text: I read this book after Pachinko. Pachinko is a masterpiece. This book did not set out to be a masterpiece, but has everything I like in a story. However, although the characters are quite interesting at face value, they had a way of leaving my head so that I had to remind myself who they were. That doesn’t usually happen to me. This is an earlier novel by a writer of great ability, and a lot better than most books out there.