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Describe your latest work. Blueprints of the Afterlife is a novel about the following things: giant heads that appear in the sky, a mystical... Continue »

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Blueprints of the Afterlife
Ryan BoudinotRyan Boudinot 9780802170910

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A Good Fall: Stories

by Ha Jin

ISBN13: 9780307378682
ISBN10: 0307378683
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In his first book of stories since The Bridegroom was published in 2000 ("Finely wrought . . . Every story here is cut like a stone."—Chicago Sun-Times), National Book Award–winning Ha Jin gives us a collection that delves into the experience of Chinese immigrants in America.

With the same profound attention to detail that is a hallmark of his previous acclaimed works of fiction, Ha Jin depicts here the full spectrum of immigrant life and the daily struggles—some minute, some grand—faced by these intriguing individuals.

A lonely composer takes comfort in the antics of his girlfriend's parakeet; young children decide to change their names so that they might sound more "American," unaware of how deeply this will hurt their grandparents; a Chinese professor of English attempts to defect with the help of a reluctant former student. All of Ha Jin's characters struggle in situations that stir within them a desire to remain attached to be loyal to their homeland and its traditions as they explore and avail themselves of the freedom that life in a new country offers.

In these stark, deeply moving, acutely insightful, and often strikingly humorous stories, we are reminded once again of the storytelling prowess of this superb writer.

About the Author

HA JIN left his native China in 1985 to attend Brandeis University. He is the author of five novels, three story collections, and three books of poetry. He has received the National Book Award, two PEN/Faulkner Awards, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Asian American Literary Award, and the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. Ha Jin lives in the Boston area and is a professor of English at Boston University.

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: jadelin, August 5, 2010 (view all comments by jadelin)
Ha Jin has written a group of stories with the underlying themes of tension between cultures, anguish and the human struggle with what it means to lead a good life. There's the unlikely grad student, hired to tutor a young woman who is struggling in her studies and the eventual entanglement that occurs between the mother, daughter and tutor. Another story reveals the tension filled awkwardness as a mother visits her son and daughter in law and fireworks erupt. Torn between duty, their marriage and creating some sort of peace, the recent immigrant couple must come to some kind of resolution to the discord between mother produces with her presence. Further, the clash between generations and cultures, and individuation versus full filial obligation as has been the Chinese way are a theme throughout many of the stories. A man becomes strangely attached while pet sitting the parrot of a former girlfriend, whose relationship he is still in the dark about. The stories leave much to the imagination but capture the reader's attention with the frank depiction of emotional quandaries, suffering and the eventual realization that there exist universal human predicaments.
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Product Details

ISBN:: 9780307378682
Subtitle:: Stories
Author:: Jin, Ha
Publisher:: Pantheon
Subject:: Chinese -- United States.
Subject:: Flushing (New York, N.Y.)
Subject:: Short Stories (single author)
Subject:: Stories (single author)
Subject:: Literature-A to Z
Publication Date:: 20091124
Binding:: Hardback
Grade Level:: General/trade
Language:: English
Pages:: 256
Dimensions:: 8.52x5.42x1.03 in. .85 lbs.

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