As a fan of "Pachinko," the internationally acclaimed novel by Min Jin Lee, I closely followed news of its adaptation and eagerly awaited to see how the main character, Sunja, would be brought to life on the screen. What I wasn't expecting from the Apple TV+ adaptation, however, was how much I'd relate Sunja's experiences to that of my own grandparents.
In the first few episodes of the show alone, we see three different versions of Sunja — Sunja as a precocious only child, bright-eyed and pragmatic in facing the harsh realities of Japanese-occupied Korea, Sunja as a carefree teenager who fatefully catches the eye of a handsome stranger in a fish market, and an elderly Sunja as a grandmother in Osaka, preparing for a homebound journey to spread her sister-in-law's ashes.
