short stories from Chinese emigre & ex-soldier
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Set on China's bleak northern border in the 1970s, when Russia and China were close to war, these short stories describe the life of soldiers, professional officers, and raw recruits, living in constant proximity. In this hierarchical and politically charged world, there is even less privacy than normal in China, highlighting a fundamental difference between Chinese and Western societies. The book provides an unusually brilliant insight into the Chinese psyche, with its preoccupations with food, family, and political standing, and its ambivalent attitudes toward women and animals.
Yet Ocean of Words also makes us aware of the common humanity that we share with Ha Jin's characters. Hunger, fear, sexual embarrassment, curiosity about the outside world are universal emotions, and we find ourselves caring deeply about these men. The title refers to a treasured dictionary in a story that brings together a maladjusted young man and an elderly officer. Ha Jin obviously cares deeply about words; his writing is spare, penetrating, and often funny, as when he describes the embarrassment of the officers at the "politically incorrect" earthiness of an old survivor of the Long March, who by definition must be considered an archetypal revolutionary. In this book, Ha Jin has done for the Chinese army what Zhang Xianliang did so powerfully for the prison camp in works like Grass Soup. -- John Stevenson --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Set on the Chinese-Russian border in the early 1970s, these short stories by this poet (Between Silences) and veteran of the People's Army, quickly draws the reader into Chinese army life with all its rivalries, propaganda and poignancy. "Dragon Head" follows a fascinating battle of wits between an army commander and a local militia commander ("If this were the Old China, no doubt Dragon Head would become a small warlord") through the twists and turns of betrayal and political intrigue. In "Miss Jee," about a soldier who is the helpless butt of his comrades' jokes, Jin also shows a genuine talent for humor. But the author is at his best when telling the stories of soldiers forced to choose between ideology and love. Whether it is love of a woman or love of knowledge, Jin's characters make hard choices that will move not just readers interested in China or the army life, but any reader vulnerable to good writing and simple human drama.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ha Jin's Short Stories Have Tall Stature,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ocean of Words Army Stories (Paperback)
Ha Jin brilliantly evokes emotion in short stories that may take some an epic novel to create the same impact. His words are sunbeams bouncing on desolate land and you want to continue despite the heartbreak that you may only survive simply to survive. Never to fully live in the light. He is the most eloquent writer and he allows us to view a world not known to most Americans: China under Mao. Be swept away with words and emotions.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ocean full of Stars,
This review is from: Ocean of Words Army Stories (Paperback)
When I read Ocean of Words, I was immediately reminded of two works by "the enemy" from this work, Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time and Tolstoy's Hadji Murad. All three works deal with fear, nature and the other. All three are strangely at peace with their situation and surrounding. All three are great. After reading this collection, I ran out and bought The Bridegroom and Waiting. Neither of these works rose to the level of this collection. This is one of the best short story collections published in the last twenty years. I would recommend this collection to anyone.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful short stories,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ocean of Words Army Stories (Paperback)
The stories by Hai Jin are superb! The are easy to read and always touching. There is no story in this book that I didn't like it!
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Our Most Respected Divisional Commissar Lin: I am writing to report on an event that occurred last Saturday afternoon. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
drill ground, production brigade, squad leader Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Dragon Head, Commissar Diao, Uncle Piao, Commander Gao, Chairman Mao, Liu Fu, Old Gao, Director Liang, Niu Hsi, Wang Min, Red Army, Spring Festival, Song Ang, Regimental Headquarters, Shi Wei, Chief Jiang, Divisional Headquarters, Old Liu, Regimental Political Department, Jee Jun, Ocean of Words, Hutou Town, Kong Kai, Wusuli River, Youth Home New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Our Most Respected Divisional Commissar Lin: I am writing to report on an event that occurred last Saturday afternoon. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
drill ground, production brigade, squad leader Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Dragon Head, Commissar Diao, Uncle Piao, Commander Gao, Chairman Mao, Liu Fu, Old Gao, Director Liang, Niu Hsi, Wang Min, Red Army, Spring Festival, Song Ang, Regimental Headquarters, Shi Wei, Chief Jiang, Divisional Headquarters, Old Liu, Regimental Political Department, Jee Jun, Ocean of Words, Hutou Town, Kong Kai, Wusuli River, Youth Home New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 3
books:
10
books
cite this book:
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- The State and Revolution (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin on page 141
- What Is to Be Done? (Penguin Twentieth-Century Clas) by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin on page 31
- The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx on page 200
- The Very Telling: Conversations with American Writers by Sarah Johnson on page 55, and Back Matter
- Novel Voices: 17 Award-Winning Novelists on How to Write, Edit, and Get Published by Kevin Rabalais on page 143, and page 155
- Charlie Chan Is Dead 2: At Home in the World (An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction--Revised and Updated) by Jessica Hagedorn in Back Matter
- The Best of the Kenyon Review: Poetry, Stories and Essays by... by David Lynn on page 378
- Opportunities in Writing Careers by Elizabeth Foote-Smith on page 55
See all 10 books citing this book
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