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A review by jrpoole
A Good Fall by Ha Jin
3.0
A writer friend once told me he was easily bored by literary realism because the real world is so absurd that it takes surrealism to accurately describe it. Salman Rushdie expresses a similar notion in an interview I often show my ENG 102 classes when he says (I'm paraphrasing) in defense of magic realism that stories don't have to be true in order to get at the truth. Perhaps that's why I had such a muted reaction to this collection, which peddles in impeccably written realism to portray the experiences of Chinese immigrants in America.
Ha Jin is, in many ways, a writer's writer, an editor's dream. He writes sentences so crystalline and flawless that reading him is like letting a gentle current wash you downstream. That effect made me read this book in just a few sittings, but there's something about the degree of polish that renders the effect more intellectual than emotional. I did learn a lot about the Chinese immigrant experience, and some of the stories here (most notably "The Beauty" and "A Composer and His Parakeet") are memorable. It's easy to see why Ha Jin is so rightfully celebrated as a writer, but I hope the next thing I read by him packs a little more visceral wallop.
Ha Jin is, in many ways, a writer's writer, an editor's dream. He writes sentences so crystalline and flawless that reading him is like letting a gentle current wash you downstream. That effect made me read this book in just a few sittings, but there's something about the degree of polish that renders the effect more intellectual than emotional. I did learn a lot about the Chinese immigrant experience, and some of the stories here (most notably "The Beauty" and "A Composer and His Parakeet") are memorable. It's easy to see why Ha Jin is so rightfully celebrated as a writer, but I hope the next thing I read by him packs a little more visceral wallop.