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A review by scherzo
A Free Life by Ha Jin
3.0
On page 516, Nan Wu wished that Boris Pasternak "had shown how Dr. Zhivago managed to write poetry when forced to serve the Bolsheviks. The poet in the story wasn't shown trying hard to devlop his art."
For 630 pages, Ha Jin parallels the Wu family's efforts to achieve the American Dream with Nan Wu's unflagging immersion in dictionaries and books of poetry. Reading a quotation from Faulkner, "The writer must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; ..." spurs Nan Wu to see himself honestly so he can begin to write poetry.
The last 30 pages are poems -- I read seven.
For 630 pages, Ha Jin parallels the Wu family's efforts to achieve the American Dream with Nan Wu's unflagging immersion in dictionaries and books of poetry. Reading a quotation from Faulkner, "The writer must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; ..." spurs Nan Wu to see himself honestly so he can begin to write poetry.
The last 30 pages are poems -- I read seven.