Historical fiction · Similar reads
Books like Pachinko
The best books like Pachinko are A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, The Warmth of Other Suns, and Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is about generational trauma, identity and belonging, discrimination and perseverance. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
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A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Ishmael Beah · Memoir
Ishmael Beah was twelve years old when the Sierra Leone civil war reached his village and he was separated from his family.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Warmth of Other Suns
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Isabel Wilkerson · Memoir
Isabel Wilkerson's account of the Great Migration — the movement of six million Black Americans from the South to the North and West between 1915 and 1970 — is one of the most important works of narrative nonfiction published in the twenty-first century.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
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Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari · History
Sapiens traces the full arc of human history from the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa roughly 70,000 years ago to the present.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - Killers of the Flower Moon
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David Grann · History
In the 1920s, members of the Osage Nation in northeastern Oklahoma were being murdered.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - Homegoing
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Yaa Gyasi · Historical fiction
Homegoing begins in eighteenth-century Ghana with two half-sisters who never meet.
Both dig into generational trauma.
Read the summary → - A Darker Shade of Magic
06
V.E. Schwab · Fantasy
A Darker Shade of Magic is set across four parallel versions of London — Red, Grey, White, and the long-destroyed Black — each existing in the same location but separated by the barriers between worlds.
Both dig into identity and belonging.
Read the summary → - East of Eden
07
John Steinbeck · Literary fiction
East of Eden is Steinbeck's self-declared masterwork, a long and ambitious novel published in 1952 that traces two families — the Trasks and the Hamiltons — across two generations in California's Salinas Valley.
Both dig into generational trauma.
Read the summary → - Exit West
08
Mohsin Hamid · Literary fiction
Exit West follows Saeed and Nadia, two young people who meet and fall in love in an unnamed city beginning to fracture under the pressure of civil conflict.
Both dig into identity and belonging.
Read the summary → - Hello Beautiful
09
Ann Napolitano · Literary fiction
Hello Beautiful follows four generations of the Padavano family, beginning in Chicago in the 1920s and ending in the early 2000s.
Both dig into generational trauma.
Read the summary → - Little Fires Everywhere
10
Celeste Ng · Contemporary fiction
In Shaker Heights, Ohio — a meticulously planned, deliberately integrated suburb — two families collide.
Both dig into identity and belonging.
Read the summary → - Oliver Twist
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Charles Dickens · Classics
Oliver Twist is the story of an orphan born in a workhouse who runs away from an abusive apprenticeship, falls in with a gang of thieves in London, and — in Dickens's scheme — is eventually rescued and restored to his rightful identity.
Both dig into identity and belonging.
Read the summary → - Part of Your World
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Abby Jimenez · Romance
Part of Your World opens with Dr.
Both dig into identity and belonging.
Read the summary →
Books like Pachinko: quick answers
What are the best books like Pachinko?
The best books like Pachinko by Min Jin Lee are A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with Pachinko, such as generational trauma, identity and belonging, discrimination and perseverance.
What should I read after Pachinko?
A natural next read after Pachinko is A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. A kindred historical fiction read. Other strong choices are The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann.
What books are similar to Pachinko by Min Jin Lee?
Pachinko centers on generational trauma, identity and belonging, discrimination and perseverance. Books with a similar feel include A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
