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Native Speaker (Paperback)

by Chang Lee (Author) "The day my wife left she gave me a list of who I was ..." (more)

3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (59 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Paperback: 349 pages
Publisher: Riverhead (TRD); Reprint edition (Mar 1 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1573225312
ISBN-13: 978-1573225311
Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13 x 2.3 cm
Shipping Weight: 205 g

Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (59 customer reviews)

Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #226,409 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category:
#2 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Asian American > Lee-Chang-Rae

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Product Description

From Amazon.com

Korean-American Henry Park is "surreptitious, B+ student of life, illegal alien, emotional alien, Yellow peril: neo-American, stranger, follower, traitor, spy ..." or so says his wife, in the list she writes upon leaving him. Henry is forever uncertain of his place, a perpetual outsider looking at American culture from a distance. As a man of two worlds, he is beginning to fear that he has betrayed both -- and belongs to neither.

From Publishers Weekly

Espionage acts as a metaphor for the uneasy relationship of Amerasians to American society in this eloquent, thought-provoking tale of a young Korean-American's struggle to conjoin the fragments of his personality in culturally diverse New York City. Raised in a family and culture valuing careful control of emotions and appearances, narrator Henry Park, son of a successful Korean-American grocer, works as an undercover operative for a vaguely sinister private intelligence agency. He and his "American wife," Lelia, are estranged, partly as a result of Henry's stoical way of coping with the recent death of their young son. Henry is also having trouble at work, becoming emotionally attached to the people he should be investigating. Ruminating on his upbringing, he traces the path that has led to his present sorrow; as he infiltrates the staff of a popular Korean-American city councilman, he discovers the broader, societal context of the issues he has been grappling with personally. Writing in a precise yet freewheeling prose that takes us deep into Henry's head, first-novelist Lee packs this story, whose intrigue is well measured and compelling, with insights into both current political events and timeless questions of love, culture, family bonds and identity. This is an auspicious debut for Riverhead Books, Putnam's new division. First serial to Granta; QPB selection; audio rights to Brilliance; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
The day my wife left she gave me a list of who I was. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

59 Reviews

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

Average Customer Review

3.7 out of 5 stars (59 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars I Was Soooooo Looking forward to This, Jun 22 2004

By	Sunnyside "Sunnyside" (Astoria, NY United States) - See all my reviews

As it is, it's "serviceable" -- better, to be sure, than the relatively few other Asian-American stuff I've read, but I can't see what the hoopla is about. Now he is a good writer, in terms of his use of language -- though not quite "great" or "lyrical," I don't think -- and the premise is an interesting enough one, but I think the Asian-American existential angst feels rather strained after a few chapters. For a stone-faced fellow, the narrator/protagonist is sure given to long, almost-digressive musing! I couldn't wait for the "action" to start already -- and I know this isn't supposed to be some pulp fiction thriller -- whether that be his espionage, his crumbling marriage, etc. Just an inch above slightly disappointed is how I feel. I guess if I didn't see all those damned blurbs ("a page-turner," "thrilling," "winner of PEN," etc.) I would have been able to enjoy this more, but my expectations were whetted too high for the actual novel to come across as much more than two touches overrated. Again, the writing itself is good, but everything else just seems too unnecessarily "slow." I mean, all right, we get the Asian-American identity crisis stuff already -- can we get on with the rest of the story? And yeah, I check "Asian Pacific American" on the census. The book doesn't "pick up" until after page 200 -- everything before is mere expository prelude, and could have been worked in better, more elegantly. Also, I'm tired of writers who tell their stories too damned coyly: hints are given in drips and drabs as to very important things in the character's background. This kind of frigitdity is cheap suspense; this is a cheap and hack way of engendering suspense in the reader by limiting reader knowledge of really important background info, despite the first-person narration! As it is, I like it well enough, but, again, given the blurbs, I was expecting so much more. I guess I should've knew something was up when one of the blurbs called this an "Asian-American 'Invisible Man'"...! To sum up, my main "beef" with this book is that there too much slogging through precious and near-pretentious angst before we get to the actual meat, which is very interesting indeed.

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1.0 out of 5 stars One of those mediocre, MFA ,ethnic novels, Mar 6 2004

By A Customer

This book is so dull, so formulaic, so redolent of a writing workshop, one has to ask himself whether a minority writer can ever write something relevant to all people instead of focusing on their little narrow immigrant lives. These kinds of immigration, assimilation, slice-of-life culture novels are the lynch pins of mediocre writers. Just look at Jhumpa Lahiri, another awful MFA writer who writes about her hum-drum Indian upbringing. And everybody fawns over these pieces, screaming that its great for multiculturalism. Yeah, great, wonderful, but that doesn't change the fact that these novels are woefully bland.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Not the average cuppa joe., Jul 14 2003

By	MajorDudette (Redondo Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews

A blend of subtle and broad strokes creating a richly textured prose in a unique and compelling novel. I enjoyed the layers and intricacies of the stories woven together to give protagonist Henry Park the profoundly human visage unearthed here. Lee uses a sensitive yet blunt observational style I found spine-tingling and poignant.

For those KoAms here who thought the view of Korean immigrants stereotypical - hey, we're living it, man. Stereotypes are born of truths, painful though they may be. Look in the mirror, you'll find a lot more in common with Henry Park than you wish to admit, or you have yet to discover. Or are you just unmasking the stereotypical Korean schadenfreude in yourselves?
Lee hits the nail on the head and strikes nerves in many ways with this admirable, thought-provoking book.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Chang-Rae Lee, J'accuse
When this book arrived in 1995, it was hailed as a crossover success. My Asian-Am friends all felt 'vindicated' by Lee's emotionally rich characters, his finely pitched... Read more

Published on Mar 19 2003 by Blank Slate

2.0 out of 5 stars not recommended for Korean readers
As a second generation Korean-American, I am always longing for something to identify myself. Being proud of my korean culture and American culture i picked up this book hoping... Read more

Published on Jan 13 2003 by Su Jung

4.0 out of 5 stars Lyrical
Perhaps the highest compliment I could give this book is one that I already have in the title line: this book is lyrical. Read more

Published on Aug 6 2002 by estoop

1.0 out of 5 stars Jumping paragraphs half way through...
I was very excited to read this book after learning that it could be the chosen one thousands of New Yorkers would read ....this coming spring.