Native Speaker

This first novel explores the experience of 'outsider' from both traditional and very specific points of view. The protagonist, John, is the son of Korean immigrants. While his father, who came from Korea with an engineering degree, was unable to practice in the U.S., he nevertheless provided well for his family in material ways, but was grimly and emotionally unresponsive to his son. John has had all the material advantages, and chooses (or is chosen for) a career as a sort of industrial spy, playing a role in each placement as he plays the role of American in the greater society. After an oddly disastrous assignment, he is reassigned to infiltrate the staff of a Korean American politician in Queens, N.Y., and has to confront his show more shifting identity, and that of others.

Complicating this, John and his non-Korean wife have lost a son to a freak accident, and their marriage is in trouble.

I found this novel totally fascinating, for its perspective on being the outsider, on being able to suss out the insider game, and on the cost of playing your life instead of living it authentically. Highly recommended. show less

I registered this book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14015566

A fascinating story of a Korean-American trying to navigate in both worlds. We tend to think that people whose parents are from another country can easily become "Americans" in all ways when they are born and raised in this country. But the traditions of the other society are still a part of the man. Traditions involve more than rituals or even physical acts, but include ways of thinking and doing.

So it is with Henry Park's father, who starts a "savings club" of sorts. With fellow Koreans he raises large amounts of money: each contributes a set amount every month, and one person gets to take the total. Every month (or is it week?) a different person show more gets the pot. Thus are many people able to obtain a large amount of cash to start a business or send a child to college or whatever they need. Sort of like a credit card without the horrendous interest.

Henry, meanwhile, falls into an unusual job. A type of spying, where he is assigned a person to investigate. He learns everything he can about the person, using whatever means are necessary. In the bulk of this book he is investigating a Korean politician. To get close to him he volunteers for his campaign and rises up the ladder. To what purpose? The investigators might guess but are not told why. What if he's investigating this person so that others might destroy him? Because his background as a Korean-American gives him special access, is he betraying his culture? His family?

These questions, along with those related to his marriage to a white woman, make for interesting thoughts. A good story with thoughtful undertones. show less

Henry Park, the son of a Korean grocer who lives in New York, is deserted suddenly by his Caucasian American wife. Reflecting back on his life and the events that led him to this situation, he considers the way deceit over his vocation has clouded his marriage. He reviews how his life had been when his dad was alive, when his son was alive, and the lack of understanding by his wife of his Korean culture.

A pervading sense of something having gone wrong opens this book. The search for its cause and more details is the powerful driving force behind this intriguing first novel. Its finest characteristic, however, is the way in which the author expresses what it feels like to be an ethnic Korean growing up in America---the alienation, the show more anguish, the longing to be a necessary part of the wider culture. It addresses the dichotomy of two divergent cultures that must be embraced by the child of an American immigrant who strives to improve his station in life, the tension that exists between Asians and non-Asians who find themselves living and working side by side, and the intergenerational clash that often occurs between the immigrant generation and its children. NATIVE SPEAKER is an absorbing story and a welcome addition to any growing collection of Asian-American literature. show less

Henry Park has an unusual job. This in itself might have been plenty to build a story about. But Chang-rae Lee's protagonist, a native-born Korean American, bares his soul and examines not only his unorthodox occupation but his private life itself, scrutinizing it to the utmost degree. The story haunts the reader by its sadness (childhood memories of being raised as a son of immigrants, a tragic event in adulthood, tag of war of feelings about the chosen occupation), recovering cautiously only by the very end, as if picking up the pieces..., gives ample food for thought on a number of issues, all the while revealing the author's unquestionable talent.

English is protagonist Henry Park's second language, but he (along with the author, who is Korean by birth) displays a masterful fluidity of the language. Henry is estranged from his Caucasian wife due in part to his emotional aloofness that was passed down by his taciturn father. How ironic that silence plays such an important role in a book featuring language...from his father's language of the fruit stand and cash register all the way to the language of social justice represented by the "money club" called a ggeh that redistributes funds based on need.

Henry's wife, Lelia, is a speech therapist, and Henry is extremely cognizant of speaking perfect English after being stigmatized as the "gook" going to Remedial Speech class to learn show more his new language. Interesting to note that Mee-gook is the Korean word for America.

Set in New York City, called the new Babel because the mix of languages from so many countries makes it difficult to distinguish among the immigrants, this is more than another book told from an immigrant's point of view. It's a book about family with its expectations and disappointments. It's about love that persists despite incredible odds against it. It's also a book of suspense resulting from Henry's surprising career choice.

Here is where the book becomes too overreaching for me. I'm a bit skeptical that anyone of Henry Park's sensitivity would be drawn into undercover work. I don't want to give too much away, so I'll be vague and say that he just doesn't seem the type to lead a life of intrigue. In fact, Henry is in danger of failing as a spy -- just as the book falls short as a wanna-be spy thriller.

Despite this flaw of "too much," Lee has created an auspicious first novel. As a reader of two more of his subsequent books, I can say that he fulfills the promise of this beautifully written debut. show less

From the cover - Henry Park works undercover in New York city. He's a natural--- quiet, watchful, secretive, distant. These were the trairs he acquired as a child, the only Korean boy in an all American suburb. Professionally they have served him well.
But now Henry's carefully constructed world is falling apart. His marriage to Lelia, his 'American wife', is foundering---partly as a consequence of his inability to come to terms with the death of their young son. Assigned to spy on a rising Korean-American political star, he finds himself, for the first time, struggling to maintain his professional distance. Amid the corruption of New York City politics and rising ethnic tensions, Henry is forced finally to consider who he really is.

This show more book explores what it is to be an immigrant in a foreign speaking country, marriages between people of different cultures and the ethics of undercover work. It is a captivating first book and I look forward to reading his other novels. show less

This is the first book in a long while that I have decided not to continue. I read through page 81 of the 349-page paperback edition, and nothing about the novel was commanding my interest. Since I am usually a very persistent reader and a fairly easy reader to please, I only abandon a book with reluctance. But I am also sensitive to my time being wasted, and there are books I persisted through that I wish I *had* ditched, such as Joshua Ferris's overrated "Then We Came to the End." When you are always reading classic novels, as I am, sometimes the contemporary novels you pick up seem quite weak by comparison (whether that is fair or not). You would like to ask the author, Why are you trying to re-invent the wheel? What you are doing show more has been done much better already. As it happens, I started Hermann Hesse's bewitching "Demian" while I was struggling with "Native Speaker." Both are first-person novels of reminiscence, and yet what a world of difference! "Demian" is electrifying, but "Native Speaker" is dull and aimless. Even the briefest portraits in "Demian" are sharp and memorable, while all the characters in "Native Speaker" are lifeless and unengaging.

The saddest part is, I am unlikely to try any other books by the acclaimed Chang-Rae Lee; there are just too many other writers I need to attend to.

I'll rate the book two stars for being a professionally written novel; I try to save the one star rating for publications that are merely embarrassing. show less