Up the Creek Book Club
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© 2000 Kathy Craig |
A Gesture Life
by Change-rae Lee
March 2003
Synopsis
"A Gesture Life is the story of a proper man, an upstanding citizen, who has come to epitomize the decorous values of his New York suburban town. Courteous, honest, hardworking, and impenetrable, Franklin Hata, a Japanese man of Korean birth, is careful to never overstep his bounds and to make his neighbors comfortable in his presence. He keeps his garden well tended, bids his customers good-bye at the doorway of his medical supply shop, ignores the taunts of local boys. Yet as his story unfolds, precipitated by the small events that take place around him, we see his life begin to unravel. We learn of an adopted daughter, who has vanished from his life, a romantic relationship gone sour; a minor conflagration that threatens the foundation of the life he has built. Gradually, we discover the mystery that has shaped the core of his being, his terrible, forbidden love for a young Korean comfort woman when he served as a medic in the Japanese army during World War II."
Chang-Rae Lee won the 1995 Discover Award for his masterful first novel, Native Speaker. The book world has patiently waited for Mr. Lee's second novel, and with the release of A Gesture Life it is apparent that the wait was more than worthwhile." (Publisher)
Reviews
- "Lee works his themes with precision and elegance...The accretion of wisdom in Lee's novel is stunning. He expertly evokes the collision of unacceptable truth with the illusion of workaday serenity...A beautiful, solitary, remarkably tender book." (NY Times Book Review)
- "Doc Hata, the quiet and reflective narrator of Chang-rae Lee's powerful new novel, A Gesture Life, is always quick to explain that he isn't really a doctor. He got his nickname because he sold medical supplies for many years in the American suburb where he still lives. Other aspect of his life aren't precisely what they seem, either - his Japanese name, his comfortable place as a minority in town - but Hata is reluctant to acknowledge his own secrets. An imperturbable calm, stretches over his day-to-day existence like plastic wraps.
Lee, the prize-winning author of Native Speaker, guides us across this complicated terrain without a false step. By rights, "Life" should be depressing. But the writing is sure and convincing vivid and the war story unforgettable. By the end of this masterly novel, all we are is exhilarated." (Newsweek)
Book Club Rating and Comments
If you or your book club has read this book and would like to share your comments, please email us at upthecreekbc@yahoo.com.
Other Books by Chang-rae Lee
- 'Native Speaker'