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ellenjoannecampbell's review against another edition
4.0
This was an interesting mix of genres and themes. Surprisingly little of the book focussed on Henry Park's life as the son of a Korean immigrant. Relationships were key, as well as his life as a spy and how that affects him. It was a good read.
jynaito's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Henry Park is a second-generation Korean American. A spy for a private firm, he is tasked with infiltrating the campaign of a New York City politician who is also Korean American, ultimately requiring that he betray one of his own. Between updates on his assignment, Park reflects on his turbulent relationship with his now-deceased father and paints a portrait of his interracial marriage—broken, traumatized, then miraculously stitched back together again. Chang-rae Lee’s thoughtful, elegant prose touches on grief, identity, morality, and assimilation. Though it was first published in 1995, this story would not be much different if it were told today.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Death, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity, Violence, Murder, and War
imiji's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lee's prose is genuinely beautiful in parts, if overtly literary, and there's a part of me that understands why this is seen as such a foundational text in the asian american canon. but possibly because this is an older text, some things grated -- the persistent maleness of the narration, the dismissal of women, the essentialism around the supposed inherent pathos of korean culture and identity, the conflation of all immigrant experiences.
mythaster's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
adamvolle's review against another edition
2.0
It seems like every First Novel published during or after an author's stint in a university's Creative Writing program suffers from the same flaws.
clairelorraine's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
mustardseed's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Native Speaker: A Soliloquy of Self as Symbol & Stranger
The story follows Henry Park, a second generation Korean-American spy. The bulk of the novel is focused on his own personal life (struggles with the family he created with his wife, the influence of his father) and his job as a spy on a prominent Korean politician in America, John Kwang.
Much like John Kwang is “representative, easily drawn and iconic, the idea being if you know him you can know a whole people”, Henry too is a symbol, his reminisciences on his own condition as an “alien” (as his white wife says) in America the story of an entire diaspora even as it is his own. Political tensions are picked apart, “yellow against black”, “white against black”, “white and yellow” through his eyes, and we get the sense of a forever observer, standing at the uncertain precipice between viewing from a distance and being intimately involved. The novel weaves in such parallels, like his mishap in a mission with a Filippino psychiatrist where he observes and yet weaves his responses with bits of his true self, losing sight of his job—we see a sort of unravelling of Henry, his emotional and psychological simultaneous distance and nearness.
In many senses too, this novel is beyond an exploration of the diasporic condition, this sense of alienation and “strangeness”—it is also a moving portrait of a man. Beyond his ethnic identity, there is a real sense and build of a person, with touching meditations on grief, love, pain—a human experience. It is written with prose neither simplistic nor elaborate, but a lucidity and precision of expression.
Native Speaker is a deeply emotive and simultaneously socio-politically astute novel. It reminds me of something I once heard, that it is by telling the most personal stories that you can relate the most globally.
The novel begins with Henry's wife leaving him, and the list she leaves behind describing who he is. These labels echo throughout the novel, whether explicitly or not, as he negotiates with his idea of selfhood. I get the sense that, written in first person, Native Speaker is his letter of response, both to the world, and to himself.
jawjuhh's review against another edition
3.0
occasionally moments that stuck with me, but this book dragged on for me.