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In the Pond

by Ha Jin

In the Pond Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

National Book Award-winner Ha Jin's arresting debut novel ,  In the Pond, is a darkly funny portrait of an amateur calligrapher who wields his delicate artist's brush as a weapon against the powerful party bureaucrats who rule his provincial Chinese town.

Shao Bin is a downtrodden worker at the Harvest Fertilizer Plant by day and an aspiring artist by night. Passed over on the list to receive a decent apartment for his young family, while those in favor with the party's leaders are selected ahead of him, Shao Bin chafes at his powerlessness. When he attempts to expose his corrupt superiors by circulating satirical cartoons, he provokes an escalating series of merciless counterattacks that send ripples beyond his small community. Artfully crafted and suffused with earthy wit, In the Pond is a moving tale about humble lives caught up in larger social forces.

Review:

"Ravishing . . . vividly described." The Village Voice,/i>

Review:

"Though art and politics figure in the action, In the Pond is first and foremost a comedy-naughty, lusty, raucously entertaining. Ha Jin's language echoes working-class Chinese at its rough, bawdy best." --The New York Times Book Review

Review:

"Fascinating . . . spare and taut. . . . A fable about morality and power."        --Chicago Tribune

Synopsis:

National Book Award-winner Ha Jin's arresting debut novel, In the Pond, is a darkly funny portrait of an amateur calligrapher who wields his delicate artist's brush as a weapon against the powerful party bureaucrats who rule his provincial Chinese town. <BR>Shao Bin is a downtrodden worker at the Harvest Fertilizer Plant by day and an aspiring artist by night. Passed over on the list to receive a decent apartment for his young family, while those in favor with the party's leaders are selected ahead of him, Shao Bin chafes at his powerlessness. When he attempts to expose his corrupt superiors by circulating satirical cartoons, he provokes an escalating series of merciless counterattacks that send ripples beyond his small community. Artfully crafted and suffused with earthy wit, In the Pond is a moving tale about humble lives caught up in larger social forces.

About the Author

Ha Jin left his native China in 1985 to attend Brandeis University. He is the author of the internationally bestselling novel Waiting, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award and the National Book Award, and War Trash, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize; the story collections The Bridegroom, which won the Asian American Literary Award, Under the Red Flag, which won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, and Ocean of Words, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award; the novels The Crazed and In the Pond; and three books of poetry. His latest novel, A Free Life is his first novel set in the United States. He lives in the Boston area and is a professor of English at Boston University.

War Trash, The Crazed, The Bridegroom, Waiting, In the Pond, and Ocean of Words are available in paperback from Vintage Books.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
megcampbell3, January 17, 2008 (view all comments by megcampbell3)
Ha Jin's novel "In the Pond" is as restrained and as alive as a first-rate short story. Its perfect economy and quiet, pulsing humor thread the fabric for a fable about the shades of grey within morality. It moves so quickly all you need is a pot of tea and a couple of hours. "In the Pond" is an engrossing, visional debut from an astute writer.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780375709111
Author:
Jin, Ha
Publisher:
Vintage Books USA
Location:
New York
Subject:
General
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
City and town life
Subject:
China
Subject:
Pond ecology
Subject:
Satire
Subject:
Working class
Subject:
Communes
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Vintage Intl
Series Volume:
1973
Publication Date:
March 2000
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
192
Dimensions:
800x522x56 49

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