Rating: 
Summary: A remarkable second novel from a talented new writer
Review: Chang-Rae Lee's "A Gesture Life" is filled with the memory of pain, loss, regret and longing but not defeat or depression. The feeling of displacement or alienation suffered by Dr Hata, first as an adopted child in a Japanese household and later as an alien intruder into American society, is mirrored in his turbulent years bringing up his own adopted daughter, Sunny, whose ingratitude and hostility seems inexplicable but is ultimately rooted in the same cause. His sense of not belonging has denied him the confidence to develop any real relationships with people around him. His tentative friendship and courtship of the widow, Mary Burns, evocatively detailed, is filled with wry regret and unfulfillment. He is scarred by his surprising but tragic war time love affair with the young comfort woman (K) but also learns from the experience the devastating truth of the most cruel discrimination visited upon Korean immigrants who have settled in Japan but continued to be regarded as aliens by their hosts. Hence, his retreat into polite civilian life in America after the war and content with being merely an observer, always on the outside looking in but never quite participating or engaging. He avoids surprises, choosing a life of routine of work and daily exercise. It is only through the persistent attempt by decent people like Liv and Renny to reach out to him that finally restores his confidence in building long lasting relationships. The union between these not-so-young younger folks is a poignant reminder of how it might have been between Dr Hata and Mary. Lee manages the time shift between past and present congruously. Whilst the war time episode is by far the more dramatic, it is the present day panning out of Dr Hata's life in his adoptive community that is the more revealing and satisfying. Lee is a tremendously gifted writer. His prose is smooth as silk and flows so naturally you feel yourself riding the emotional waves with Dr Hata. "A Gesture Life" is a wonderful second novel from Lee and one that I would recommend without hesitation to anyone who loves good literature. A remarkable literary achievement.
Rating:
Summary: Understated and Melancholy
Review: I just read Chang-rae Lee's third novel, ALOFT, and I didn't really like it, but I especially liked this, his second novel, A GESTURE LIFE. A GESTURE LIFE is a quiet book, filled with deep emotion that is beautifully written and marvelously understated.The protagonist of A GESTURE LIFE is Franklin "Doc" Hata, a man of Korean parentage who was adopted by a wealthy Japanese couple and grew up in Japan. Hata, himself, though never married, adopted a racially mixed daughter, Sunny, whom he pushes to excel just as his own adoptive parents pushed him. Sunny, however, proves to be a bit more rebellious than was Hata. When A GESTURE LIFE opens, Franklin Hata, now retired, is living in Bedley Run, New York, a pillar of respectability and decorum. He takes very good care of his lovely home, he's polite to his neighbors and he was almost venerated by the customers who came into his shop. Hata, however, may have missed out on much of life simply because an incident in his youth caused him to "play it safe" and refuse to take chances. Better to live a peaceful, quiet life, albeit a lonely one, reasons Hata, than expose oneself to the pain of heartbreak. One of the things I liked most about A GESTURE LIFE is the fact that Lee constantly cuts back and forth between Hata's life "now" in Bedley Run and his youth in Japan. In this way, we learn who Franklin Hata really is and why he makes the choices he does, for even in Japan, Hata felt like an interloper and this feeling of "not belonging" caused him to excel at everything he did, from academic work to military training. The feeling of "not belonging" is also something that Hata knows intimately, for he has felt it all his life. While in the military, the one event that, more than any other, set the stage for the rest of Hata's life occurred: he met and fell in love with a Korean woman called K, a woman sent by the Japanese army to "comfort" its soldiers. Hata denied his feelings for K during the war, and so, partly in an effort to atone and partly to suppress the pain of heartbreak, Hata denies the full flowering of his own emotional life. He suppresses his urges. He sublimates his desires. Lee's prose in A GESTURE LIFE is elegant and quiet and contains none of the heavy-handed symbolism found in his third novel, ALOFT. His transitions from present to past and back again are almost seamless and the pace of the book is perfect (it's slow, but slow is perfect for A GESTURE LIFE). A few of the characters are rather one-dimensional, but Hata and Sunny are rich and complex. Although I preferred the narrative that took place during the past, both are masterfully written and Lee's eye for choosing just the right detail to bring his story to life is perfect. A GESTURE LIFE is an elegant and beautiful novel and, one that is ultimately very sad. It reminds me a more than a little of Kazuo Ishiguro's THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, although I don't think A GESTURE LIFE, as good as it is, is quite the masterpiece THE REMAINS OF THE DAY is. Still, Franklin Hata, is a man, who, like Stevens, tugs at your heart until you find it impossible to forget him. I would definitely recommend A GESTURE LIFE to anyone who loves quiet character studies and doesn't mind a slower paced book. It is also important book for anyone interested in the immigrant experience in America or in understanding the feelings of displaced persons. Readers of literary fiction should love A GESTURE LIFE, but aficionados of genre fiction probably won't find it to their liking. Although A GESTURE LIFE isn't perfect, it comes so close, and the character of Franklin Hata is so beautifully drawn I thought it would be a travesty to give the book anything less than five stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Powerful Read
Review: I took this novel to Florida with me for a week, and as I relaxed on the beach I quickly realized, "Definitely NOT a beach book." Maybe that's one reason why I became both infuriated and impatient with the narrator, Franklin Hata, but I also felt sympathy for him. The author expertly presents many areas of gray in Hata's life, but I sensed early on that Hata was somthing of an unreliable narrator. Of course, his plans for his adopted daughter have nothing to do with her and everything to do with his obsessive need for control, order, and acceptance. We appreciate this need very well as we continue down the path of his life, alternating between the present comforts and discomforts and the past nightmares of his war experiences. And there's much to be uncmforable with in this book, particularly the horrendous scenes of cruelty toward women during WWII and Hata's role in them. But there's no sense in my retelling the story here, since the author is much better at it himself. Suffice to say that the ending of the book redeems much that has gone before. To sum up, this novel is clearly a fine work, but how much could I bear to be around it and its horrors? It's strong stuff. Beware and be prepared.
Rating:
Summary: A Heartbreaking Story, Beautifully Written
Review: This is the story of Franklin Hata, Japanese WWII veteran and American businessman. Through the amazingly beautiful prose of this story, a tale of alienation, heartbreak and lost opportunities slowly unfolds. The novel tells two tales, one of Franklin's American life, and his difficulties raising his adopted Korean daughter, and the story of his experiences in the Japanese army and his involvement with one particular Korean comfort woman. Throughout the stories, we sense the confined parameters Franklin allows for his emotional life, the adjustments he feels compelled to make in order to fit into this life and the losses inherent in those choices. It is in the simple beauty of the telling, the grace of the language that fills each page of this book, regardless of the sorrow or distaste of the scene, that sets it apart.
Rating:
Summary: A Japanese immigrant faces his tragic past
Review: During World War II, Korean women were forced to serve as "comfort women," satisfying the sexual needs of the Japanese soldiers to ensure high morale. This exploitation was one of the ugliest wartime acts a country has ever committed against women. Today, many of the surviving women are seeking reparations from the Japanese government. A tragic incident involving a comfort woman forever shapes the life of Franklin "Doc" Hata, the central character in Chang-Rae Lee's moving, gracefully written "A Gesture Life." Hata is a retired Japanese businessman who lives in a quaint, suburban New York village where he is revered as a community leader for his polite, respectful ways. But though his manner has brought respect, it has also brought problems. His cool remove scuttles a love affair with a passionate widow and causes his adopted daughter to rebel and disappear from his life. After Hata nearly burns down his house and is hospitalized, his thoughts drift back to his years in the Japanese army. In the jungles of Burma, Hata makes the mistake of falling in love with a comfort woman he calls "K," who also is the object of a superior officer's desire. Hata, who was born Korean but adopted by a Japanese family, takes a stand to protect K, which results in heart-wrenching viciousness that forever shapes the way he deals with others, particularly women. "A Gesture Life" is not filled with dramatic moments, but the slow, graceful style Lee uses to let Doc Hata tell his story is appropriate and oddly compelling. The book succeeds because it so completely tells the story of an elderly Japanese immigrant facing the last years of his life. It also provides an eye-opening glimpse at one of the cruelest chapters in Japanese history.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful Read
Review: I took this novel to Florida with me for a week, and as I relaxed on the beach I quickly realized, "Definitely NOT a beach book." Maybe that's one reason why I became both infuriated and impatient with the narrator, Franklin Hata, but I also felt sympathy for him. The author expertly presents many areas of gray in Hata's life, but I sensed early on that Hata was somthing of an unreliable narrator. Of course, his plans for his adopted daughter have nothing to do with her and everything to do with his obsessive need for control, order, and acceptance. We appreciate this need very well as we continue down the path of his life, alternating between the present comforts and discomforts and the past nightmares of his war experiences. And there's much to be uncmforable with in this book, particularly the horrendous scenes of cruelty toward women during WWII and Hata's role in them. But there's no sense in my retelling the story here, since the author is much better at it himself. Suffice to say that the ending of the book redeems much that has gone before. To sum up, this novel is clearly a fine work, but how much could I bear to be around it and its horrors? It's strong stuff. Beware and be prepared.
Rating: 
Summary: Nicely written, but a bit slow.
Review: This is a story of a Japanese/Korean immigrant (Doc Hata) who lives his life in fear. His fear does not come from a physical threat, but instead from his unwillingness to suffer any sort of shame or embarrassment. As a result, Hata builds a world of gestures, manners, and repetition, and avoids having to actually live. Unfortunately for those he comes across, this characteristic means that he is little able to lend the emotional support that each one of them requires. While the end of the story demonstrates a voyage of self-discovery, you can imagine that the stunted Doc Hata is not the most engaging character to follow around for a couple of hundred pages.
Rating:
Summary: A Gesture Life
Review: Chang-Rae Lee, In a Gesture Life, tells the story of an aging Japanese man, Doc Hata,living in New England. Doc Hata carefully tells his story through flashbacks and recent events in his life. Hata is an immigrant living in the upper-class and secluded town, Bedley Run. His neighbors appreciate him for being a "Good Charlie", someone who is around to liven their spirits. He resists making personal and lasting relationships, and as we read the reasons for this are discovered. The reader will be shoked and intrigued as he guides the reader through this complex story. This is an excelllent read, and I recommend it to anyone who appreciates a masterfully written work.
Rating:
Summary: The price of conformity
Review: "A Gesture Life" is a novel that reads more like a memoir, a sad, melancholic first person narrative by the main characer (Dr. Hata). In a superb elegant style, beautifully written, constrained and at the same time powerfully moving, the author deals with the problem of being an outsider and of conformity in exchange for respectfulness. Dr. Hata is an uneasy psyche, a restrained individual who behind a façade of a well-established and respected person hides a complex and dramatic life struggle. Since his childhood he has felt as an outsider, first as a native Korean who is adopted by a Japanese couple, and then as an immigrant in the U.S.A. With psychological wounds he feels unable to express or integrate the emotion of love into his life, using the shield of politness, of integrity, living his life as a sequence of appropriate "gestures." By acting as such, he describes his life as "something exemplary to the sensation of near perfect lightness of being in a place and not being there... the trouble of finding a remedy but not quite a cure... such is the cast of my belonging, molding to whatever is at hand."
The novel has a double time frame setting, one based on past memories of Hata's experience as a paramedic in the Japanese army, and the second focused on the present. Hata's relationship with the opposite sex has failed (with the comfort women "K," with Mary Burns, and with his own daughter) and when he reviews the outcome he finds guilt and regret, whole-heartedly admitting "there are those who would gladly give up all they have gained in the world to have relented just once when it mattered."
How much can an individual sacrifice his own-self, how high a price must he pay in order to adapt to his surroundings and conform to what is expected from him? How much does evasion of reality affect a relationship? Because of Hata's attitude he has remained detached, never within the full embrace of life, and having to face painful consequences.
This novel is a wonderful psychological drama, artistically performed, poignant, shocking at times, but above all a moving tale of a human condition.
Rating:
Summary: Right On Hata!
Review: Hata, the protagonist of Chang-Rae Lee's, A Gesture Life is a complex man. As the reader delves into the story of Hata as he retells his experiences in WWII and his present life, one can actually feel and see the emotions and troubles that Hata goes through. It is rare for a book to be so well written, that opinions made about certain characters in the book can change by the end. Chand-Rae Lee is right on the money as more is revealed about Hata. As Hata's state of mind changes, the reader's goes along with it. In the end of the book, Hata states: "Let me simply bear my flesh, and blood, and bones. I will fly a flag. Tomorrow when this house is alive and full, I will be outside looking in. I will be already on a walk someplace, in this town or the next one five thousand miles away. I will circle round and arrive again. Come almost home." Without having read the book, one would state . . ."Wow, how eloquently written." However once you read the book, the reader will be able to fully understand Hata and its' underlying meanings. Right on Hata!
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