ABOUT THE BOOK

His remarkable debut novel, 'Native Speaker', was called " rapturous" (The New York Times Book Review), "revelatory" (Vogue), and "wholly innovative" (Kirkus Reviews). It was the recipient of five major awards, including the prestigious Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. Now Chang-rae Lee has written a powerful and seductive second novel that leaves no doubt about the extraordinary range and depth of his talent.

'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 neighbours 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 ll.

In 'A Gesture Life', Chang-rae Lee leads us with dazzling control through a taut, suspenseful story about love, family, and community - and the secrets we harbour. As in 'Native Speaker', he writes of the ways outsiders conform in order to survive and the price they pay for doing so. It is a haunting, breathtaking work that marks a dramatic step forward for this acclaimed young author.

Chang-rae Lee's 'Native Speaker' won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, QPB's New Voices Award, the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation, and the Oregon Book Award. It was also an ALA Notable Book of the Year and a finalist for Granta's Best American Novelists Under 40 Award, and was recently selected by The New Yorker as one of the twenty best American writers under the age of forty. His work has appeared in The Best American Essays, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and numerous anthologies.
He lives in New Jersey and is the director of the MFA program at Hunter College in New York City.