Reviews

Native Speaker by Chang-rae Lee

suzz's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad medium-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

3.75

radioisasoundsalvation's review against another edition

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4.0

I enjoyed this, my first experience with Chang-rae Lee! His language lilts very lovingly through his scenes, his descriptions; it's what Pat Conroy wishes he could do, but is too dramatic and self-indulgent to do with any sort of economy. Park's lifelong struggle with parallel lives all roots down to being a first generation Korean American. His actions as a mole-for hire just emphasize that Park is not a man who can spend any more time walking the thin wire between all of his different identities. Lee's ingenuity in handling the ethnic-American experience with the domestic spy business is quite creative; although at first, I was skeptical. It really works though, once you realize he's not something out of Mission Impossible. It's much more subtle than I'd imagine it could be carried out, and that's all because of Lee's deft hand. I'll definitely be scoping out his other novels!

_cherish's review against another edition

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I did not like any of the main characters. Also, the writing style is super confusing. 

kathryn_muchnick's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

incredibly dense and searing portrait of Henry Park. especially enjoyed the chapters about his relationship with his wife but that private plotline was masterfully woven with the spy plotline

audreyng_29's review

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inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No

3.75

smalljude's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

emilykmunn's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad medium-paced
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

mojonjak's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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

juliaem's review against another edition

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4.0

So all during my cross-country tour for grad school interviews, this book I borrowed from Lauren was waiting for me in my suitcase. I kept reading other things..."Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," "No Reservations," and InStyle magazine, mainly. Quick airport reads. I'm really glad I finally committed myself to reading this. I was off to a slow start, but as the book progresses, the language becomes ever more deliberate and ever more beautiful. I've read a lot of contemporary fiction about the immigrant/child of immigrant experience (such as Indian-Americans Arundhati Roy, Jhumpa Lahiri, etc., which are exquisitely wonderful in their own right), but I don't know much about Korean culture (right, culture CAPITAL C and all that, too long to go into in a goodreads review), so a Korean-American experience, not to mention a male Korean-American experience in particular, was really an interesting one to feel I was gaining insight into. In some ways, Lee's writing reminds me of Marilynne Robinson's. All of sudden, you realize that a page and a half ago you've been smacked between the eyes with a heartbreakingly beautiful insight, rendered into concise yet poetic language. Count me as a big fan. Four starts instead of five only because it took me (and possibly entirely due to my own halted reading pace) a while to realize all that this book had to offer.

cbalaschak's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"But we are the living, remaining on the ground, and what we know is the narrow and the broken."