Rating: 
Summary: Good but not that good.
Review: The best part of the book is this: the prose. Native Speaker is, at times, very beautiful and lyrical. However, there is a dearth of everything else. I couldn't help but be disappointed as I flipped p. 349 to its conclusion.
Rating: 
Summary: A learning experience
Review: I picked up a copy of this book after reading rave reviews in England about his second novel, A Gesture Life. I thought I'd read Native Speaker first. I was not disappointed. I know the comparison to Kazuo Ishiguro has been made a thousand times but stylistically it has to be said that they do share a calm, measured prose which gives the reader a strong path through a jungle of emotions, memories and misunderstandings. Also, like the narrators of Ishiguro's first three novels, Lee's narrator here does not seem to see all that we as the reader can see, he does not always read the actions of those around him as we might. The narrator, a Korean-American, has a lot on his plate. He is working as a private detective whilst coming to terms with the death of his child and trying to save his marriage to a white American. I personally learnt a lot about the Korean-American community in New York from this novel. Obviously I cannot say how accurate it is and other reviewers of this book have questioned its accuracy. However, it opened my eyes to a side of the city which no film or book has ever told me about. Again, like Ishiguro's books, you come out at the other end feeling a bit hazy, not quite sure what to make of it. The only reason I gave this four stars instead of five is that I found it quite hard-going at times. The prose does not run quite as smoothly as Ishiguro's. Having said that I will certainly read his second novel and would recommend this to people looking for a new writer with new perspectives.
Rating:
Summary: A Strange Companion
Review: Chang-Rae Lee weaves from his past experiences and present ones seamlessly, present experiences colored by his past, nothing in life is untouched by his mixed identity. The relationship with his white wife is artificial and not convincing neither is his role as a spy. But the strength of the book does not lie in the believability of his wife or his job - they are simply tools to tell a story. The story of a Korean - American who's a cultural spy who tries all his life to assimilate himself into the American culture. It is an honest story of a second generation Korean-American. This is my story and it is not my story. Chang-Rae paints the first generation Koreans with a very broad brush. I can relate to the alienation, emotional and social, the confusion, the struggle for self-identity that "Americans" will never have to go through as a wide faced yellow boy. But I grew up without a father and a very loving and very unstereotypical mother, who was affirming and strong at the same time. This book does not tell my story but it is not meant to, Chang-Rae Lee tells only his story. But it is a companion on a journey to find my place in a semi-strange land. The irony is that "an emotional alien" makes a bad companion. Chang-Rae never seems to break out from the underneath his emotional-aloofness and only shares his observations as an outsider.
Rating:
Summary: Literary Review of Native Speaker
Review: This novel depicts the problems involving alienation, isolation, and self-identity crisis that the immigrants face as the minority and outsiders in the American society. This novel takes the structure of detective fiction, developing a story of a spy who investigates an ambitious politician. Its main action concerns an amazingly charismatic New York City councilman, John Kwang, the idol of thousands of immigrant voters in his home district of Queens. Someone wants to see him go down, and it is Henry's job to provide the dirty laundry. Also this story of trust and betrayal is connected together with other, more delicate threads: his troubled relationship with his traditional Korean father, his troubled marriage to his American wife? His Confucian inability to express live to either of them except through silence. Beautifully written and intriguingly plotted, the novel interweaves politics, love, family, and loss as Park starts to make sense of the rhythm of his life. As he does, his experiences illuminate the many-layered immigrant experience in general, and the Asian immigrant experience in particular, in a way that many readers will understand and appreciate. Through the life of Henry Park, the author exposes the alienation and isolation that many immigrants and their children faces from the American society. Also he depicts the conflicts between 1st generation immigrants and 2nd generation America-born children caused from the cultural differences and the incompatible perspectives toward their lives. Through the motif of a spy, the author successfully creates feeling of uncertainty of identity and place from a point view of a perpetual outcast looking at American culture from a distance. Beginning to fear That he has betrayed both Korean and American worlds and belong to neither, the only thing that Henry Park acquired from his life as a spy and an outsider is the confirmation of his true identity filled with pain and sorrow. There are many qualities of this novel that resembles the qualities of Romanticism of Great Gatzby as Henry Park, the hero of the novel, quests for truth of his identity and displays a strong disbelief toward civilization and love toward the nature. Also Henry Park has some characteristics of the hero of Hemingway such as NADA, inability to sleep during night, and the belief of grace under pressure. Who am I? This question is thrown to the author, Chang-rae Lee himself as well as to Henry Park. Even though he immigrated to United States when he was only three, graduated from the Yale University, and established himself as Native Speaker who uses the English as his native language, he still feels that he is an outsider who can not assimilate into American society. For this sense, we could view this novel as author's honest experience of his life. The novel Native Speaker approaches the readers as an important meaning for it deals with racial problem, a peculiar aspect of American society, and boldly exposes the alienation of modern people.
Rating:
Summary: The Outsider
Review: In his adaptation of the modern spy novel, Chang Rae Lee exemplifies the life of a non-native speaker in the United States. Henry, the protagonist of the novel, has just been left by his wife and has also just failed a major project in his career. Henry's career is not that of normal people, he is, in fact, a spy. This choice of work becomes a symbol for the lives of immigrants. Lee is often criticized for not making the spy portion of the novel as believable as possible. This is not a problem because of the way he masterfully weaves together the different plots found within the novel. While telling of his troubles at work, he speaks of problems with his wife, father, and with society. These problems are the same faced by many immigrants, especially Korean Americans. Because he is a member of the 1.5 generation himself, Lee is able to show the feelings felt by others like him. These feelings become the main focus of the novel as Lee shows that immigrants are often seen but not recognized as normal people. Henry feels this way and the novel reveals the hardships found in the lives of people that are not native speakers of the language. The term "native speaker" comes to describe not only the spoken language, but also the very way that Americans live and act. Although this novel may seem lengthy to some it is well worth the time. The book helps to reveal the undeserved treatment that is often given to those that we see as different. It also helps to make the reader more accepting by showing how devastating just one unkind word can be.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly Surprised
Review: I must begin by admitting that I did not come to this book of my own accord, and I cannot say it is one that I would have chosen of my own initiative. Fortunately, however, my experience with Chang Rae Lee's Native Speaker proved to be overwhelmingly positive. Native Speaker tells the story of Henry Park via Park's own first-person account detailing his life as a "spy." In what you may not recognize as standard 'spy-novel' fare, Lee delves beyond the accounts of daily life to address the implications of Henry's occupation, his relationships both past and present, and his identity. The question: Who is Henry Park? Becomes a central theme, adding to the intrigue of the external narrative. The reader is given sufficient information to formulate what they believe to be Henry's identity, but at the same time are left with the requisite uncertainty to maintain their interest.Equally intriguing is the voice chosen by Lee. The language of the narrative is poetic in its lyricism. Lee develops the settings of the action with remarkable precision and clarity without allowing the language to detract from the action. Several parallel plots are skillfully interwoven, guiding the reader along and masterfully avoiding any confusion. Writing as an Asian-American, himself, Chang Rae Lee is comfortable addressing the questions surrounding the cultural identity of a minority without resorting to an allegorical tone. Lee does slip into trope, however, at times such as the attribution of messianic significance to Henry's bi-racial son. The reader is willing to forgive these rare occurrences as minor weaknesses within an otherwise extremely well-crafted novel. On the whole, Native Speaker is an artfully constructed work that addresses complicated issues within the framework of an engaging narrative. I highly recommend this book to any discerning reader wishing to be entertained.
Rating: 
Summary: A rare find
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: dark, fragmented, introspective, and brilliant
Review: I read some of the past reviews about this book, and as expected there are criticisms about this work being fragmented and incohesive. My counter-point to all this is as follows: I think it is suppose to be that way. This work renders often the unexplored or unsaid in growing up and living in America as an Asian American.
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical, but too autobiographical
Review: A work of fiction should transport the reader beyond the world we perceive around us. When a writer of fiction fails to do this, he is merely recording his initial impressions which may be true but antithetical to fiction. Those initial impressions must be wrought into something almost unrecognizable, otherworldly if you like, and made to serve the structure of the novel. I must confess that there were aspects of Chang Rae-Lee's novel that I found deeply moving because of their familiarity (I'm Korean American), but speaking as a student of the novel form, I found the book to be a lyrical autobiography with a smattering of artifice (the stuff of fiction) to give it a flavor but not the taste of genuine fiction.
Rating:
Summary: see it for what it is
Review: I am compelled to respond to some of the criticism this book received on this review site. That somehow this book is no good because it's too Korean-American. Don't forget, in fact, keep remembering that the author, Chang-Rae Lee is a Korean-American. Everything he writes will be from his own experience and thinking as a Korean-American. That is who he is. Surely, you could not have expected Martin Luther King, Jr. to think like a white American or Charles Dickens to write a great novel about a chinese merchant in Shanghai. A reader must see this novel as a unique product of a Korean-American experience. That's what makes it so personal and subsequently enjoyable.
|
