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brucefarrar 's review for:
A Map of Betrayal
by Ha Jin
After the death of her mother, Lillian Shang gets in touch with her father’s mistress, and receives an unexpected gift: six volumes of his diary. “I hadn’t known he kept a journal, and I had assumed that the FBI seized all the papers left by him, Gary Shang, the biggest Chinese spy ever caught in North America.” The diary starts Lillian on a journey to discover parts of her late father’s life that she’d never known. She discovers that her father had, in 1949, on orders from his communist party boss, left behind his new wife in order to keep his job as a translator with the Americans who were departing China for Okinawa. Her father was a bigamist. Lillian discovers she has a half-sister living in China. From Okinawa Shang’s map of betrayal led him first to California and ultimately Langley, Virginia, where he received a medal from the CIA in 1972 to honor his hard work and devotion.
The novel alternates viewpoints between Lillian’s first person present day discoveries in the United States, Canada, and China with a third person narration of Gary’s life from 1949 to 1980. Jin has taken the facts of real life double agent Larry Chin, and fashioned a gradually unfolding tale of a man with a double life. It’s similar to John Le Carré use of actual double agent, Kim Philby, to fashion his 1974 novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Both Le Carré’s and Jin’s spies are sleeper agents enlisted as young men to gradually work their way into the intelligence services of the target country. Le Carré’s agent is a “mole,” working his way underground, while Jin’s is a “nail,” assigned to stay at his post for life. This is indicative of the vastly different tone of the two novels. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a literary thriller, filled with suspense as British Intelligence works feverishly to uncover and arrest the mole. A Map of Betrayal is a literary character study of a man in involuntary exile, and the consequences for his children on both sides of the Pacific. But like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, it’s also about loves and betrayals, on national and on the most intimate and personal levels.
Lin’s narration of the audio version is excellent.
The novel alternates viewpoints between Lillian’s first person present day discoveries in the United States, Canada, and China with a third person narration of Gary’s life from 1949 to 1980. Jin has taken the facts of real life double agent Larry Chin, and fashioned a gradually unfolding tale of a man with a double life. It’s similar to John Le Carré use of actual double agent, Kim Philby, to fashion his 1974 novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Both Le Carré’s and Jin’s spies are sleeper agents enlisted as young men to gradually work their way into the intelligence services of the target country. Le Carré’s agent is a “mole,” working his way underground, while Jin’s is a “nail,” assigned to stay at his post for life. This is indicative of the vastly different tone of the two novels. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a literary thriller, filled with suspense as British Intelligence works feverishly to uncover and arrest the mole. A Map of Betrayal is a literary character study of a man in involuntary exile, and the consequences for his children on both sides of the Pacific. But like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, it’s also about loves and betrayals, on national and on the most intimate and personal levels.
Lin’s narration of the audio version is excellent.