A review by wendyclinch
A Free Life by Ha Jin

2.0

In A Free Life, the main character, a Chinese immigrant named Nan, explores life as a free man living in the US. Is he really free? And do we really care? The book groans under an oppressive weight of day to day minutiae. So it's actually pretty dull. Maybe that's what Ha Jin is telling us --- that free lives are boring, that we're hamstrung by detail and thousands of tiny decisions that impose on our freedom, every day. The result, however, is a very boring book written in an extremely flat footed, matter of fact style. No beauty of language, no interesting story. Just dull. Wish I liked it more.