Pachinko Balls

29-year-old Claire, who lives in Europe, is heading to Tokyo for the summer to visit her grandparents. Deep down, she nurtures a long-held dream: to take them to Korea, their homeland from which they fled more than fifty years ago... during the civil war. Occasionally, the girl visits the Korean district in Tokyo, and also spends time with little Mieko. While teaching the girl French, the protagonist tries to recall the language of her ancestors. Faced with silence and oblivion, Claire wants to restore the connections that were destroyed decades ago by the ruthless force of history. Eliza Dushapen's precise and concise style immerses the reader in an atmosphere of tenderness on one side and hidden violence on the other. She wonderfully describes the ambivalence inherent in family relationships, where love sometimes coexists with cruelty.