11 Dec / A Free Life by Ha Jin [in Christian Science Monitor]
If literary awards are any measure of prowess, then native Chinese speaker Ha Jin has most certainly mastered the English language. As a writer of poems, short stories, and fiction, he has been showered with major prizes, most notably the 1996 PEN/Hemingway for Ocean of Words, the 1999 National Book Award and the 2000 PEN/Faulkner for Waiting, and the PEN/Faulkner again in 2005 for War Trash.
In his latest novel, A Free Life, Jin makes his official literary transition from China to Chinese America (this is the first of his works set in the United States) with the same seemingly effortless grace with which he has produced his previous titles.
In basic terms, the plot of A Free Life is the familiar story of the gradual assimilation of an immigrant family into U.S. life. Nan Wu arrives solo in Boston as a PhD candidate in political science in 1985. His wife, Pingping, joins him a year and a half later. They are reunited with their young son, Taotao in 1990, after having watched the Tiananmen Square massacre from afar and deciding that life in the U.S. is the safer option for their small family. …[click here for more]
Review: Christian Science Monitor, December 11, 2007
Readers: Adult
Published: 2007