Native Speaker by Chang-rae Lee Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Native Speaker
Book Review: A rare find
Summary: 5 Stars
Chang-Rae Lee supplies so many levels to this tale of political espionage that the reader cannot help but emerge wiser. Lee is an engaging storyteller, hooking the reader with the first line and never relinquishing his grip, giving his readers a suspenseful plot, compelling characters, precise language, and an exploration of issues facing America today. The metaphor of the second-generation American as spy is simply brilliant. This book is a rare find: a page-turner with real substance.
Book Review: A remarkable debut for a young writer
Summary: 5 Stars
The story of Henry Park is very much the manifestation of existential crisis that immigrants live in our North American society. Henry is a complex man who is constantly fitted "into the wrong picture", without him realizing it. Some of the characters portray very well the simple-minded yet stoic immigrants who work hard in order to adapt themselves into the social fabric of a cosmopolitan society. Also remarkable is the honesty of the author in describing the racial frictions between the different ethnic and racial groups and how this affects the pettiness of "minority politics". Overall, a well-written novel.Book Review: A talented and insightful new writer!
Summary: 4 Stars
Henry Park, the son of a Korean grocer who lives in New York, is deserted suddenly by his Caucasian American wife. Reflecting back on his life and and the events that lead him to this situation, he considers the way deceipt over his vocation has clouded his marriage. He reviews how his life had been when his dad was alive, when his son was alive, and the lack of understanding by his wife of his Korean culture. A pervading sense of something having gone wrong opens this book. The search for its cause and more details is the powerful driving force behind this intriguing first novel. Its finest characteristic, however, is the way in which the author expresses what it feels like to be an ethnic Korean growing up in America---the alienation, the anguish, the longing to be a necessary part of the wider culture. It addresses the dichotomy of two divergent cultures that must be embraced by the child of an American immigrant who strives to improve his station in life, the tension that exists between Asians and non-Asians who find themselves living and working side by side, and the intergenerational clash that often occurs between the immigrant generation and its children. NATIVE SPEAKER is an absorbing story and a welcome addition to any growing collection of Asian-American literature.
Book Review: A very smart and conflicted book
Summary: 4 Stars
I thought this was one of the most intelligent and honest books about the Korean American experience I have ever read. Other books, with memoir style perspectives, have explored the generational conflict and cultural and geographic displacement a Korean American may feel, but Lee does not seem comfortable speaking in the existing dialogue about immigrant experience, but instead includes that particular voice as a part of his inner dialogue--this discomfort is why the use of the espionage genre works so well.
This book is about a man who in the end does not seem to exist, but not in the "quiet Asian man" way we typically hear about in Asian American discussion; also, the main character's subversive behavior is not a reaction to feelings of frustration stemming from marginalization.
The man does not exist because he cannot face his other faces.
As a character whose occupation is to act as a spy, he finds his job natural, but also problematic. The problem is that he does not feel strongly connected to any one identity; at least, not one with a face--he crosses from hating his father as a symbol of all that is old and prideful to admiring an up and coming Korean American politician as a symbol of a "Korean Man" he would like to meet, or perhaps, become. The problem reaches its climax when both men merge and are in the end, elusive to their supposed symbols.
Native Speaker struck me as honest because it came out and said what it had to say: I cannot relate to any discussion about Korean American identity, because I believe the search for identity in these terms is futile.
I do not walk by Lee's side on this point, but I believe he's on to something, and also, that he is brave for expressing it so passionately.
Book Review: An American Tragedy
Summary: 5 Stars
If you read a great deal, you recognize that only a few books are truly profound and will be regarded as noteworthy among those written in a particular era. Having just finished "Native Speaker" I was both moved, and extremely impressed. This is clearly one of the distinguished books of this generation.Chang Rae Lee is clearly a man of acute depth and insights, and he eloquently represents distinctly different cultures, and the angst, disillusionment, and metamorphisis arising from survival that affects immigrants. He also probes fundamental issues of family, loyalty, betrayal, and the question of what constitutes success. While he employs Korean, and Korean American prototypes, his themes and issues are fundamentally human, but perhaps distinctly American.
Furthermore, Lee is a superb wordsmith and a beautiful writer, with a masterful command of the English language, which he skillfully and artistically, employs to convey his complex tale and profound concepts.
I was motivated to read this book when I read that this was the book that had been recommended by many as that which diverse, fractious, and iconoclastic NYC should claim as it's own in the trend for each of the nation's cities to focus on a book to read. However, this is an important book for all Americans, as it trully speaks to the American experience. I noted one review compared it to Ellison's "Invisible Man". While I think that it stands alone, if I were to compare it with other American classics they would instead be Dreiser's "An American Tragedy" and Richard Wright's "Native Son". I am very pleased that I chose to read this book; it is noble, touching, and important.