Native Speaker by Chang-rae Lee Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Native Speaker
Book Review: Magnificent!
Summary: 5 Stars
Bravo to the ingenious writer, Lee. I, an American, would never have come any close to understanding the culture of the minority, if it were not to be for this novel.Book Review: Masterful
Summary: 5 Stars
As a writer, I was awed by the skill with which this author told his story. One of the most masterfully written stories I've ever read. Dana BagshawBook Review: More than just an "Asian" book
Summary: 5 Stars
Too many times, minority authors will fall into the trap of telling a story that just involves explaining their background to their audience. Chang-Rae Lee incorporates this into his book, but it is the taut mystery/thriller storyline that really drives the novel. His protagonist is not perfect, nor is he a Korean "EveryMan". He is a wonderfully complex character, an intelligence gatherer for a shadowy think-tank. I would whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone who likes tense, turn-paging novels.Book Review: More than the sum of its parts.
Summary: 5 Stars
Chang-Rae Lee blends three genres - the immingrant experience, a spy thriller, and the story of a relationship - seamlessly into one beautifully worded book.Book Review: Native Speaker: A Post Asian American Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
Chang-rae Lee's Native Speaker is arguably one of the most beautifully written books of the 20th Century. Written when Lee was only 28 years old as his MFA thesis project, Native Speaker is a moving and often painful account of the immigrant/1.5 generation's experience in the United States. While the book moves back and forth between Henry Park's life as a spy and his relationship with his estranged wife, Lelia, the underlying theme encompassing the entire novel is that of the invisibility and displacement of Asian Americans in the United States.
While some reviewers have deemed Henry's career as a spy a curious or strange career, anyone familiar with the invisiblity of the Asian American population in the United States will appreciate and empathize with this career choice. As a spy, Henry's job is to be invisible, the unseen. As a first generation Korean American in the United States, Henry is often the unseen minority who because of his skin color and the stereotypes of the quiet, passive, model minority keep him in the background of society. In sum, the entire novel as well as Henry himself serve as a metaphor and commentary of the invisibility of Asian Americans in the United States, while in reality they are a large percentage of society with the immigrant population continuing to grow.
In addition to crafting a story commenting on Asian Americans in the United States, Lee also created an interracial relationship between Henry and Lelia (Scotch American) free of the exoticism and/or fetishism often found in stories involving interracial relationships. While there is little doubt that Henry loves Lelia, their relationship often causes him to undergo feelings of self-contempt and inferiorty as he fears his Korean ethnicity, Asian race, and perceived imperfect English mark him as less than an equal partner. While Lelia is free with her emotions and wishes for Henry to react in the same way, his upbrining in a somewhat violent as well as verbally repressed family often causes him to react to emotional situations with stoicism and silence. Thus, while Henry and Lelia are perfectly matched in many ways, they must still negotiate their differences in culture and ethnicity. The ethnic and cultural differences that the couple face are perhaps most apparent in their diverging beliefs on how to raise their mixed race son. Here, Henry's feelings of inferiorty surface as he worries that his son will look too Korean, will not speak perfect English, and will be subject to the same kind of abuse Henry suffered as a child. On the contrary, while Lelia becomes more consciousness of her whiteness and the privilege it carries after becoming a mother to an Korean American child, she is the one who encourages Mitt's learning about his culture as well as the Korean language.
With the creation of Henry and Lelia's child, Mitt, Lee provides a commentary and his own take on the Eurasian character so often depicted in Anglo as well as Asian American literature as the "tragic" Eurasian, "yellow peril," or the "best of both worlds." Lee's foray into expanding the definition of Asian American (which he continues to do in his later novels, A Gesture Life and Aloft) begins with Mitt as the Hapa child and the first mixed child born of both families.
Finally, Native Speaker should not solely be classified as Asian American fiction but must be categorized as "American" literature (a category so exclusive that only one Asian American writer to date has been admitted) as it expands beyond the Korean American and Asian American experience to include anyone who remains invisible while striving for visibility and recognition (i.e., all immigrants/refugees at one time or another living in America),and stands out as one of the best written works of the 20th century and beyond, as the prose places Lee is a category of writers whose skill with manipulating and crafting the English language draws readers in and touches them to the core. Native Speaker is truly one of those rare books you can pick up at any time, read any page and become instantly absorbed.