So, yesterday was the official kick-off of the Keep Portland Weird festival here in Paris, which meant that I had a reading/screening in the...
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Ha Jin has written a masterpiece in A Free Life. This is an attempt at the Great American Novel, by someone whose first language is not English, but Chinese. He succeeds. I imagine it is autobiographical in parts but he is also describing universal themes experienced by Americans and immigrant born Americans alike. In the last century Thomas Bell wrote an epic novel, Out of the Furnace, where he described the immigrant story of Slovak immigrants. Ha Jin's novel touches on similar themes but he is completely original in the poetry and descriptions of his characters. The book has an appendix of beautiful poetry that is attributed to the main character in the novel, which one can assume is Ha Jin himself. This novel will take the reader on a journey from China to America, back to China and finally back to America. I recommend this novel to everyone.
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A Free Life (Vintage International) by Ha Jin
raymond bednar, January 4, 2010
Ha Jin has written a masterpiece in A Free Life. This is an attempt at the Great American Novel, by someone whose first language is not English, but Chinese. He succeeds. I imagine it is autobiographical in parts but he is also describing universal themes experienced by Americans and immigrant born Americans alike. In the last century Thomas Bell wrote an epic novel, Out of the Furnace, where he described the immigrant story of Slovak immigrants. Ha Jin's novel touches on similar themes but he is completely original in the poetry and descriptions of his characters. The book has an appendix of beautiful poetry that is attributed to the main character in the novel, which one can assume is Ha Jin himself. This novel will take the reader on a journey from China to America, back to China and finally back to America. I recommend this novel to everyone.(3 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)