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Ocean of Words
by Ha Jin

Ocean of Words Cover

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award

The place is the chilly border between Russia and China. The time is the early 1970s when the two giants were poised on the brink of war. And the characters in this thrilling collection of stories are Chinese soldiers who must constantly scrutinize the enemy even as they themselves are watched for signs of the fatal disease of bourgeois liberalism.

In Ocean of Words, the Chinese writer Ha Jin explores the predicament of these simple, barely literate men with breathtaking concision and humanity. From amorous telegraphers to a pugnacious militiaman, from an inscrutable Russian prisoner to an effeminate but enthusiastic recruit, Ha Jin's characters possess a depth and liveliness that suggest Isaac Babel's Cossacks and Tim O'Brien's GIs. Ocean of Words is a triumphant volume, poignant, hilarious, and harrowing.

"A compelling collection of stories, powerful in their unity of theme and rich in their diversity of styles."--New York Times Book Review

"Extraordinary...[These stories are shot through with wit and offer glimpses of human motivation that defy retelling...Read them all."--Boston Globe

"An exceptional new talent, capable of wringing rich surprises out of austere materials."--Portland Oregonian

Synopsis:

The place is the border between Russia and China. The time is the early 1970s, when the two giant powers were posed on the brink of war. in this award-winning collection of stories, Chinese writer Ha Jin brilliantly explores the humanity of the barely literate Chinese soldiers who must constantly scrutinize the enemy even as they themselves are watched.
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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.

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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
megcampbell3, March 7, 2008 (view all comments by megcampbell3)
The stories that comprise "Ocean of Words" seem to make all sorts of interesting things appear from below the still surface of the pond that contains them; what at first glance seem to be meditations on one facet of one plain, round stone are in fact studies of what is born in the muck and how it ascends toward the light differently than what is born right next to it. The differences in these stories are as various as the obvious and unapparent differences between siblings. Who would have thought, side-by-side on the Russian-Chinese border, early 1970’s, thinking Communist thoughts, so much could be so funny. Damn if Ha Jin can't make us laugh, over and over again, breaking the surface (from below) of the very pond these stories bloom within and giving us a good splashing.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780375702068
Author:
Jin, Ha
Publisher:
Random House
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Short Stories (single author)
Subject:
China
Subject:
Soldiers
Subject:
Soldiers -- China -- Social life and customs -- Fiction.
Edition Number:
1
Edition Description:
Vintage Intl
Publication Date:
July 1998
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
224
Dimensions:
8.00x5.17x.66 in. .56 lbs.
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