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42 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A New Life in a New Country, but is it Really a Free Life?, November 1, 2007
Ha Jin's A Free Life begins the same year as one of the Twentieth century's greatest atrocities--the Tiananmen Square massacre--but the book does not take place in China. Protagonist Nan Wu is a native of the frigid city of Harbin, China, but his considerable academic gifts and strong written English skills have afforded him the enviable opportunity of pursuing a political science Ph.D. in America.
Due to his disillusionment with the Tiananmen Square massacre, the disgusted Nan wants to distance himself from all things political, so he drops out of his program of study. However, before he removes himself from the Ivory Tower, Nan and some of his fellow grad students mention a plot to kidnap the children of mainland officials--a plot leaked to Chinese officials, causing Nan to be blacklisted and subsequently left a man without a country. With his wife Pingping and son Taotao also living in America, Nan feels he has little to lose, so he intends to make a new, permanent life in America. In order to support them, Nan takes one of the few jobs that someone armed with an M.A. in the humanities can do: He becomes a security guard.
Nan does aspire to higher things, though. He wants to be a good provider for his family, but even more, he wants to find meaning for his own being. After having his passport taken away by the Chinese consulate, Nan turns to the written word to help relieve his anxieties. However, he does not turn to writing in his native tongue; instead, he turns to the language of his adopted country, devouring book after book of English poetry and spending spare moments at work studying an English dictionary.
Nan feels the need to write for two reasons: to fully embrace the language of his adopted country and to regain a passion that he lost after his first love, Beina, left him while still in China. The resulting numbness has rendered him unable to love Pingping and Taotao fully. Through English poetry, which he feels is more emotive than Chinese poetry, Nan wants to regain a lost part of himself. By writing in English, Nan is also able to distance himself further from his native land. This distancing does not limit itself to China but extends to the Chinese community in America with which Nan finds himself increasingly disgusted each time he interacts with it.
Ha Jin does not whitewash tensions between various racial groups. Those unfamiliar with the tensions within the Chinese Diaspora may be surprised by the vicious arguments between the mainland Chinese and the Taiwanese, not to mention a number of the mainlanders' hatred for the Japanese. Nan's perspective of his community distinguishes this story from the majority of novels dealing with Asian Americans--particularly from those featuring a first generation immigrant. He is upset by his fellow mainland immigrants' willingness to whitewash the atrocities caused by the Chinese government and to support a nationalism that not only is destructive to relations with America, Japan, and Taiwan but also continues to breed hate.
Despite being a massive 672-page novel, A Free Life is an incredibly fast, enjoyable read that is difficult to put down. Perhaps this is because the chapters are rarely longer than five pages and, instead of being one long story, the novel seems more like a collection of vignettes concerning the lives of one man, his family, and the lives of other Chinese expatriates. The magic of A Free Life is that each short vignette is carefully chosen to cast light on one of the family's small victories and defeats. Readers get to experience Nan and Pingping's grief when they are desperately trying to save money, and they get to experience the couple's happiness when the Wus open their own restaurant. These events are not major, but they paint a very real life and help the reader feel closer to the characters.
A Free Life is a masterful work detailing the minutiae of one family's day to day life. While this might seem to be the makings of a cut and dry novel, the novel also details an immigrant's struggle with his native land and fellow immigrants. Though younger generations such as Taotao's are spared the long threads of political intrigue that bind many Chinese expatriates to mainland China, Nan's entire being is ensnared by these threads that threaten to strangle him. However, through his family and his desire to write, Nan might be able to experience "a free life" unhindered by the past.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simple Beauty, January 25, 2008
I found this book to be one of the most powerful books I have ever read. This book is so subtle and delicate you have to be persistent to discover its beauty. I didn't really get into it until page 75 or so (which is quite a bit of reading for a modern novel). I enjoyed the writing of the first 75 pages, Ha Jin is a wonderful writer, but it wasn't until Nan went to New York City that I really felt the story started to solidify.
This is a very artistic and highly nuanced story, and deserves to be read carefully. The story slowly unfolds and becomes more and more powerful until coming to an emotional crescendo in the journal and poems that complete the novel. Don't misunderstand me, this is a very understated tale, but for me all the more powerful for its restraint. I thought it impossible that this book would move me as much as Waiting. I was wrong. This is Ha Jin's most powerful work. I would give this book 10 stars if I could. It was that good.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful Picture of Coming to America from China, December 9, 2007
It's hard to imagine heading to a foreign country like Japan or Korea or even China to start a life with virtually no money and no real job training. Get a job, learn a language, get enough money to pay the bills, learn how a whole new culture really works. This story is well worth reading if only to reconfirm the benefits of living "A Free Life." Here are the things I found unique and interesting about the book:
1. There is really no dramatic story here. It reads like a journal describing every little thought and action including his little fights with his wife and son, everyday relationship with fellow workers, friends, poets. etc.
2. It's very description of the conservative and simple life of the regular Chinese people, those loyal to the old ways of Mao and those trying to flee from the country to start a new life in America and other places. They are willing to put in the long hours, are fiscally very very conservative, worried about every penny and investment. You understand that life is looked at from a different perspective, a perspective that you aren't entitled or worthy when you are born. You are here to work and earn enough money to pay the bills.
3. You can tell that the book is written by an intelligent, educated foreigner. It works well, flows well, is easy to understand and enjoy, but it is almost too straight forward, honest and lacks any poetry or beautiful writing. It seems like you are reading from a personal journal where comments about reactions to life's most mundane things are made. But this is part of what makes it worth reading. You comprehend the frustrations, fears, and real life of very good and devoted people. You can tell that everything that is said is from the heart and ruthfully honest. It takes him a long time to really accept and return the love his hard working devoted wife gives him from day one. He is honest about his fantasies about a girl he was once in love with and how this fantasy affects his life.
4. He opens our eyes to the evolution of China and the thoughts and desires of the Chinese people, how the older generation is still loyal to the old communist government and how the country and younger generation is becoming more and more devoted to capitalism. In a certain way, there is nostalgia for the old Chinese way of life.
5. By the end of the book, it is clear that he has become an American Citizen in all ways and living a conservative, frugal version of the American way of life. He loves it and respects it, but it is very realistically stated.
It is a long and touching story, sometimes a bit boring and slow, but always worth moving ahead. It is well worth the read and it gave me a lot of insight into these people and the sacrifices they make. Driving by Chinese restaurants run by hard working Chinese people feels different now. I want to talk to them and make friends with them and I really do respect them more now that I've had a chance to walk in one of their brother's shoes.
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