A Free Life: A Novel [Hardcover]

 

 

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Ha Jin does a wonderful job of bringing the awareness of immigration to the forefront in this novel. Each day, immigrants often have to deal with the process of identity change and racism due to their colour.

Pingping and Nan imigrated to the United States and their six-year-old son, Taotao, arrives later. One sad part of this family is that Nan doesn't love his wife, Pingping, and instead pines for his old girlfriend. Pingping is aware of this but she remains a commited and loving wife to Nan and hopes one day he will realize how very, very much she loves him.

Nan is adamant that TaoTao be raised `American' and not as a `Chinese' as he believes the Chinese must endure too much suffering.

Pingping and Nan found it extremely difficult in America for the first two years until they'd
saved $30,000 to buy a restaurant to manage and these proved to be difficult times. Nan writes poetry and it is one of his poems that is the essence of the entire novel.

Wonderfully written but at 696 pages, it took me a couple of days to read it. However, this is a novel I would recommend to anyone.

A FREE LIFE, Ha Jin, Vintage, 2007

She too sells her hours in America.
Her dream has evolved into a house
On two acres of land with a pool.
She once dreamed of becoming a diva
Or movie star or a painter.

But she gave up art school
And came here to expand her self-hood.
At least that's what she planned to do.
p. 654


This poem is the essence of the novel. Pingping and Nan Wu had emigrated to America so Nan, could pursue a post grad degree. Taotao, their only child, age six, arrives later. One witnesses this sacrifice of separation by Chinese emigrants often, either it is the husband who remains in China or the child with the grandparents. Pingping is also aware that Nan doesn't love her, his heart yearning for a former girlfriend. He is also determined that his son 'must be spared the endless, gratuitous suffering to which the Chinese were accustomed' (p. 9) and that Taotao will be raised American. The Tienanmen Square Massacre (1979), the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) and the many misguided Five Year Plans are all fresh in many scholar's mind. During a return visit to China, his brother, Ning tells Nan he also wants to emigrate. The reasons and sad realities are listed on page 555.

Typical of many industrious and independently minded Chinese, after 2' years the Wu's managed to save $30 000 through frugal and cautious spending. Few Americans or Canadians could achieve this thriftiness and determination by working long hours at odd jobs and low pay.

One of the inexplicable hardships they had to endure, especially since they were of color, was racism. The author inserts many examples of this as the novel progresses, suffered mostly by Nan and Taotao at school. Ha Jin also intersperses inarguable negative facts about the behaviour of the communist party and cadres: the hypocrisy, the greed, the thirst for power, lying, deception, arbitrary decisions, inconsistency of decisions, and the need to control every aspect of the lives of its countrymen. He doesn't devote pages exposing these evils ' they are slipped in where the present situation provides the opportunity. They are even too numerous to begin listing.

After 12 ' years in the USA, Nan begins to live his dream of writing poetry. The poem, Homeland, by Nan Wu succinctly summarizes this novel. Through all the struggles, hardships and search, he now realizes he is the richest man alive ' he has family and resides in the USA. '...had to give up the illusion of success in order to accept the diminished state as a new immigrant and as a learner....' (p. 619)

HOMELAND

You won't be able to go back.
Look, the door has closed behind you.
Like others, you too are expendable to
A country never short of citizens....

Eventually you will learn;
Your country is where you raise your children,
Your homeland is where you build your home.
p. 635

In my opinion, "A free life" offers a profound reflection on the multi-faceted phenomenon that is immigration. With great mastery, Ha Jin brings to light the complex and intimate process of identity change which many immigrants must negotiate daily without much support.
Ha Jin's tone, while poignant and gripping, never falls into whining complacency, and this contributes to making "A free life" an essential reading to whomever seeks to fully understand the experience of being an immigrant.

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1.0 out of 5 stars A Tedious Life
I was very disappointed with Ha Jin's first novel set in the US. Though "A Free Life" probably offers an accurate narration of a Chinese immigrant's experience, the characters are... Read more

Published on Dec 4 2007 by Janet I. Maher

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