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noemi 's review for:
A Map of Betrayal
by Ha Jin
I found the book a little slow at first, but then I found myself really getting into it. Well written and also very well narrated by Angela Lin - I will have to check out more (audio)books by this author and / or with this narrator.
I liked the twists and turns of the two narratives, especially since we knew a little bit about how the "flashback" one of them would end from the very beginning. This gave the ending of that narrative a certain inevitability, while you still couldn't help hoping that some things would turn out otherwise. I also liked the strange effect of hearing the same voice narrating from adult Lilian's perspective, and then referring to Lilian in the third person in the "flashback" narrative. I also really liked that I learned a lot about the history of Chinese-US relations through Gary's narrative.
A couple things that seemed a little strange though - Lilian, who is half-white and grew up in the States, is able to pass herself off as Chinese while teaching and traveling in China, despite both her race and likely having an accent. That just doesn't ring true to me. Also, I was surprised at the lack of mention of racism in Gary's narrative, given that he lived in a largely white community in the States in the 1950's and onward.
I liked the twists and turns of the two narratives, especially since we knew a little bit about how the "flashback" one of them would end from the very beginning. This gave the ending of that narrative a certain inevitability, while you still couldn't help hoping that some things would turn out otherwise. I also liked the strange effect of hearing the same voice narrating from adult Lilian's perspective, and then referring to Lilian in the third person in the "flashback" narrative. I also really liked that I learned a lot about the history of Chinese-US relations through Gary's narrative.
A couple things that seemed a little strange though - Lilian, who is half-white and grew up in the States, is able to pass herself off as Chinese while teaching and traveling in China, despite both her race and likely having an accent. That just doesn't ring true to me. Also, I was surprised at the lack of mention of racism in Gary's narrative, given that he lived in a largely white community in the States in the 1950's and onward.