Native Speaker

Starred review from February 27, 1995
Espionage acts as a metaphor for the uneasy relationship of Amerasians to American society in this eloquent, thought-provoking tale of a young Korean-American's struggle to conjoin the fragments of his personality in culturally diverse New York City. Raised in a family and culture valuing careful control of emotions and appearances, narrator Henry Park, son of a successful Korean-American grocer, works as an undercover operative for a vaguely sinister private intelligence agency. He and his ``American wife,'' Lelia, are estranged, partly as a result of Henry's stoical way of coping with the recent death of their young son. Henry is also having trouble at work, becoming emotionally attached to the people he should be investigating. Ruminating on his upbringing, he traces the path that has led to his present sorrow; as he infiltrates the staff of a popular Korean-American city councilman, he discovers the broader, societal context of the issues he has been grappling with personally. Writing in a precise yet freewheeling prose that takes us deep into Henry's head, first-novelist Lee packs this story, whose intrigue is well measured and compelling, with insights into both current political events and timeless questions of love, culture, family bonds and identity. This is an auspicious debut for Riverhead Books, Putnam's new division. First serial to Granta; QPB selection; audio rights to Brilliance; author tour.

March 1, 1995
Assigned to spy on a fellow Korean American, Henry Park faces an acute crisis of cultural conscience. LJ's reviewer found Henry a "wonderful, honest creation." (LJ 2/1/95)

February 15, 1995
Lyrical, mysterious, and nuanced, the poignant moodiness of this first novel by a 28-year-old Korean American lingers long after the final page is turned. It deals with the imprint the immigrant experience in America makes on a person's psyche. Lee tells the story in the voice of Henry Park, a second-generation Korean who works as a privately employed spy and at home deals with a shaky marriage and the death of his young son. Assigned to get close to an up-and-coming Korean American politician, Park suddenly discovers he must do things he has tried to avoid all his life--face up to his roots, evaluate his loyalties, find his voice, and understand the pain he carries deep within. Beautifully written and intriguingly plotted, the novel interweaves politics, love, family, and loss as Park starts to make sense of the rhythm of his life. As he does, his experiences illuminate the many-layered immigrant experience in general, and the Asian immigrant experience in particular, in a way that many readers will understand and appreciate. ((Reviewed Feb 15, 1995))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1995, American Library Association.)

February 1, 1995
In a first novel of impressive poetic and psychological accomplishment, Lee offers his readers first-generation Korean American and spy Henry Park, a compelling, clever, but vulnerable narrator. On assignment as a mole in the office of councilman and New York mayoral hopeful John Kwang, Henry finds himself deeply affected by his nominal boss's charisma and the cultural memory he triggers. At once reflective and suspenseful, Henry's story pulls together the elusiveness of languages; the beauty and harm of Henry's heritage; the bizarre, unanticipatable death of his young son; and the constant dance of estrangement and love between Henry and his complicated American wife, Lelia. Although most characters remain frusratingly vague, Henry himself is a wonderful, honest creation: complex, inconsistent yet nearly predictable, and fascinating. His story is a genuine page-turner. Warmly recommended. [This is the first book in Putnam's new Riverhead imprint, which will specialize in quality fiction and nonfiction.-Ed.]-Janet Ingraham, Worthington P.L., Ohio