A Gesture Life

Rating:
Summary: second disappointment
Review: after reading the first and the second novel "native speaker" and "a gesture life" I was somewhat disppointed. Although, they were beautifully written, something was missing along the way. His theme seems to be an outsider trying to make it in a society where he is forced to hide his identity but nevertheless finds more about his identity in the process. My problem with his novels is not that it was badly written but, in fact, it was too well written that Chang-Rae Lee's own writing overshadows his own identity. He tries too hard to make his writing poetic (or trying to sound too much like early english romantic writings) and thus never quiet get into his characters korean thinking. His novels read like a white writer writing about korean-american. Not one paragraph in the novel did I feel that it was written by Korean-American. He doesn't seem to know the life of Korean-American living in the united states or korean living in Korea. His writing somehow suggests it was written by a white american who never experienced korean-american life but only learned their lives through books. Reading through his novels, I could not, for some reason, sympathize with his characters. His characters are so distanced from korean-american way of thinking that I never, for a second, thought of them as korean. I truly hope that if he wants to write about korean-american next time, be one of them first and not be the outsider of them.

Rating:
Summary: A failed second novel, a failed second chance
Review: After reading the excruciatingly painful NATIVE SPEAKER, I decided to give Mr. Lee another chance, simply based on his Korean ethnicity which is my own. Now I am convinced that all the accolades were based solely on his race, all in the attempt to be PC.

I admit that I am only 1/3 into the novel. So far it has taken me 4 months to reach this point. This novel is something I have to force myself to read only because I spent money on it. The main reason why I decided to read this book is because of the "comfort woman" issue, a sensitive issue that still plagues Korean-Japanese relationships to this day. Fortunately this book does not play on the Korea vs. Japan feelings even though there are legitimate reasons for them. Of course I would have to finish this book in order for me to really find out how he treats the issue. But from what I have read so far, it feels as if Mr. Lee threw the issue in there just to mention the atrocity, all to have an excuse to examine the comfort women issue.

Perhaps I will have a more comprehensive review when I finally manage to struggle to the end, hopefully sometime this decade.

Rating:
Summary: Poetic and disturbing analysis of a man's tortured life.
Review: Chang-Rae Lee, in his novel "A Gesture Life," writes about "Doc Hata," a man who is not really a doctor, although he had once aspired to be one. He is the retired former owner of a surgical supply store. The problem with Doc Hata is that he has always been afraid to be himself. His desire has always been to maintain an image of propriety at all times--never to offend, to always blend in with the suburban town where he lives. We find out, in a series of flashbacks, that he has led a tortured life, especially during World War II, and his experiences have maimed him emotionally. Doc Hata has a stormy relationship with his adopted daughter, who ironically is named "Sunny," when she is generally surly. Doc Hata's relationships with his acquaintances , although seemingly pleasant on the surface, tend to be somewhat shallow. As time passes, Doc Hata struggles to find out if there is time for an old man to find some sort of redemption and meaning in his life. Often, the writing in "A Gesture Life" is stunning and brilliant. There were passages that brought tears to my eyes. At other times, however, Lee's writing is cryptic and puzzling. The plot towards the end is a little too complicated and meandering. Too much happens in a short time. However, the book is powerful, especially in the passages that deal with the "Comfort Women" of World War II. This is a complex work that requires a great deal of effort on the part of the reader. However, it is well worth the reader's effort to plumb the depths of "A Gesture Life."

Rating:
Summary: Excruciating subject matter told in soaring, elegant prose
Review: It was perhaps a mistake to read A Gesture Life in one day, immersing myself so totally in the head of protagonist/narrator Doc Hata. His tragically flawed character and the attendant traumas in his life make for an intricately crafted narrative from which I admit I had to take many breathing breaks. But this narrative style, another testament to Lee's incredible capacity for expression, is not about punishing the reader. (By only a scattering of overpacked sentences and some fairly crucial editing mistakes was I ever bothered.) See, this book is not so much about action as reaction, and most importantly, introspection, an obsessive self-examination. It is about a man who has been an outsider on so many different levels, and as such, has been compelled to consider his every action and word, and whether he does or does not fit into his surroundings.

This kind of careful living, this compulsive tiptoeing, is the source of many of the tragedies in this novel. Frustration that readers may feel from the seemingly overwrought writing style is actually empathy that they're sharing with some of the book's other figures who also respond to Hata's way of life. Indeed, it's frustrating and heart-rending to witness Hata beat himself up over his past. This novel, after all, is rife with painful truths that few would like to hear. Thankfully, as always, Lee's poetic sense of language, his skills at creating an entirely visceral set of characters (with telling dialog and physical description), unusual plot situations, and vivid setting -- all down to the most minute and vital details -- made the reading of the novel well worth the heartache and the ten consecutive hours I devoted to it.

Many times, I was reminded of two other masterfully written novels, Philip Roth's American Pastoral (for the bewildering breach of a father's total devotion) and Stewart David Ikeda's What the Scarecrow Said (for the town that smacked of a whitewashed Establishment and for the persistent awareness of being an outsider).

Like Native Speaker, A Gesture Life is a book that will stick with me for a long time and that I will be rereading several times.

Rating:
Summary: 'A Gesture Life'...Coming to terms with our life choices...
Review: 'A Gesture Life', by Chang-Rae Lee is the story of a 70 year-old Japanese man and his occasion to confront what his life has been about. Recollections (mostly brutal..in the least, heartbreaking) of time spent as a medical doctor during WWII are interwoven with memories of his attempts at assimilation into Western culture when he immigrates to the US. Perhaps the greatest impact from reading this novel, was the human face put to the horrifying and tragic plight of 'comfort women', whose total purpose for the Japanses military was to service their sexual needs. There were a couple of times when I had to lay the book aside and breathe....so profound was the imagery that I drew from my reading. I highly recommend this book to anyone who desires stimulating reading for intellectual growth and understanding of history, as well as stirring of the heart.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Having lived in Asia for 14 years (Korea for 10 years), I am an avid reader of English language books by Asian authors.

However, I was disappointed in A Gesture Life. It was so bogged down in describing in detail the everyday emotions of the main character that is was quite boring at times. It certainly did not move fast enough to hold much of my interest.

As a single American who also adopted a Korean child (my son, when he was only 3 years old), I could empathize with Franklin Hata's frustrations in trying to overcome the barriers between he and Sunny. The experiences in that regard gave me insight to my own ongoing struggle to help my son adjust.

To be fair to Mr. Lee, the author, I believe I will read his first book, Native Speaker, and see if I will be more impressed.

Rating:
Summary: High Expectations Dashed
Review: I had very high expectations for this book. After meeting the author at a book signing in Boston a year ago, I eagerly awaited for the arrival of his follow-up to Native Speaker. A Gesture Life seems fragmented in its goals and I had trouble getting into the narrative. I found the main character unsympathetic and the overall plot wayward and unfocused.

Rating:
Summary: a powerful and sensitive read
Review: I loved this book! By the second page I was in tears. The writing so beautiful and I wanted to know this sensitive, tender Japanese man. Hata is a proper immigrant attempting to conform and fit in his chosen community to live a life not just for himself but for his neighbors and townspeople. As with so many of us though our past shapes us and provides difficulties in love, friendships and families. Sooner or later the past must be confronted although Hata does not realize his past affects his ability to deeply care for others although he wants to and has the capabilities to do so but that oriental ability to share feelings and communicate provide an obstacle. One wants this man to find some happiness as he seems to bear so much sadness without ever feeling sorry for himself. He just continues on not really knowing what he can do or should do. Chan-Rae Lee's descriptions of the war and all the terrors so vivid I felt I was in the camp. Lee's ability to describe, to take us there reminds me much of Memoirs of a Geisha where I felt I was there as an insider viewing all. I ordered Native Life today. If it's half as good as Gesture of Life I'm in for a terrific read. Thank you Chang-Rae Lee.

Rating:
Summary: Well-written but dull...
Review: I read this novel with a lot of anticipation because I had read positive reviews in the newspapers. Lee writes gracefully but I just got tired of Hara's carefully-wrought observations and the generally quiet, monotonous pace of the narrative. I began sympathizing with Hara's daughter. I wanted to get away from him, too! I also found the melodramatics near the end a bit too heavy-handed. The tale within the tale was intriguing but I felt I entered a totally different novel. I finished this novel out of obligation, as I try to read all new fiction by Asian American writers.

Rating:
Summary: Shocking and Sanguine and Completely Original
Review: From its first lines -- in which Lee's Doc Hata falsely states without a touch of irony, "They know me here" -- until the end when he finally begins to know himself, A Gesture Life breaks new ground. It has been a long time since an author, Wallace Stegner comes too mind, has handled the flashback so masterfully. Here the reader won't find himself favoring one story over another, as is usually the case with books that employ the flashback. In his second novel Lee explores the atrocities of the Japanese military, particularly those inflicted on the "comfort women," who were forced to pleasure the officers and enlisted men, through the eyes of Doc Hata, a former Imperial Navy medic who becomes not a physician but a revered small-town medical supplier in upstate New York. But more than simply the horror, this novel explores how these atrocities along with unperformed acts of violence, make it impossible for him to feel joy and pain and love. What happens during World War II is not past, but lives on and has an impact on each one of Hata's post-war relationships. Chang-rae Lee explores so many themes -- among them adoption, friendship, isolation, community, rancor, forgiveness -- and yet succeeds in holding the reader's thrall on every page. Lee delivers so many surprises, not least of which is a hopeful yet realistic resolution. You'll carry the characters, especially its imperfect protagonist, with you for years