The debut novel from critically-acclaimed and New York Timesbestselling author Chang-rae Lee.
In Native Speaker, author Chang-rae Lee introduces readers to Henry Park. Park has spent his entire life trying to become a true American—a native speaker. But even as the essence of his adopted country continues to elude him, his Korean heritage seems to drift further and further away.
Park's harsh Korean upbringing has taught him to hide his emotions, to remember everything he learns, and most of all to feel an overwhelming sense of alienation. In other words, it has shaped him as a natural spy.
But the very attributes that help him to excel in his profession put a strain on his marriage to his American wife and stand in the way of his coming to terms with his young son's death. When he is assigned to spy on a rising Korean-American politician, his very identity is tested, and he must figure out who he is amid not only the conflicts within himself but also within the ethnic and political tensions of the New York City streets.
Native Speaker is a story of cultural alienation. It is about fathers and sons, about the desire to connect with the world rather than stand apart from it, about loyalty and betrayal, about the alien in all of us and who we finally are.
Winner of the 1995 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award
Chang-rae Lee is the author of Native Speaker, winner of the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for first fiction, A Gesture Life, Aloft, and The Surrendered, winner of the Dayton Peace Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Selected by The New Yorker as one of the twenty best writers under forty, Chang-rae Lee teaches writing at Princeton University.
Lee and his family emigrated from Seoul, South Korea to the United States in 1968. His family settled in Westchester, New York, and Lee eventually attended Yale and the University of Oregon, where he earned his M.F.A.
Native Speaker is a story about a Korean-American detective, Henry Park, whose investigative eye is eventually turned upon himself. The novel takes a challenging look at Park's effort reconcile his two cultures in an even larger culturally diverse setting, New York City. The language is simple, yet the reader is allowed a deep and intriguing look inside the head of the main character, the politics that affect him, and his struggles with love and cultures. The New York Times called Lee's debut "highly original," and the Literary Review raved, "... Native Speaker seems like a new kind of novel, the plainsong of unassimilated man, and in the murmur of his nascent voice is the soft clash of borders."
In 1999, Lee's second novel, A Gesture Life continued the themes of identity and assimilation. Lee wrote the novel over the course of four years, although it was originally about the experience of a Korean "comfort woman," forced to sexually service invading Japanese soldiers. Lee traveled to Korea and interviewed surviving comfort women, but two years into the novel, one of the characters, previously considered a minor one, captured Lee's imagination and wouldn't let go. Remarkably, Lee abandoned everything he had written except for one character -- Doc Hata.
Franklin "Doc" Hata is a reserved, older physician, Korean by birth, raised in Japan, and now living in New York City. Only after much needling by his daughter, Doc Hata begins to reveal his painful secrets: his time as a medic in the Japanese army during World War II, his love for one of the Korean comfort women, and the guilt that has kept him silent for most of his life. It's an unforgettable story, and The New York Times called the book "... a work of astonishing psychological acuity and compassion."
With the 2004 release of Lee's Aloft, once again, readers are treated to a portrait of a man in the throes of a reconciliation. Readers who expect Lee's novels to deal exclusively with Asian Americans will be pleasantly surprised to see the author flex his writing skills with the creation of Jerry Battle, the semi-retired head of a (mostly) white Long Island family. On the ground, Battle is inundated with family bickering, his upcoming 60th birthday, and the mystery surrounding his wife's death. Aloft in his small private plane, Battle escapes all of this, although only temporarily. His is the story of how to cope with responsibility -- to the past, and to the unknown.
Lee a writer and a teacher, as well as the director of the M.F.A. Program at Hunter College of City University in New York City. Those fortunate enough to be his students get to learn from the man who knows the stuff of human nature -- that the aftereffect of any act is the core of every great story, and that even the most conventional characters can bear the weight of unconventional story lines.
Anonymous
Posted May 17, 2004
Chang-rae Lee has a gift for being able to capture people as they are, while using them to demonstrate entire cultures. The relationship between Lelia and Henry is not just one of wife and husband but represents the dynamic between American and Korean-American cultures. Lee's sudden jumps to different times and places can be confusing, but flawlessly captures the human mind's inability to remain in the present for any lenght of time.
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Posted May 13, 2004
We read Native Speaker as a text in The Literature of Immigration class at our college. Chang-rae Lee uses meticulous, deliberate diction. Native Speaker is captivating. It keeps the reader in suspense and engaged with the character of Henry or with the conflicts in the story. Lee also brings out the struggles of cultural awareness and acceptance. Characters are carefully crafted and constructed with multiple facets of their personalities which allows the reader to identify with their own conflicts. Native Speaker was well written with complex ideas and themes presented in a simple and concise manner. We highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to relate to the cultural differences and conflicts that arise for many immigrants while adjusting to a new country.
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Posted May 17, 2004
This book was based on a list of 17 traits written by Henry Park's wife to describe his personality. As you read this book, you begin to realize that every aspect in each scene throughout relates to one or more of Henry's assumed traits. Lee took a list and turned it into a book! Brilliant!
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Posted May 17, 2004
Chang-rae Lee's novel is a well constructed example of the modular, methodical thinking of a spy. As he recounts the detail of the events as they have transpired, he makes certain to leave out nothing and his recall is flawless. The process is painstakingly slow. But it is in these meticulous details that the story both evolves and eventually ensnares its readers. It is within this deconstruction that we become aware of the Korean/Asian culture and what Stew labels as Henry's 'circumspect' nature. This story is both intriguing and thought provoking, especially as you delve deeper into the mind of an immigrant, particularly one of Asian descent. This is an Asian perspective regarding Asians in America. It illustrates a desire to assimilate into an environment in which one continuously feels alien.
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Posted May 5, 2010
As an immigrant, this book was very relatable to me and the experience of being western and Asian at the same time. The plot was interesting, at times thrilling. The idea that people exist doing the work the character does is fascinating by itself. Overall a very interesting, generally well-written book. I did occasionally have to re-read sentences because the sentence ran on, or the phrasing was different. But was glad to have read this and learned a little more about myself.
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Posted November 18, 2003
I, as well as another persons I read, had to read this book for my honors 10 english class. Although, I loved this book. It was graphic, but it really gave the story an edge that I simply loved! Chang-Rae Lee is an excellent writer, in my opinion.
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Posted October 11, 2001
This is the first book I've bought in a long, long time that has really touched me. There is such a beautiful simplicity in the language Mr. Lee uses, but the pain and alienation of his characters comes out just as clearly as if he were as wordy as Thomas Woolfe. This is a stellar accomplishment with the same far-reaching social implications of Elison's 'Invisible Man.' A masterwork from an important new voice.
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Posted April 9, 2001
The book is wonderfully written. If you are a korean and was raised in a traditional family, you will be able to relate to what is said in the book. The book starts slow and ends quickly. A wonderful book to read.
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Posted February 6, 2001
Mr. Lee's debut was successful. This is the story about the man who's in search of his true identity even though there is no intention or consciousness of his own. I guess this man is confused and has just begun to listen to his heart murmuring something to him, vaguely though. Even when I finished the last page of the volume, the story seemed never to be started yet. Rather, the man's journey is beginning at that moment. Great and a bit lighter pleasure for those who have enjoyed Kundera's works.
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Posted December 14, 2000
I had to read this book for school, and it was pretty graphic (I think) to have sophomores read in an english class (although it is honors). Some explicit sex scenes, and kindaof confusing plot.
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Posted August 26, 2010
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Overview
The debut novel from critically-acclaimed and New York Timesbestselling author Chang-rae Lee.
In Native Speaker, author Chang-rae Lee introduces readers to Henry Park. Park has spent his entire life trying to become a true American—a native speaker. But even as the essence of his adopted country continues to elude him, his Korean heritage seems to drift further and further away.
Park's harsh Korean upbringing has taught him to hide his ...