A review by smalefowles
Native Speaker by Chang-rae Lee

4.0

I'm not sure how I managed to go so many years without actually reading this book. I've read excerpts of it on multiple occasions, but somehow none of them prepared me for the novel itself. The excerpts always depicted the novel as one centering on a father-son relationship and "the immigrant experience." That's only one facet of this complex, well-wrought gem.

It's sort of actually a spy novel, and also maybe All the King's Men in the boroughs. The plot gets a little crazy, but it's all anchored in the overtly literary prose, which spends at least equal time on feelings. All the feelings.

I'm going to have to read more Chang-rae Lee.