Call number
FIC JIN
Collection
Genres
Publication
Pantheon (2007), Edition: 1, 672 pages
Description
In the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Nan Wu, who had studied in the U.S. in the mid-1980s, leaves China with his wife and son to seek the freedom of the West, embarking on a migration that takes them through the heart of contemporary America.
Subjects
User reviews
LibraryThing member dfnojunk
Ha Jin is a fine writer. The first book of his that I read was War Trash, which I recommend.
This one, A Free Life, is also good. It's a Chinese Immigrant's version of "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." Nan Wu and is family come to the US. Nan is a romantic, missing his
He wished away his life with longing for what he didn't have, and missed much of the everyday goodness that was available to him. I liked this book.
About the writing style, it is deceptively easy reading. I mean the vocabulary is not difficult, but Mr. Jin makes even little events seem like they are signs of some impending disaster. A semi-shady lawyer handles the transfer of ownership when the Wus buy a house. The way it is written, you expect the ownership to be in the hands of the lawyer instead of the Wus when the loan is paid - which never happens, you are just afraid that it might. I wonder, is this what the life of an immigrant is like, taking huge chances on simple events in life because everything is so new and unexplained and the immigrants are so under-chaperoned?
This one, A Free Life, is also good. It's a Chinese Immigrant's version of "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." Nan Wu and is family come to the US. Nan is a romantic, missing his
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first love that threw him over and not noticing that his wife is a beautiful and dependable woman... wanting to be a poet while supporting his family with a profitable restaurant.He wished away his life with longing for what he didn't have, and missed much of the everyday goodness that was available to him. I liked this book.
About the writing style, it is deceptively easy reading. I mean the vocabulary is not difficult, but Mr. Jin makes even little events seem like they are signs of some impending disaster. A semi-shady lawyer handles the transfer of ownership when the Wus buy a house. The way it is written, you expect the ownership to be in the hands of the lawyer instead of the Wus when the loan is paid - which never happens, you are just afraid that it might. I wonder, is this what the life of an immigrant is like, taking huge chances on simple events in life because everything is so new and unexplained and the immigrants are so under-chaperoned?
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LibraryThing member mojomomma
This is kind of a pseudo-biography of a man who comes to the US from China after theTianenman Square revolt. After the first 400 pages I gave up looking for the plot line--there isn't one--and decided to enjoy the book for what it is. Basically its the story of Nan and Pingping and their
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son,Taotao, and how the adjust to life in US over 12 years. Show Less
LibraryThing member theageofsilt
Nan is a immigrant from China, arriving first to study in the United States and then remaining to eke out a modest life as the owner of a restaurant in Georgia. He yearns to be a poet, but when joined by his wife and child, must first concentrate on survival. He is lost, coping with a foreign
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language, a marriage that is unsatisfactory and a son who is Americanized. Ha Jin's writing throughout is mundane and prosaic -- an style which is ironic, intentionally I think, to use in telling the life story of a man who writes poetry. The story of the central character, Nan, is more than the typical story of the immigrant who struggles and finds the American dream of owning a home and business to be lacking. It is the story of the friction between material success and the life of the mind. Show Less
LibraryThing member nyiper
Long, but I couldn't stop listening to this audio although there were many times I wanted to just shake Nan and tell him to stop living in his dream world over his girlfriend and realize that he had the best in Ping Ping. But it took the length of the book, following the ups and downs of their life
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together, for Nan to get to the point where he understood what he had. A fascinating picture of an immigrant family's life. Show Less
LibraryThing member emigre
I can't critique this book fairly, too close to home, feel like Jin is so critical of China, but he has written a rare book on realistic Chinese immigrant life in America.
LibraryThing member spotteddog
A bit slow, but worth it. It provides much insight into how and why Chinese immigrants are so driven to succeed in our country.
LibraryThing member GJbean
just made it thru about 5 chapters. novel about family who comes to US after Tienemen Square. Father Mother and son Tao Tao. Interesting, but just too mundane and every day.
LibraryThing member LJuneOsborne
I loved this book. And as an American-American, I still managed to pick up on the different subtleties Ha Jin worked into the narrative as he describes Nan, Pingping, and Taotao's struggles with their homeland and America. Don't think that just because you don't have a similar heritage as the
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author you can't enjoy this book. Besides, Ha Jin proves over and over again that he writes in a (beautiful) way that makes even a story like this very easy for anyone to relate to. Show Less
LibraryThing member booksandbutter
This book was well written and the characters well developed. However, I think it definitely was way too long. And it ended without enough closure for such a lengthy story.
LibraryThing member Mintypink
Ha Jin writes a novel with quiet beauty. His style isn’t flashy or romanticized, which supports his characters’ everyday struggles, but it is a deep prose that is astonishingly simple and elegant. Jin tells the story of immigration, art in a capitalist world, and love. While this novel may
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resonate deeply with either immigrants or the children of immigrants, it is a subtle and enduring book that may appeal to a much broader audience. Jin has received much critical acclaim for his writing but I agree with another reviewer that it could have been shorter. With each additional 50 pages another layer in his story develops, but it only provides a deeper understanding of the spirit of the novel. It’s nice to have that, but not entirely necessary. Show Less
LibraryThing member SqueakyChu
Very low key but insightful into the life of an immigrant, A Free Life tells the story of Nan Wu, a Chinese man who aspires to be a poet and must remain in the United States because his native country labeled him a dissident. The story opens with Nan Wu and his wife Pingping bringing their then
Be forewarned that this book is very long. I did appreciate its short chapters so that I didn't get weighed down by how long it was. At first, I was not happy with the three main characters, Nan, Pingping, and Taotao, but the parents grew on me as they learned to adapt to the American culture. Taotao was always a brat, and I never did like him.
The book ends in an unusual way...with a short journal and then with several poems. My favorite of those was "Groundhog Hour". I guess that was because it was about an animal. My favorite quote came from the poem entitled "Homeland". The lines read as follows:
“Eventually you will learn:
Your country is where you raise your children,
Your homeland is where you build your home.”
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3-year-old son Taotao from China to live with them. The story traces their years together, their disagreements, their joys, their aspirations, their disappointments, and their successes. It is multilayered and thought-provoking. Be forewarned that this book is very long. I did appreciate its short chapters so that I didn't get weighed down by how long it was. At first, I was not happy with the three main characters, Nan, Pingping, and Taotao, but the parents grew on me as they learned to adapt to the American culture. Taotao was always a brat, and I never did like him.
The book ends in an unusual way...with a short journal and then with several poems. My favorite of those was "Groundhog Hour". I guess that was because it was about an animal. My favorite quote came from the poem entitled "Homeland". The lines read as follows:
“Eventually you will learn:
Your country is where you raise your children,
Your homeland is where you build your home.”
Show Less
LibraryThing member NML_dc
I stopped reading this, which is rare for me. It's beautifully rendered but slowly plotted and I couldn't shake my dread of impending tragedy (which never materializes, as far as I can tell) in order to avoid trying to race through to the next plot point.
LibraryThing member bexaplex
A Free Life is a 660-page treatise on dramatic irony. I am impressed at the editor who got this manuscript (or maybe it was longer to begin with?!?!) and who decided to print it in all its slow, plodding glory.
Nan, a Chinese student studying in the US, is left with a decision after Tiananmen
Nan reminds me of several characters in Margaret Atwood's books, or Edith Wharton's: the man who slowly sucks the life out of the female protagonist, except slightly edgier. He's clearly making Pingping miserable, but there is an abusive dimension: he keeps on recommitting to her when she has health issues, or when others point out that she's extremely loyal, and then he has these sporadic violent outbreaks (e.g. when he burns the cash register money towards the end of the novel).
Ending with Nan's poetry is a brilliant move: the author spends some time making the reader aware that Nan's poetry is not great. He has a few pieces accepted here and there, but he mostly toils in obscurity. And then you can see in the poems that same pattern: some of the lines sing ("Another rain will burst them— / full of teeth, they will grin / through the tiny leaves") and then some are just abjectly awful ("I swear I'll never say good-bye / to my son again, not until / he graduates from Parkview High"). What fun it must be to write bad poetry!
Nan, a Chinese student studying in the US, is left with a decision after Tiananmen
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Square: continue his studies or re-envision his life as an immigrant, not a temporary student (there were favorable immigration policies enacted for Chinese students who chose to stay in the US in that era). He quits his studies, brings his son from China to the US, and then has a mostly unremarkable life, which is written in great detail. The entire book is written from Nan's point of view, and he seems to be completely unaware of his useless obsession with his former girlfriend, his incredibly shoddy treatment of his wife, and his circular pattern of commitment, despair, surrender, re-commitment, etc.Nan reminds me of several characters in Margaret Atwood's books, or Edith Wharton's: the man who slowly sucks the life out of the female protagonist, except slightly edgier. He's clearly making Pingping miserable, but there is an abusive dimension: he keeps on recommitting to her when she has health issues, or when others point out that she's extremely loyal, and then he has these sporadic violent outbreaks (e.g. when he burns the cash register money towards the end of the novel).
Ending with Nan's poetry is a brilliant move: the author spends some time making the reader aware that Nan's poetry is not great. He has a few pieces accepted here and there, but he mostly toils in obscurity. And then you can see in the poems that same pattern: some of the lines sing ("Another rain will burst them— / full of teeth, they will grin / through the tiny leaves") and then some are just abjectly awful ("I swear I'll never say good-bye / to my son again, not until / he graduates from Parkview High"). What fun it must be to write bad poetry!
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Awards
Booklist Editor's Choice: Adult Books (Fiction — 2007)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction & Poetry — 2007)
Pages
672
ISBN
0375424652 / 9780375424656
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