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stevienlcf 's review for:
A Map of Betrayal
by Ha Jin
"A Map of Betrayal" tells the tragic story of a Chinese secret agent through his journals that span from 1949 to 1980 and his American-born daughter, Lilian's, travels to China to reconstruct her secretive father's history. Weimin was a novice in the business of espionage, but his English skills were noticed by his superiors who encouraged him to leave his new bride in the countryside in Shandong and to apply for a job with a U.S. cultural agency. Although Weimin longs to reunite with his bride and the twins who were born after he left in China, he adopts an alias, Gary Chang, and becomes a translator for the CIA. At the prodding of his handlers, Gary settles down in the United States, marrying a white woman and fathering Lilian.
Although Gary was the "biggest Chinese spy ever caught in North America" and was reputed to have been responsible for immeasurable damage to U.S. national security, Ha Jin makes the reader sympathize with a man who is tried and convicted as a traitor. Gary is ordered by his superiors to Americanize himself as thoroughly as possible and to remain a mole in the U.S. despite his desire to return to China. Ha Jin depicts a lonely, divided man torn between his loyalties to his two countries and his two families. Although he grows to love his adopted country, Gary never stops missing China and the family he left behind whom he is repeatedly assured through the years were being cared for by the Communist party in his absence. It is precisely his desire to do right by the American woman who had given him a child and a home that dooms Gary who ultimately dies a traitor, abandoned by the country to whom he slavishly devoted 30 years.
Gary's story is poignant and compelling, but Lilian's present day connections with her relatives in the United States and China is not as successful, and some of the side plots (like the shadowy nephew Ben) are ridiculous and dilute the power of Gary's tale. The novel also suffers from uneven and clumsy writing, but Gary's story is powerful that the novel should not be overlooked.
Although Gary was the "biggest Chinese spy ever caught in North America" and was reputed to have been responsible for immeasurable damage to U.S. national security, Ha Jin makes the reader sympathize with a man who is tried and convicted as a traitor. Gary is ordered by his superiors to Americanize himself as thoroughly as possible and to remain a mole in the U.S. despite his desire to return to China. Ha Jin depicts a lonely, divided man torn between his loyalties to his two countries and his two families. Although he grows to love his adopted country, Gary never stops missing China and the family he left behind whom he is repeatedly assured through the years were being cared for by the Communist party in his absence. It is precisely his desire to do right by the American woman who had given him a child and a home that dooms Gary who ultimately dies a traitor, abandoned by the country to whom he slavishly devoted 30 years.
Gary's story is poignant and compelling, but Lilian's present day connections with her relatives in the United States and China is not as successful, and some of the side plots (like the shadowy nephew Ben) are ridiculous and dilute the power of Gary's tale. The novel also suffers from uneven and clumsy writing, but Gary's story is powerful that the novel should not be overlooked.