Native Speaker

Chang-rae Lee's Native Speaker is arguably one of the most beautifully written books of the 20th Century. Written when Lee was only 28 years old as his MFA thesis project, Native Speaker is a moving and often painful account of the immigrant/1.5 generation's experience in the United States. While the book moves back and forth between Henry Park's life as a spy and his relationship with his estranged wife, Lelia, the underlying theme encompassing the entire novel is that of the invisibility and displacement of Asian Americans in the United States. While some reviewers have deemed Henry's career as a spy a curious or strange career, anyone familiar with the invisiblity of the Asian American population in the United States will appreciate and empathize with this career choice. As a spy, Henry's job is to be invisible, the unseen. As a first generation Korean American in the United States, Henry is often the unseen minority who because of his skin color and the stereotypes of the quiet, passive, model minority keep him in the background of society. In sum, the entire novel as well as Henry himself serve as a metaphor and commentary of the invisibility of Asian Americans in the United States, while in reality they are a large percentage of society with the immigrant population continuing to grow. In addition to crafting a story commenting on Asian Americans in the United States, Lee also created an interracial relationship between Henry and Lelia (Scotch American) free of the exoticism and/or fetishism often found in stories involving interracial relationships. While there is little doubt that Henry loves Lelia, their relationship often causes him to undergo feelings of self-contempt and inferiorty as he fears his Korean ethnicity, Asian race, and perceived imperfect English mark him as less than an equal partner. While Lelia is free with her emotions and wishes for Henry to react in the same way, his upbrining in a somewhat violent as well as verbally repressed family often causes him to react to emotional situations with stoicism and silence. Thus, while Henry and Lelia are perfectly matched in many ways, they must still negotiate their differences in culture and ethnicity. The ethnic and cultural differences that the couple face are perhaps most apparent in their diverging beliefs on how to raise their mixed race son. Here, Henry's feelings of inferiorty surface as he worries that his son will look too Korean, will not speak perfect English, and will be subject to the same kind of abuse Henry suffered as a child. On the contrary, while Lelia becomes more consciousness of her whiteness and the privilege it carries after becoming a mother to an Korean American child, she is the one who encourages Mitt's learning about his culture as well as the Korean language. With the creation of Henry and Lelia's child, Mitt, Lee provides a commentary and his own take on the Eurasian character so often depicted in Anglo as well as Asian A

If you read a great deal, you recognize that only a few books are truly profound and will be regarded as noteworthy among those written in a particular era. Having just finished "Native Speaker" I was both moved, and extremely impressed. This is clearly one of the distinguished books of this generation.Chang Rae Lee is clearly a man of acute depth and insights, and he eloquently represents distinctly different cultures, and the angst, disillusionment, and metamorphisis arising from survival that affects immigrants. He also probes fundamental issues of family, loyalty, betrayal, and the question of what constitutes success. While he employs Korean, and Korean American prototypes, his themes and issues are fundamentally human, but perhaps distinctly American.Furthermore, Lee is a superb wordsmith and a beautiful writer, with a masterful command of the English language, which he skillfully and artistically, employs to convey his complex tale and profound concepts.I was motivated to read this book when I read that this was the book that had been recommended by many as that which diverse, fractious, and iconoclastic NYC should claim as it's own in the trend for each of the nation's cities to focus on a book to read. However, this is an important book for all Americans, as it trully speaks to the American experience. I noted one review compared it to Ellison's "Invisible Man". While I think that it stands alone, if I were to compare it with other American classics they would instead be Dreiser's "An American Tragedy" and Richard Wright's "Native Son". I am very pleased that I chose to read this book; it is noble, touching, and important.

Chang-Rae Lee supplies so many levels to this tale of political espionage that the reader cannot help but emerge wiser. Lee is an engaging storyteller, hooking the reader with the first line and never relinquishing his grip, giving his readers a suspenseful plot, compelling characters, precise language, and an exploration of issues facing America today. The metaphor of the second-generation American as spy is simply brilliant. This book is a rare find: a page-turner with real substance.

I can understand some of the ambivalence which surrounds the reception to this book; more often than not, people love it, but some really dislike enough of it to give it low ratings. While the author has very studied and elaborate style, which is actually beautiful at times, maybe people come to expect too much from the plot and the development of "Parky." The very graceful, "riddling" prose may make the development of the story seem unsatisfactory at times. At any rate, people seem intrigued or perplexed enough to have formed strong opinions about it. As for the story, I think it would have been too crass for it to have ended in any other way, given the length of the book and what a brooding and quietly melancholic character Henry is. I haven't read Lee's successive work, but I would probably need a break to take in some sunshine and laugh a bit before I delved into his world again. Mr. Lee's necessary explanation of why Henry became the man he is seems utterly convincing, drawing at length from his childhood and the contrasting influences of his family and his adopted country. Given this, it's probably difficult for people to accept the book as being anything other than a Korean-American experience novel - but though for me it somehow isn't; Henry's "sentimentalist," yet "emotional alien" character defies common logic (and yes I am Korean, though not Korean-American), and makes the reading of the man's thoughts via the narrative as intensely interesting as his manner is surreptitious and secretive. Someone elsewhere wrote that Lee's novels seem to be "more personal therapy than art," and it seems unlikely to me that Lee could borrow so deeply and richly from any other personality than his own. I'll certainly be looking foward to his future works (after a bit of a break, as I said), but his very unique and accomplished style makes it unfair for him to be bracketed as just another Korean -American writer; he should be allowed to stand on his own merits, and be appreciated as a storyteller of an different order, and not as a voice for Korean-Amercans. I imagine the scope of any ethnicity's experiences are too broad to be squeezed into the narrative voice of one author, so let's just appreciate his work for what it is, and not be disappointed that it isn't "definitive".

i thought this was a wonderful book! beautiful prose, interesting characters, galloping plot. i comletely recommend it.but what really horrifies me as i read these reviews is how many people seem to assume that because lee is korean american he has some sort of duty to write about "the" korean-american experience. as if there were such a thing! i've heard other non-white authors complaining of the same thing: that their work is pigeon-holed as "xx-american" and held up as representative of all "xx-american" experience. what a ridiculous idea. and as for A Reader From New York's comment that the novel wasn't the revealing insight into Korean-American culture that s/he expected, as you seem not to have figured this one out yet, i must caution you against basing your expectations of reality on anything you read in "popular magazines".