From Ha Jin, the widely-acclaimed, award-winning author of Waiting and War Trash, comes a novel that takes his fiction to a new setting: 1990s America. We follow the Wu family--father Nan, mother Pingping, and son Taotao--as they fully sever their ties with China in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and begin a new, free life in the United States. At first, their future seems well-assured--Nan's graduate work in political science at Brandeis University would guarantee him a teaching position in China--but after the fallout from Tiananmen, Nan's disillusionment turns him towards his first love, poetry. Leaving his studies, he takes on a variety of menial jobs while Pingping works for a wealthy widow as a cook and housekeeper. As Nan struggles to adapt to a new language and culture, his love of poetry and literature sustains him through difficult, lean years. Ha Jin creates a moving, realistic, but always hopeful narrative as Nan moves from Boston to New York to Atlanta, ever in search of financial stability and success, even in a culture that sometimes feels oppressive and hostile. As Pingping and Taotao slowly adjust to American life, Nan still feels a strange, paradoxical attachment to his homeland, though he violently disagrees with Communist policy. And severing all ties--including his love for a woman who rejected him in his youth--proves to be more difficult than he could have ever imagined. Ha Jin's prodigious talents are evident in this powerful new book, which brilliantly brings to life the struggles and successes that characterize the contemporary immigrant experience. With its lyrical prose and confident grace, A Free Life is a luminous addition to the works of one of the preeminent writers in America today.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
A Life of Waiting...:
I read this book expecting the literary writing of Ha Jin's book, Waiting. I loved that book. This book is very different and the language feels more cumbersome, but much of that I think is by design as it is told through the narrator often in broken English. I did like it for it's every day struggles with making a living. I thought some of those scenes went on too long, but then that seemed to be his point - that every day living is boring when your heart is someplace else and you've sacrificed your dream.... more info
This Author Teaches Creative Writing?:
Unfortunately this is my first experience with this writer. I found the story a collection of fragments as suggested by other reviewers. Also, I found it terribly-written. I agree with another reviewer who said "better stick to your own language." It wasn't that anything was glaringly wrong, but every sentence was short as if he didn't trust himself to write more complex thoughtful longer ones. And sometimes I felt words were used merely to impress as Nan himself would have done. But these show-off words... more info
Low key but great:
If you prefer intense movies, loud music, drama, and constant stimulation this might not be the book for you. I loved it. It was like real life; generally pretty low-key, so you have to find the beauty in what's there, rather than being slapped in the face by it. It's not a noisy book. The spare prose that others have mentioned helps this; you have to think about what's being said, and can fill in the gaps on the characters. The conclusion that one's life is really what one assembles out of the pieces... more info
A Charming Portrayal of Immigrant Life:
Jin's superb writing skill is what makes this book so charming. It is a straightforward and often emotional narrative about Nan Wu, his wife Pingping, and their son Taotao, who emigrate from China to America after the Tiananmen Square massacre. Nan struggles to disengage himself from his former nationalism while pursuing the American dream for his family. He finds menial success doing different jobs in Boston and New York before relocating his family to Atlanta where he owns his first home and a business... more info
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