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A review by bentohbox
A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
4.0
The beauty and nature of this book lies in the path by which you learn about the main character. Not a linear birth to death, typical of many stories, but a meandering narrative, rife with opinion and lack thereof, beginning when you first meet and extending backwards. Isn't that how we meet almost everyone?
As someone of Korean heritage, my sense is that it might be tough for anyone without ancestral connection to the atrocities of WWII in the Pacific to relate so well to this particular piece. Just as we in America are reminded that legal segregation or Jim Crow atrocities were not so far in our past, so too should we remember that we are not so far removed from the subjugation of Korea, and other Asian countries, at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Military. For me, one fundamental component of this novel is treating it as such -- a piece of real life rather than a line in a textbook.
As a reader, Lee also forces you to grapple with the complex character of Doc Hata, a man of multiple identities, complicated history, and frustratingly continued ambiguity. It's this incessant conflict, which only grows in complexity as the novel goes on, that drives its narrative forward. In the end, there is no black and white or correct judgment, only shades of grey and perspective. It is a tragedy, a history, a narrative, and an exploration all in one.
The novel's arc and themes conjure a couple of questions I've considered in life as well -- what would people think of you if they knew your past? What obligations do we have to each other and ourselves? Who can we trust to be there for us, rather than for themselves? How can we be open, selflessly, to others when we're conditioned to only give as much as necessary?
As someone of Korean heritage, my sense is that it might be tough for anyone without ancestral connection to the atrocities of WWII in the Pacific to relate so well to this particular piece. Just as we in America are reminded that legal segregation or Jim Crow atrocities were not so far in our past, so too should we remember that we are not so far removed from the subjugation of Korea, and other Asian countries, at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Military. For me, one fundamental component of this novel is treating it as such -- a piece of real life rather than a line in a textbook.
As a reader, Lee also forces you to grapple with the complex character of Doc Hata, a man of multiple identities, complicated history, and frustratingly continued ambiguity. It's this incessant conflict, which only grows in complexity as the novel goes on, that drives its narrative forward. In the end, there is no black and white or correct judgment, only shades of grey and perspective. It is a tragedy, a history, a narrative, and an exploration all in one.
The novel's arc and themes conjure a couple of questions I've considered in life as well -- what would people think of you if they knew your past? What obligations do we have to each other and ourselves? Who can we trust to be there for us, rather than for themselves? How can we be open, selflessly, to others when we're conditioned to only give as much as necessary?