm in the country until they can be reunified again in Osaka. Unable to return to Korea, Sunja's son's aren't able to fully realize their heritage and culture. And as Koreans in Japan, they aren't accepted as Japanese. In fact, they must hide their true lineage in order to avoid the pervasive racism experienced against Koreans. 

The book ends in the 1980's with the stories of Sunja's two sons and one grandson and how, despite following very different paths in their lives, they all end up in in the pachinko business - one embracing it wholeheartedly, another reluctantly, and the third, inevitably.

This book is about a family living their life and how seemingly simple decisions can have life altering affects. But, unlike some books where the circumstances are unique or exceptional, in Pachinko, this family is a picture of probably millions of families across the world, making the seemingly simple decisions people make make every day - should I give this person the time of day? Should I marry this person? Should I try to reconnect with an estranged family member? Should I accept someone's charity? 

In Pachinko, we have the benefit of hindsight to evaluate these decisions and question whether or not they were the right ones. But I suppose we can do that in our lives and the lives of those before us. It's just easier (and let's be honest, more fun) to do with someone else. 

What makes Sunja's family unique for me is their place in Japan, as Koreans. And while they are a seemingly ordinary family, they lived through extraordinary times. But what makes this story the same as my (and everyone else's) own is the family's desire for wholeness. It's a timeless narrative that we all can relate to.

City of Nightmares by Rebecca Schaeffer

I have to admit, this book gave me at least one nightmare. It wasn't the worst I'd ever had, but it involved dead puppies, so it was pretty bad.

It's not that I found the book to be scary, per se, but the premise is a great one for a horror movie: For reasons unknown, if people have a nightmare, they will wake up and become their nightmare. This could mean a variety of things. Some people just disappear, so no one really knows what their nightmare was. Some people turn into things like giant man-eating spiders and cockroaches that must be killed, so they also die. But some people live as nightmares, like the mayor's pet pterodactyl or Vanessa Near's boss, who is a lizard. This also means that we are in a world where there are vampires, and there are at least a dozen varieties, based on the person's idea of what a vampire is with variations from aversions to garlic, sunlight, or silver, the inability to show a reflection, or the ability to turn other people into vampires (the only strain people are concerned with eradicating). 

There is a way to combat this from happening, besides already having a nightmare, which seems to prevent future transitions, there are nightmare-prevention drugs and even a water-additive in more populous areas. But of course, there are issues with these measures, first of which I am personally prone to - forgetting to take your meds. But also there is the fact that alcohol inhibits the effects of these drugs, so I'm sure you can guess how well that goes over.

Besides all of this, our setting is basically Gotham. Not literally, but Newham (which I think might be in England somewhere) is rife with dirty politicians, an over-active underground, and even pseudo-superheroes. It's basically an anything-goes kind of place. 

So I mentioned Vanessa Near. This is her story. She is living and working with a group (cult?) that helps people with PTSD from nightmares. Vanessa's sister became a nightmare and was killed and Vanessa has not been able to move past the fear and anxiety this has caused her. So she works to help others and lives in a small, isolated room where she feels safe. Her life is uncomfortable, but stable. 

Vanessa ends up surviving a bombing and making friends with a living nightmare, which challenges a lot of her beliefs. As she tries to figure out why the bombing occurred, she has to navigate the underworld of Newham and overcome a lot of her own issues. 

And this is where the book loses me a little. I started to get annoyed with Vanessa, or Ness, about half-way through. She makes a big deal about what a coward she is, so much so, it's kind of a running joke throughout the book. Fine, I get it. But some of her reactions to things are so over the top, I started making notes, like "really?!" "still?" and "these reactions are dumb." 

I also probably should have realized sooner that the book is a bit tongue in cheek. So when some of the more over-the-top things were happening, I was more annoyed than amused. I think if I had caught on a little sooner, I might have had a different reaction. I don't know if it was me not getting it, or if there was something about the writing that was keeping me from getting it.

I also felt that some of the conversations were lacking. Like when Ness is psychoanalyzing one of the villains and telling them why people get jealous - which is because they're afraid of their partner leaving them and being lonely and because they're insecure. Truth. I don't disagree with this. But it came across as some ingenious monologue that disarms the villain. I don't know, I wasn't blown away. I felt like there were several exchanges like this. But this is a YA book, so I'll give Schaeffer some forgiveness for that.

And just as I was getting annoyed about half way, two thirds in, Schaeffer redeemed herself. I felt the ending was satisfying. And while Ness was lackluster and captain obvious, she has an encounter that provides some explanation for the nightmare world that came through for me. Schaeffer ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger and I think I'll hang on for the next one - maybe a little better prepared now that I understand her writing style.

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

GENE EDITING IS A FEDERAL CRIME #GPA

ONE MISTAKE CAUSED THE GREAT STARVATION #GPA #NEVERFORGET

These are billboards you would pass if you lived in Denver Colorado in the far enough future that gene editing technology is much further advanced, but not so far that hashtags aren't still a thing.

The benefits to this technology include clothes made with spider silk and improvements in medicine and agriculture. But there is also a darker side, where dolls can be wrapped in human muscle and skin and wasps can be modified to target people based on their genetic fingerprints. And even the best of intentions can take a turn for the worse, which is what happened when Logan Ramsey's mother genetically modified locusts in an effort to improve crops against blight. But mutations started knocking out genes essential for seed production which caused the death of 200 million people. Ramsey's mother commit suicide and Ramsey himself went to prison, but eventually won a pardon with the help of the ACLU. 

Upgrade begins after all of this. Ramsey is out of prison and reluctantly working for the GPA, or Gene Protection Agency, which looks for scientists engaging in gene modification, which is now outlawed. His job consists of looking for plasmids on the pages of books, raiding gene labs, and arresting brilliant scientists who, once in the running for nobel prizes, are now traitorous villains. He was The Man, working for an agency with questionable tactics.

While raiding a suspected lab, Ramsey is struck by a bio bomb. After the incident, he begins to notice...improvements. They are subtle at first, like when Ramsey finds he is able to beat his daughter in chess. Then he notices he can recall books with photo clarity and remembers conversations from years ago. He has improved focus, concentration, intuition, and can multi-task without defaulting to autopilot.  Physically, his body improves as well - his bones get denser, his muscles leaner and larger, he has higher pain tolerance and resistance against various diseases. But, while the upgrade Ramsey has received seems good, he doesn't know who is responsible or why. And when he finds himself held in a black sight by his employer and later broken out by a mysterious, and seemingly equally upgraded fighter, Ramsey knows he is involved in a much deeper endeavor. 

Crouch writes an easy read that tackles questions like climate change and the dark side of technology. Existential questions like how much damage can be done to help the greater good underlie his futuristic thrill. He also has an interesting take on how isolated Ramsey becomes as the result of his enhancements. The story moves along at a good pace, but is a bit over the top with some of the abilities Ramsey develops. It's a interesting premise and kept me reading, but you may have to push the "I want to believe" button a time or two.    

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

This is a book that I feel like I should have read years ago, but somehow I missed that lesson in school. It's one of those books that is referenced a lot in pop culture so I felt it was time for me to familiarize myself with the source material. 

It's funny, after the first page, I thought, "I like this guy! He's entertaining to listen to." That lasted maybe...10 pages? If that? I gotta tell you, Holden Caulfield got old REAL fast. I realized he was one of those weirdos you give a wide berth after he walked through a playground, saw some kids on a see-saw, and decided to just help out by pushing the lighter end of the seesaw. No "hey buddy, let me help you" or anything like that. Just weird, random dude, walking around a playground "helping" the kids. Creepy.

I thought it was strange too that he would go to clubs or ride in taxi cabs and invite the singer or driver to come have a drink. He reeked of desperation. He's also one of those people that's too cool for school and doesn't have interest in the things kids his age have interest in. Football games? Nah. Fraternities? Lame. Conversation? Only if it's something of interest to him. Something of substance in his opinion. 

Which would be fine, but his conversations are awful. In one, he calls up a girlfriend and takes her out and tells her that she's a royal pain in the ass when she says she doesn't want to just up and run away with him. Then he calls up an old friend and pesters him about his sex life multiple times even after the poor guy repeatedly tells him to stop. And Holden literally begs, "Have just one more drink...please. I'm lonesome as hell. No kidding." And in a conversation with the one person that actually likes him, his little sister, she keeps asking him to stop swearing and he ignores her. And at least two different people complained he was talking too loud and he just ignores them. He is the worst. 

And the way he talks is like an 80 year old curmudgeonly woman. He sounds like my grandmother, God rest her soul. But her complaints were tolerated because she was old and had bad knees and lived a sucky, hard life. He complains about the piano player at a bar who plays the piano stinking and an old classmate who was one of the biggest bores he ever met, and a phony movie he saw. and the lousy light from the street lamp, and his stupid aunt, and the phony party, and the bartender who is a big snob and doesn't talk to people, but when he does talk to people he's even more nauseating. I just can't.

And he constantly repeats himself. For example, "He adapts himself very well to things. He really does. I mean he really knows how to adapt himself." Or "I thought maybe I might give old Jane another buzz and see if she was home yet. I mean I had the whole evening free, and I thought I'd give her a buzz and, if she was home yet..." Or this gem, "What would he do to me? I mean what would he do to me?"

I have to admit, I didn't get what the book was about. I read it and thought, "nothing really happened." I just know what Holden did for 2 days in New York after being kicked out of school because he was too afraid to face his parents. But g'dam, it was like I was stuck in a room with him for days when one minute would have been more than enough. Sure, there's a lot of imagery you could analyze about the loss of innocence and youth, but Holden stinks. So I don't want to linger on the finer details. It seems like a book that could be fun to discuss in a class, but absent that, it's just an annoying 2 days with a guy with a grating personality.