Sad, but moving. I grew attached to the main character, but also had a hard time fully understanding him, as he had difficulty understanding himself. ( )

I felt like I hadn't properly understood it, as if i should read it again. Superficially straightforward though. The detached writing style I normally hate about American writing is innate to the subject. Not simple and enjoyable like Native Speaker, and not genre either. Apart from sending everyone to hospital at the end, very beliveable, and understandable: honest. Underrated writer. ( )

I love this author. Great story. ( )

Quiet, beautiful book that sneaks up on you. Beautiful language, very deft creation of a sense of place. ( )

Even though I loved this book, it took me awhile to think of what to put in a review of it.
You see, nothing much happens in the present time of the story. We meet the narrator of the story, an old man of Japanese-Korean origin, living his daily life as an old aged pensioner, in a small town in the USA, recalling his life. A perfectly adapted immigrant, unremarkable in a way.

His story however, is remarkable. Born as a Korean, he was raised by Japanese fosterparents and in boarding schools. He joined the Japanese army in World War II as a medical officer, lived through the horrors of the war, encountered love in the most dramatic circumstances possible. After the war he immigrated to America, started his own medical supply shop, adopted a Korean orphan girl, who however never loved him or needed him. It's about a man who has always remained at a distance to life, an observer, unable to get attached, to get close to people, to express his love in a way that other people would understand. It's about loneliness, and a very sad story, even if there are some positive developments in the present time of the story.

I loved this book for two reasons. One being the exceptional writing, the choice of words, the expressions, the way pictures are drawn by words without the exaggerated use of adjectives. It's a sober style of writing, yet at the same time very vivid. The second reason is the atmosphere of sadness, melancholia and regret, which I experienced as touching and at some points even recognizable.
(So thanks, Maykasahara, for recommending this book to me!) ( )

3317. A Gesture Life, by Chang-rae Lee (read June 3, 2000) I am influenced at times by a book board I follow, and the much discussion thereon last winter of this book led me to put it on my list of books to read and when I saw it at the library I read it. It starts out very well and caught my interest. The writing is usually appealing, but that the book had much important to say to me I cannot say. When I was finished I had no upbeat feeling about the book. My final assessment to myself said: Modern fiction usually has a certain obscure pointlessness about it, and the war scenes are dramatic, but do not make this a great book. ( )

Don't read this book if you don't like deep novels. This one makes you go very deep into the characters and it is sometimes disturbing. I thought it was a wonderful story and very well-written. ( )

The story of a character who cannot transcend his own limitations. Each of the characters in this book are real and believable and the spare writing style enhances the story. Everything about this book felt right. ( )

The language and writing is beautiful. ( )

Chang-rae Lee's 1999 novel had been recommended to me several times over the past several years and it was just a matter of time before I read it. I was not disappointed. Multi-layered, it initially is about a Japanese man, Doc Hata, who lives a very ordinary life in a small town in New England. Of course, that's only the surface and little by little you learn that much has happened in his recent as well as distant past--an adopted daughter from whom he is estranged and horrific incidents during WWII to name a few. This one will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

Superb read

An elegant portrayal of the devastation wreaked by war, even in lives whose surface remains placid. ( )