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chrysemys 's review for:
A Map of Betrayal
by Ha Jin
This book was so promising at first. Told from the points of view of a Chinese spy (from the 1940s to 1980) and his Chinese-American daughter (approximately contemporaneous with the book's publication--early 2010s) who is investigating his past. The author treats the spy-dad character with great subtlety and nuance.
The part of the plot involving the nephew seemed shoehorned in. I understand the need for an interesting secondary plot, but this one was pretty lame. Worse, the author uses the narrator (the daughter) to express his own views in a very unsubtle, preachy way. The narrator, her husband, and her nephew become unconvincing characters toward the end of the book, woodenly playing out a protracted tableau for the benefit of... ?
Disappointing. Not sure I will be going back to Ha Jin.
The part of the plot involving the nephew seemed shoehorned in. I understand the need for an interesting secondary plot, but this one was pretty lame. Worse, the author uses the narrator (the daughter) to express his own views in a very unsubtle, preachy way. The narrator, her husband, and her nephew become unconvincing characters toward the end of the book, woodenly playing out a protracted tableau for the benefit of... ?
Disappointing. Not sure I will be going back to Ha Jin.