Native Speaker, Changrae Lee
Native Speaker, Changrae Lee
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Native Speaker

Author: Chang-rae Lee

Narrator: David Colacci

Unabridged: 11 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 04/19/2022


Synopsis

ONE OF THE ATLANTIC’S GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS

The debut novel from critically acclaimed and New York Times–bestselling author of My Year Abroad and the highly anticipated A Tender Age

In Native Speaker, author Chang-rae Lee introduces readers to Henry Park. Park has spent his entire life trying to become a true American—a native speaker. But even as the essence of his adopted country continues to elude him, his Korean heritage seems to drift further and further away.

Park's harsh Korean upbringing has taught him to hide his emotions, to remember everything he learns, and most of all to feel an overwhelming sense of alienation. In other words, it has shaped him as a natural spy.

But the very attributes that help him to excel in his profession put a strain on his marriage to his American wife and stand in the way of his coming to terms with his young son's death. When he is assigned to spy on a rising Korean-American politician, his very identity is tested, and he must figure out who he is amid not only the conflicts within himself but also within the ethnic and political tensions of the New York City streets.

Native Speaker is a story of cultural alienation. It is about fathers and sons, about the desire to connect with the world rather than stand apart from it, about loyalty and betrayal, about the alien in all of us and who we finally are.

About The Author

Chang-rae Lee is the author of On Such a Full Sea, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Native Speaker, winner of the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for first fiction, A Gesture Life, Aloft, and The Surrendered, winner of the Dayton Peace Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.  Selected by The New Yorker as one of the twenty best writers under forty, Chang-rae Lee teaches writing at Princeton University.


Reviews

Goodreads review by aPriL does feral sometimes on January 26, 2023

This is a brilliant, thoughtful, subject-packed, angst-riddled, almost-noir, teeters-on-the-edge-of-soap-opera, and finally, an excellent literary first novel by a very wise writer, Chang-Rae Lee. 'Native Speaker' is powerful and superb. It is one of those novels where its strengths are also its weak......more

Goodreads review by Yu on February 20, 2013

I read Amy Tam and Sour Sweet, I suppose to have more echoes from these Chinese immigrants decedents, but I felt nothing. These authors haven't touched the point in your heart that you will share the same feelings. However, in this book I could identify myself with him, the protagonist, identify the......more

Goodreads review by Ann on August 11, 2011

There were too many themes that just never connected. I don't know if it was a story of immigrant alienation, political corruption or family tragedy. And the writing was verbose. My mind would wander while he was doing some long description and I would miss a major event like a bombing or a child's......more

Goodreads review by Michael on August 16, 2021

This was a great book about politics and being Asian in America. I enjoyed the writing, the intrigue and the characters very much. It is not surprising that this was Chang-rae Lee's first huge success.......more

Goodreads review by Laura on November 30, 2010

not really sure what i think about this book. insightful. The protagonist, Henry Park - and Chang-rae Lee himself - had a much different experience growing up as a Korean-American than I did. Interesting how that is. i: no real ties to my Korean heritage, raised by altogether American parents (some......more


Quotes

"One of the year's most provocative and deeply felt first novels...a searing portrait of the immigrant experience."—Vanity Fair"With echoes of Ralph Ellison, Chang-rae Lee's extraordinary debut speaks for another kind of invisible man: the Asian immigrant in America...a revelatory work of fiction."—Vogue"The prose Lee writes is elliptical, riddling, poetic, often beautifully made."—The New Yorker"Deft, delicate...The book's narrative is lyrical, its plot compelling...The novel's interwoven plots and themes, its slew of singular characters, and Henry's ongoing recollections and reflections are rich and enticing."—Boston Globe"A tender meditation on love, loss, and family."—The New York Times Book Review


Awards

  • ALA Notable Book
  • American Book Award
  • Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award
  • Granta Award
  • Oregon Book Award
  • PEN/Hemingway Award for Best First Novel
  • QPB New Visions Award