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A Gesture Life: A Novelx$4.00
  (108 reviews)
Best Price: $4.00
The riveting story of a Japanese immigrant who leads a proper, decorous life in a New York suburb. As his life slowly unravels, he is transported back to his days as a medic in the Japanese army in World War II, and his obsessive love of a young comfort woman. "Not since Kazuo Ishiguro's Remains of the Day has there been a novel so attentive to the interplay of dark memory and light manners...a beautiful, solitary, remarkably tender book."- New York Times Book Review"Exceptional...A beautifully tapestried story of seeking identity and acceptance in another culture while remaining separate from the tug of it."-- Christian Science Monitor"A Gesture Life is the touching, multilayered rumination of an uneasy psyche. It is also a tragic, horrifying page-turner, whose evocation of wartime victims is unforgettable...a deeply involving tale."- Chicago Tribune A Gesture Life is: "Unforgettable."- USA Today"Mesmerizing."- San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "Masterly."- Newsweek "Magnificent."- Newsday "Beautiful."- Los Angeles Times Book Review "Hugely affecting."- Boston Globe"Remarkable."- Kirkus Reviews (starred) One Of The Most Celebrated Novels of the Year A New York Times Notable Book A Los Angeles Times Notable Book of the Year A Publishers Weekly Notable Book of the Year A Finalist for the New Yorker Book Award An Esquire Distinguished Book of the Year Talk Magazine's Best Book of 1999
An ALA Notable Book of the Year
A St. Louis Post-Dispatch Notable Book of the Year
Never judge a book by its cover--or, for that matter, by its name. Otherwise you might overlook A Gesture Life, Chang-rae Lee's fine if awkwardly entitled follow-up to Native Speaker. As he did in his debut, the author explores the dilemma of being an outsider--and the corrupt, heartbreaking bargains an outsider will make to adapt to his surroundings. The protagonist, Franklin Hata, has actually spent his whole life donning one variety or another of existential camouflage. First, as a native-born Korean, he bends over backwards to fit into Japanese culture, circa 1944. Then he attempts a similar bit of environmental adaptation in postwar America--more specifically, in the slumbering New York suburb of Bedley Run. But in neither case does he quite succeed, which gives the novel its peculiar, faltering sense of tragedy. "There is something exemplary to the sensation of near perfect lightness," confesses this resident alien, "of being in a place and not being there, which seems of course a chronic condition of my life but then, too, its everyday unction, the trouble finding a remedy but not quite a cure, so that the problem naturally proliferates until it has become you through and through. Such is the cast of my belonging, molding to whatever is at hand." A Gesture Life presents this chronic condition in two different time frames. In one, delivered via flashback, Hata is a medical officer in Japan's Imperial Army. Posted to a tiny installation in rural Burma, he's ordered to oversee a fresh detachment of Korean "comfort women"--i.e., victims of institutionalized gang rape. At first he maintains his professional distance, not to mention his erotic appetite: "It was the notion of what lay beneath the crumpled cotton of their poor clothes that shook me like an air-raid siren." But soon enough he's drawn into a relationship with one of the women, whose bloody and horrific denouement leaves a permanent mark on the "unblissed detachment" of his existence. The present-tense, American half of the story revolves around Hata's life in Bedley Run, where he adopts, alienates, and finally forms a shaky rapport with his daughter, Sunny. We might expect this sort of material to pale in comparison with his wartime trauma. But oddly enough, Hata's suburban melancholia is much more compelling--and the gradual disclosure of his past, which is supposed to ratchet up the tension, seems too crude a mechanism for a writer of Lee's superlative talents. (His truest tutelary spirit, in fact, might be John Cheever, who gets an explicit nod at one point.) None of this is to dismiss A Gesture Life, whose dual narratives are written with a rare, unhurried elegance. And if Lee's splice job lacks the absolute adhesion we expect from a great work of art, he nonetheless pulls off a remarkable, moving feat: he puts us inside the skin of a man who, "if he could choose, might always go silent and unseen." --James Marcus
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Customer Reviews
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Shocking and Sanguine and Completely Original
By A1M0P5BVO7MZ58 on 1999-12-05
From its first lines -- in which Lee's Doc Hata falsely states without a touch of irony, "They know me here" -- until the end when he finally begins to know himself, A Gesture Life breaks new ground. It has been a long time since an author, Wallace Stegner comes too mind, has handled the flashback so masterfully. Here the reader won't find himself favoring one story over another, as is usually the case with books that employ the flashback. In his second novel Lee explores the atrocities of the Japanese military, particularly those inflicted on the "comfort women," who were forced to pleasure the officers and enlisted men, through the eyes of Doc Hata, a former Imperial Navy medic who becomes not a physician but a revered small-town medical supplier in upstate New York. But more than simply the horror, this novel explores how these atrocities along with unperformed acts of violence, make it impossible for him to feel joy and pain and love. What happens during World War II is not past, but lives on and has an impact on each one of Hata's post-war relationships. Chang-rae Lee explores so many themes -- among them adoption, friendship, isolation, community, rancor, forgiveness -- and yet succeeds in holding the reader's thrall on every page. Lee delivers so many surprises, not least of which is a hopeful yet realistic resolution. You'll carry the characters, especially its imperfect protagonist, with you for years
A Japanese immigrant faces his tragic past
By A2SHZZB7TGNVH3 on 1999-11-24
During World War II, Korean women were forced to serve as "comfort women," satisfying the sexual needs of the Japanese soldiers to ensure high morale. This exploitation was one of the ugliest wartime acts a country has ever committed against women. Today, many of the surviving women are seeking reparations from the Japanese government. A tragic incident involving a comfort woman forever shapes the life of Franklin "Doc" Hata, the central character in Chang-Rae Lee's moving, gracefully written "A Gesture Life." Hata is a retired Japanese businessman who lives in a quaint, suburban New York village where he is revered as a community leader for his polite, respectful ways. But though his manner has brought respect, it has also brought problems. His cool remove scuttles a love affair with a passionate widow and causes his adopted daughter to rebel and disappear from his life. After Hata nearly burns down his house and is hospitalized, his thoughts drift back to his years in the Japanese army. In the jungles of Burma, Hata makes the mistake of falling in love with a comfort woman he calls "K," who also is the object of a superior officer's desire. Hata, who was born Korean but adopted by a Japanese family, takes a stand to protect K, which results in heart-wrenching viciousness that forever shapes the way he deals with others, particularly women. "A Gesture Life" is not filled with dramatic moments, but the slow, graceful style Lee uses to let Doc Hata tell his story is appropriate and oddly compelling. The book succeeds because it so completely tells the story of an elderly Japanese immigrant facing the last years of his life. It also provides an eye-opening glimpse at one of the cruelest chapters in Japanese history.
Excruciating subject matter told in soaring, elegant prose
By AZC0C0QG3EJBC on 2000-01-10
It was perhaps a mistake to read A Gesture Life in one day, immersing myself so totally in the head of protagonist/narrator Doc Hata. His tragically flawed character and the attendant traumas in his life make for an intricately crafted narrative from which I admit I had to take many breathing breaks. But this narrative style, another testament to Lee's incredible capacity for expression, is not about punishing the reader. (By only a scattering of overpacked sentences and some fairly crucial editing mistakes was I ever bothered.) See, this book is not so much about action as reaction, and most importantly, introspection, an obsessive self-examination. It is about a man who has been an outsider on so many different levels, and as such, has been compelled to consider his every action and word, and whether he does or does not fit into his surroundings. This kind of careful living, this compulsive tiptoeing, is the source of many of the tragedies in this novel. Frustration that readers may feel from the seemingly overwrought writing style is actually empathy that they're sharing with some of the book's other figures who also respond to Hata's way of life. Indeed, it's frustrating and heart-rending to witness Hata beat himself up over his past. This novel, after all, is rife with painful truths that few would like to hear. Thankfully, as always, Lee's poetic sense of language, his skills at creating an entirely visceral set of characters (with telling dialog and physical description), unusual plot situations, and vivid setting -- all down to the most minute and vital details -- made the reading of the novel well worth the heartache and the ten consecutive hours I devoted to it. Many times, I was reminded of two other masterfully written novels, Philip Roth's American Pastoral (for the bewildering breach of a father's total devotion) and Stewart David Ikeda's What the Scarecrow Said (for the town that smacked of a whitewashed Establishment and for the persistent awareness of being an outsider). Like Native Speaker, A Gesture Life is a book that will stick with me for a long time and that I will be rereading several times.
Haunting and Insidious
By A1ICEZXI9PTCN3 on 2001-03-08
Chang-rae Lee's 'A Gesture Life' pulls the reader's mind, emotions, and spirit into the snapshot-world of Doc Hata's town, Bedley Run--a typical American berg on the outskirts of NYC. Here, our senses are soothed by the images of stable, normal Americana, and the successful Japanese-American retiree who is comfortably part of that landscape. It's almost a vision of utter serenity at first, but Lee's transcendent prose makes sure that we recognize another truth: beneath all of this security, there is a drumbeat of primordial heartbreak, and a keening sense of loss. Slowly, expertly, without the reader even expecting it, Lee unfolds a tale of immense but elegant grief. He leads the reader through a veritable labyrinth of shocking regrets, brought on by experiences that hide so perfectly beneath the veneer of the main character's 'life of gesture.' The book is astonishing for its lyrical perfection, its poetic structure, and seamless continuity. It is truly a soul work to be savored and conveys a serious lesson about the tragedy of being human. Five shooting stars.
Reviewed by Bookreporter.com
By A1XUR4TFFSYH0D on 2000-02-04
Chang-rae Lee's second novel, A GESTURE LIFE, covers some of the same territory as his first --- namely, the difficulties encountered by an outsider in our melting pot of a country. Like the narrator of NATIVE SPEAKER, Lee's debut novel, Franklin Hata suffers from a nearly incapacitating sense of reserve. Respected and accepted in his town of Bedley Run, the recently retired Franklin opens this book with quiet reflections on his place in life. The language is careful and wisely restrained, almost wistful in the manner of Fitzgerald. "I think one person can hardly understand why another has conducted his life in such a way, how he came to commit certain actions and not others, whether he looks upon the past with mostly pleasure or equanimity or regret." This early decorous pace is deceptive, however, and as we follow Franklin through his daily regimen, the tattered edges of his life gradually begin to show through. A late life romance fallen apart and an adopted Korean daughter named Sunny whose bitter rebellion has hurt and confused him; these elements of his American life are revealed more with a sense of fatalism than any anger or disbelief. His stoic, unemotional stance seems surreally distant, until the story of Franklin's service as a medic in World War II emerges in the second third of the novel. One reason this novel is on so many top ten lists for 1999 is the subtlety with which Lee recounts Franklin's memories of the war. The horror of many war stories resides in the atrocities that the opposing sides inflict on each other, yet man's inhumanity to woman is the central theme of Franklin's experience. The comfort women, as they were called, were essentially kidnapped from their homes in Korea and brought to the camps, where their service to the war effort consisted of serving as sex slaves to the soldiers. "Although it was the most naive and vacant of notions to think that anyone would willingly give herself to such a fate, like everyone else I had assumed the girls had indeed been 'volunteers', as they were always called. To the men in the queue, they were nothing, or less than nothing; ..." Young Franklin is assigned to guard one of the girls, whom he calls K, for his Captain's exclusive use. Over the course of her confinement, he falls in love with this desperate girl, with predictably tragic consequences. As he describes his anguished feelings for K, the reader begins to understand what it has cost Franklin merely to survive with his sanity intact. The relationship between Franklin's past and his Bedley Run present is another intriguing aspect of the novel. It is easy to see a substitute for his beloved K in his adoption of a Korean child, yet his emotional scars prevent him from being an effective father. He sees where he could and should be more insistent, but he always chooses the easiest, least unpleasant path. The consequences of fully committing to an impulse may leave one outside the polite norm of society, and that is a choice that Franklin is unable to make. Ultimately, his truest desires are in conflict. "In an odd way, I think now that K wanted the same thing that I would yearn for all my days, which was her own place in the accepted order of things... All I wished for was to be part (if but a millionth) of the massing, and that I pass through with something more than a life of gestures." It is a measure of the satisfying complexity of this novel that we are left wondering whether he succeeds long after the last page has been turned. --- Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman-Nicol for Bookreporter.
- The price of conformity
By A1QC2BOU3AL7L8 on 2003-01-31
"A Gesture Life" is a novel that reads more like a memoir, a sad, melancholic first person narrative by the main characer (Dr. Hata). In a superb elegant style, beautifully written, constrained and at the same time powerfully moving, the author deals with the problem of being an outsider and of conformity in exchange for respectfulness. Dr. Hata is an uneasy psyche, a restrained individual who behind a façade of a well-established and respected person hides a complex and dramatic life struggle. Since his childhood he has felt as an outsider, first as a native Korean who is adopted by a Japanese couple, and then as an immigrant in the U.S.A. With psychological wounds he feels unable to express or integrate the emotion of love into his life, using the shield of politness, of integrity, living his life as a sequence of appropriate "gestures." By acting as such, he describes his life as "something exemplary to the sensation of near perfect lightness of being in a place and not being there... the trouble of finding a remedy but not quite a cure... such is the cast of my belonging, molding to whatever is at hand."
The novel has a double time frame setting, one based on past memories of Hata's experience as a paramedic in the Japanese army, and the second focused on the present. Hata's relationship with the opposite sex has failed (with the comfort women "K," with Mary Burns, and with his own daughter) and when he reviews the outcome he finds guilt and regret, whole-heartedly admitting "there are those who would gladly give up all they have gained in the world to have relented just once when it mattered."
How much can an individual sacrifice his own-self, how high a price must he pay in order to adapt to his surroundings and conform to what is expected from him? How much does evasion of reality affect a relationship? Because of Hata's attitude he has remained detached, never within the full embrace of life, and having to face painful consequences.
This novel is a wonderful psychological drama, artistically performed, poignant, shocking at times, but above all a moving tale of a human condition.
- A wonderful "little" book
By A3PGGI7A6XCNF1 on 2000-04-02
Occasionally I enjoy reading what I call "little" books: works of fiction that haven't received great publicity, and that aren't of the mega-selling, blockbuster type. A book of quiet prose, with flashes of lyricism in the writing. I happened upon "The English Patient" well before the movie was made, and found it to be a book of that type. So also would be, to me "Snow Angels". This work is one to read in a quiet corner, savoring all of the many nuances in it. A recounting of a life well-lived, but only in the shadow of great events, and in later years, a self-effacing existence. There is much sorrow and tragedy in this work, but also, I feel, an ultimate redemption and triumph of the spirit. It's worth reading.
- Poetic and disturbing analysis of a man's tortured life.
By AC1K4OQOZ90RS on 2000-01-16
Chang-Rae Lee, in his novel "A Gesture Life," writes about "Doc Hata," a man who is not really a doctor, although he had once aspired to be one. He is the retired former owner of a surgical supply store. The problem with Doc Hata is that he has always been afraid to be himself. His desire has always been to maintain an image of propriety at all times--never to offend, to always blend in with the suburban town where he lives. We find out, in a series of flashbacks, that he has led a tortured life, especially during World War II, and his experiences have maimed him emotionally. Doc Hata has a stormy relationship with his adopted daughter, who ironically is named "Sunny," when she is generally surly. Doc Hata's relationships with his acquaintances , although seemingly pleasant on the surface, tend to be somewhat shallow. As time passes, Doc Hata struggles to find out if there is time for an old man to find some sort of redemption and meaning in his life. Often, the writing in "A Gesture Life" is stunning and brilliant. There were passages that brought tears to my eyes. At other times, however, Lee's writing is cryptic and puzzling. The plot towards the end is a little too complicated and meandering. Too much happens in a short time. However, the book is powerful, especially in the passages that deal with the "Comfort Women" of World War II. This is a complex work that requires a great deal of effort on the part of the reader. However, it is well worth the reader's effort to plumb the depths of "A Gesture Life."
- A Gesture needs no words.
By A2AKJ1FFGHF697 on 2005-01-19
The story in itself is already appropriately described by the editorial and spotlight reviews so this is simply adding my two cents.
As I read some of the reviews given, some said that it was either slow or a very violent read, or portrayed the asian stereotype of an asian man with no heart, and so on. I can only disagree.
To understand and feel for this book, you have to understand the context of which this book works on. It is unfortunate that most people, who live in countries not affected by the atrocities of Japan, do not know that the exploitation of the "comfort women" numbered to be around 100,000. It was an estimated ratio of 1 woman made "available" for 35 soldiers. 80% of them are believed to be Koreans, although others from Taiwan, China, Philippines, Malaysia, and so on were used. Now, add in the cultural mentality existing in those countries and how they would have reacted to such a thing. As a parallel, I highly doubt anyone would say a book under the backdrop of the Holocaust is too slow, too violent to stomach, or show that the protagonist has no heart or feeling.
However, that's all outside knowledge, not even needed to be lured into a beautiful web that Chang Rae Lee spins for us. In fact, the book purposely focuses on one man and lets the history be. It is almost as if saying, what's done is done and what is left is to move on.
The story of course is about Doc Hata, immeasurably weary and filled with his burden. All he can do is raise walls, in fact that is the only thing he can do. Finally, he leaves with a gesture. A mark that needs no explanation and especially no words.
The book is a beautiful and intricate piece that meshes the social and cultural conditions of the past, present, and future into one man. It is his struggle. I believe anyone can relate to that and it simply adds to prove that silent waters do run deep.
- A Heartbreaking Story, Beautifully Written
By on 2001-02-23
This is the story of Franklin Hata, Japanese WWII veteran and American businessman. Through the amazingly beautiful prose of this story, a tale of alienation, heartbreak and lost opportunities slowly unfolds. The novel tells two tales, one of Franklin's American life, and his difficulties raising his adopted Korean daughter, and the story of his experiences in the Japanese army and his involvement with one particular Korean comfort woman. Throughout the stories, we sense the confined parameters Franklin allows for his emotional life, the adjustments he feels compelled to make in order to fit into this life and the losses inherent in those choices. It is in the simple beauty of the telling, the grace of the language that fills each page of this book, regardless of the sorrow or distaste of the scene, that sets it apart.
- second disappointment
By A3UZ8CD5TYGRAZ on 2000-01-24
after reading the first and the second novel "native speaker" and "a gesture life" I was somewhat disppointed. Although, they were beautifully written, something was missing along the way. His theme seems to be an outsider trying to make it in a society where he is forced to hide his identity but nevertheless finds more about his identity in the process. My problem with his novels is not that it was badly written but, in fact, it was too well written that Chang-Rae Lee's own writing overshadows his own identity. He tries too hard to make his writing poetic (or trying to sound too much like early english romantic writings) and thus never quiet get into his characters korean thinking. His novels read like a white writer writing about korean-american. Not one paragraph in the novel did I feel that it was written by Korean-American. He doesn't seem to know the life of Korean-American living in the united states or korean living in Korea. His writing somehow suggests it was written by a white american who never experienced korean-american life but only learned their lives through books. Reading through his novels, I could not, for some reason, sympathize with his characters. His characters are so distanced from korean-american way of thinking that I never, for a second, thought of them as korean. I truly hope that if he wants to write about korean-american next time, be one of them first and not be the outsider of them.
- A Quiet Reflection
By A2MF2QVSCUI27G on 2001-02-01
"Doc" Hata, a fixture in the upscale town of Bedly Run, is a quiet man who has led a careful life, spending recent days in rumination of his past. As a successful businessman with many acquaintances, Hata's life has touched people mostly around the edges, neither intruding nor being intruded upon. This is his quandry.As a Japanese soldier, although born Korean, Hata does not see action on the front lines, yet witnesses much violence and death. As a medic, his experience with Korean "Comfort women", euphemistically called "volunteers",especially the doomed "K", shatters his fragile sensitivities. But this young soldier takes little action, inured to his soldierly duties and sense of honor. After many years, towards the last of his life, Hata seeks out his estranged adopted daughter and her young son. He finally begins to understand how the past, as a soldier and then too cautious adult, has damaged his connections with those he loves. He must consider how itmay be possible to mend these precious relationships. The writing is very smooth and quiet, in spite of the horrific wartime experiences, almost like Hata is walking through a fog, trying to find his path. There is a flurry of activity towards the end of the story, when circumstances feel somewhat rushed. Up until that point, Lee maintains a steady pace, moving us gently through this person's life, as he slowly opens his eyes.
- a sweet and sad surprise
By A7N8ZQD48MDVF on 2002-03-04
Before the end of WWII, Japan had colonized Korea. So many Koreans came to Japan, of their own will, under coercion or sometimes being cheated. The protagonist of Chang-rae Lee's 'A Gesture Life' is Franklin Hata, who was a son of them Koreans living in Japan. He was adopted to Japanese family and went to WWII as a Japanese soldier. He hid his Korean identity, because Koreans were discriminated very harshly in Japan. It was one of his 'gesture.'
After WWII, he went to USA and lived there as a Japanese merchant. But his new life in USA didn't release him from his 'gesture life.' Both his adopted daughter and his lover smelled out his 'gesture' and left him. Why didn't he confess he was Korean? Because he went to war as a Japanese soldier and couldn't save a Korean 'comfort woman' he loved there. It's a tragedy most Japanese have been avoiding for so many years.
Of course, 'A Gesture Life' is not a political essay, but one of the most excellent and important modern novels. It attacked me like a sweet and sad surprise.
- Intriguing!
By A3NSSFRT20WXZ7 on 2000-04-23
The author provides a thought-provoking examination of how one Oriental man conducts his life in order to be accepted and deemed "proper" by others of his community. Parts of the story seem a bit hard to follow because of movement back and forth in time, occasional significant scenes too sketchily described, and lack of important history (especially Sunny's childhood). Nevertheless, the novel succeeds in its beautiful use of language and ability to evoke a wide range of emotions as it poignantly examines one man's feelings. It is an attention-getting, fascinating story, especially about the comfort girls of the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. The novel makes a major contribution to American literature about the Asian immigrant experience.
- You either love it or you hate it
By A30NKGIMIYW0NZ on 1999-12-03
Chang Rae Lee did an excellent job in what he set out to do. The story that revolves around an aging Korean/Japanese man might not involve an action packed plot like Tom Clancy's novels, but that is only understandable. I feel that Lee has written a remarkable story that interjects some very important insights to Asian American sensibilties. It certainly can not and does not claim to represent Asian American life in a nutshell, but some of the aspects have been seemless addressed and shared and he comes across very honest. And, it is not surprising that some people just really don't like the story. This usually happens when people don't like a particular subject matter no matter how it is written.
- An Unusual Second Novel
By on 1999-10-27
Many excellent authors fall into a sophomore slump. (Witness David Guterson's recent effort, East Of The Mountains) Such is not the case with Mr. Lee. His courageous experiment with language and point of view becomes an absorbing (if flawed) meditation on identity, being and longing. In addition to the pleasures of allowing us to slip inside an authentic voice, he shakes our suburban complacency to its foundations with the contrast of the not-so-long-ago fate of the 'comfort women.' And we are lured by the poetic devices of Mr. Lee to confront the reality that all around us are still the living ghosts of so many 20th century horrors.
- Lee is a masterful storyteller!
By A338FNDLHRLOON on 1999-11-18
"A Gesture Life" is told in such simple language, that one hardly realizes how deliberately it is written. The book draws you in from the first instant and keeps you there. It is a heartfelt tale and "Doc Hata" is a very sympathetic character. The only part I couldn't quite accept is the Doc's level of language--as a Japanese immigrant he speaks a little too American. Other than this, I find "A Gesture Life" flawless. It's a very satisfying and thought-provoking read!
- Well-written but dull...
By A152TGF5LTGHC5 on 1999-12-12
I read this novel with a lot of anticipation because I had read positive reviews in the newspapers. Lee writes gracefully but I just got tired of Hara's carefully-wrought observations and the generally quiet, monotonous pace of the narrative. I began sympathizing with Hara's daughter. I wanted to get away from him, too! I also found the melodramatics near the end a bit too heavy-handed. The tale within the tale was intriguing but I felt I entered a totally different novel. I finished this novel out of obligation, as I try to read all new fiction by Asian American writers.
- Though provoking and insightful
By A1IT4FKSR41EBK on 2001-01-12
I read A Gesture Life over one weekend and found it very engaging and difficult to put down. I thought the writing was exceptional and the story very intriguing. I had not known what the book was about and was pleased to find a powerful and emotional storyline. As an Asian American, I can relate to the theme of living one's life as a mere "gesture" as opposed to living it fully and more meaningfully. (Actually, that theme is not limited to Asian Americans; but the fact that I am one made it easier for me to relate to the main character.) I offer three somewhat critical comments about the book. First, while I was impressed with most of the writing, I thought that a few of the conversations felt awkward and somewhat artificial. In particular, the conversations between Hata and "K" did not seem very natural, and I could not imagine it in Korean. Second, I wish Mr. Lee had offered more history on the background of Hata (his childhood and teen years) and Sunny (her childhood). I thought this book could have been (and I would have liked it if it were) much longer than it was. Perhaps that would have detracted from the main themes of the book, but in my opinion, it would have given the reader more insight into the characters. Lastly, I didn't quite get the connection between Hata's past and the difficulties that he had in his relationship with "K" and with Mary. I understand the general idea (that his past made it difficult for him to communicate his feelings and deal with his relationships), but it felt as if I missed something more specific and substantial. In any case, I very much enjoyed the book overall, and definitely would recommend it.
- An Empty Life is Sometimes Safest.
By A2SQDU40VAXSUE on 2001-04-15
This is one of those quiet, beautiful books that are easily overlooked. The protagonist is not easily or even necessarily likeable. Ashamed and haunted by his past he attempts to protect himself against pain by refusing to fully engage in life. He denies himself even the experience of happiness so as to escape the possibility of pain. To expose oneself to joy is to risk disaster. Danger lurks in the quiotic nature of emotions; only order is safe because it is predictable.Although it did win one prestigious award that I know of, I expected this book to win many more. Upon reflection I decided that it did ot achieve more popular acclaim because it requires reader involvement. This is not a quick, easy read. The reader must reach into herself so as to know and understand this man. It is well worth the effort.
- Right On Hata!
By A19NYBFS4NSHCQ on 2002-12-09
Hata, the protagonist of Chang-Rae Lee's, A Gesture Life is a complex man. As the reader delves into the story of Hata as he retells his experiences in WWII and his present life, one can actually feel and see the emotions and troubles that Hata goes through.It is rare for a book to be so well written, that opinions made about certain characters in the book can change by the end. Chand-Rae Lee is right on the money as more is revealed about Hata. As Hata's state of mind changes, the reader's goes along with it. In the end of the book, Hata states: "Let me simply bear my flesh, and blood, and bones. I will fly a flag. Tomorrow when this house is alive and full, I will be outside looking in. I will be already on a walk someplace, in this town or the next one five thousand miles away. I will circle round and arrive again. Come almost home." Without having read the book, one would state . . ."Wow, how eloquently written." However once you read the book, the reader will be able to fully understand Hata and its' underlying meanings. Right on Hata!
- A gentle soul
By A2ATT6LVGEAC5B on 2000-02-15
Doc Hata is a gentle man with a split personality. Brought up Korean, he tries to fit into the Japanese army - and fails. Coming to Westchester County, he tries to be "American" - and fails. His gentleness really is the cowardice to face things as they are. Even with his daughter - he fails. Doc Hata is a Walter Mitty who dreams that he is a good soldier, an accepted American, a dutiful father. The whole book is a dream and should not be taken literally. The author weaves a wonderful net, in superb language and meticulous attention to detail. Maybe the book was promoted wrong and readers expected something more down to earth.
- Worth making it thru the difficult spots
By A2F6909CQ1ALLW on 2000-03-13
Chang-rae Lee's second novel is a wonderful, beautifully-written novel that read more like a memoir than a novel.Franklin "Doc" Hata (Korean by birth, but adopted and raised as a Japanese) moves to Bedley Run in upstate New York in 1963. There he opens Sunny Medical Supply, a medical and surgical supply store that becomes an informal clinic. From behind the counter, he dispenses free medical advice. Not a doctor by profession, Doc was, however, trained as a medical officer in the Imperial Army. Thirty years later, he is now retired and spends his days enjoying his status as a respected elder member of community, taking long walks, lap swimming in the pool behind his house, and checking up on friends and business acquanticies. However, a small houe fire nearly kills him. Overcome with smoke inhalation, he is rescued by Liv Crawford,a persistent real estate agent who is desperately trying to convince the seventy-year-old man that his home is just too big. While spending several days in the hospital, Doc must come to terms with the relationships in his life. Never one to seek the company of women, and a life-long bachelor, Doc regrets being unable to save his first (and really only) love, Kkutaeh, from her fate as a comfort woman during World War II. Then there is ther mid-life realtionship with the late Mary Burns, a neighbor in Bedley Run. The most important relationship that he evaluates is the one he had with his adopted Japanese daughter, Sunny. The two never got along. Doc doesn't understand where he went wrong. why couldn't the Japanese adoption agency given a single father a son; he'd have been much more capable of raising a son than a daughter. He gave her everything, but as she grows up, she gets involved with unsavory characters and drugs. Doc doesn't know why she became so hateful and distant and ran away at eighteen. These are questions that Doc know will never be answered. Doc accidentally discovers that Sunny, who he hasn't seen in thirteen years, is living and working in the run-down neighboring community of Beddington. He also discovers that he is the grandfather of a six-year-old boy. After he learns of Thomas' existence, Doc goes out of his way to make contact with Sunny. She recultantly allows them to see each other, and soon the emotional distant falls away. The characters in this novel, especially Doc, are complex, full of intricies that are not easily defined. There are two problems with this book. Kkutaeh and Mary's scenes are chronological and easy to follow. Sunny's tale is that like of her life with Doc: chaotic, tumultuous amd difficult for the reader to follow. The other problem deals with the book's time structure. Doc supposedly meets Sunny thirteen years after she has left him, but when he meets her and Thomas, she is only twenty-three years old. Just a little mathematical error on the author and editor's parts. But it's still worth the read. The tone and feel of the novel are like a life well-lived. Readers will be sorry when the book ends and he/she must give up a new found friendship with Doc Hata.
- A new voice
By A2D7UYACKW31HI on 2000-02-10
The beauty of this book is the author's ability to maintain the voice of a restrained very self contained elderly man. In many ways the book resembles Remains of the Day in its recreation of the inner life of a person whose external appearance would suggest a very tranquil psyche. The parallel plots in the past and present is a device that will be familiar to readers of Possession or Snow falling on cedars. he ending is heart wrenching. But he prose doesn't skip a beat. I found it a totally engaging, believable and affecting book.
- Why Heinz made 57 varieties
By A3VQC50JVP3K8E on 2000-01-27
Whenever I read Amazon reader reviews I am amazed by the contrasts. How can a book evoke such opposite responses? I found "A Gesture Life" too distanced to be really enjoyable. I read the whole thing because it was considered by The New Yorker magazine to be on of 1999's five best novels. I would have to disagree. I simply could not connect to any of the characters. I recommend "Disgrace," by JM Coetze (Booker Prize winner for 1999) to anyone who wants to be really, deeply touched by the portrait of a man and his daugter.
- overrated
By on 1999-11-09
Shockingly overrated. Gesture Life has been garnering accolades from so many critics - this reader has only one question : why? There is nothing exceptional about this story. It is pretentious, self-righteous, and sanctimonious. The characters are amazingly one-dimensional, and the self-congratulatory structure makes it almost painfully difficult to read. From a thematic point of view, it explores almost nothing new and lacks originality. Overall, an irritating novel which doesn't deserve a single measure of the superfluous praise it has received
- unsympathetic
By on 1999-11-10
Lee's writing style is superb and undoubtedly he has a beautiful mastery of language. What I don't like about the story is that I find the protaganist so unsympathetic - it is very difficult to find anything to like about him. The story is so one-dimensional in the characters - both in different types of characters and in development of a complex personalities that they don't seem real. Maybe it is because the personalities aren't developed at all; just the description about how they float around in the world. You may feel sorry for these people but you don't want to know them. To anyone that likes this book, I would challenge you to read William Styron's "The Confessions of Nat Turner" which is on my all-time favorite book list. It is absolutely phenomenal. Although based on a true story, it is completely fictional and Styron describes Nat Turner as totally tormented by the conditions of slavery. And you want to root for Nat Turner, wishing you could go back in history to be on his side or to even know him.
- hidden identities
By on 1999-10-27
Chang-Rae Lee's best skills are in exploring how we all must assume and disguise our identities, so often that what was once fake" becomes "real." The whole idea of an old Korean man in America "pretending" to be Japanese to fit in with a bunch of rich NYers struck me as darkly funny. Franklin Hata's experiences as a soldier and with the comfort women were the best part of the book for me. I greatly appreciated Mr. Lee's ability to show the complicated relationship of the colonizer and the colonized in this novel and not simply fall back on the "tried and true" image of the Japanese Army as a ravenous, blood-thirst institution bent on world destruction. I think Mr. Lee convincingly captures the mood of the day. Hata as the opressed Korean in Japan, as the privileged colonial in the Army, as the conquering soldier "liberating" Western colonies in Asian, his life is filled with reversals and contradictions. I eagerly await Mr. Lee's next work.
- lot of comments, that's good
By on 1999-10-28
Lot of critics on this book. It's like kimchee, you either love it or hate it. It amazes me though that most of the low comments are from Japan. Calling comfort women history- over exaggerated. Does that tell you something of how Japan views WW 2 history.
- Breathtaking
By AVY7SG9WEXLTO on 2000-09-01
This book is hard to describe in words, being that I am new to reviewing any book! However, I felt that this book deserved recognition and well deserved outstanding review. Not only is the book beautifully and artfully written, the story itself is a breath of fresh air. How many American authored books can you name a Korean-Japanese American as the main character, who was born in Japan, served in the World War II as a Japanese medic, who encounters a beautiful, young, Korean Comfort Woman and madly falls in love with her? And this is only a small part of this wonderfullly written book of self discovery and pain Doc Hata has hidden below the surface. The true meaning of "A Gesture Life" is slowly revealed to Doc Hata as he reluctantly but unwaveringly comes to terms with his past and his present. If the story doesn't grab you then read it for Mr. Lee's exceptional talents as a writer.
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