Goodreads synopsis: Ha Jin’s masterful new novel casts a searchlight into a forgotten corner of modern history, the experience of Chinese soldiers held in U.S. POW camps during the Korean War. In 1951 Yu Yuan, a scholarly and self-effacing clerical officer in Mao’s “volunteer” army, is taken prisoner south of the 38th Parallel. Because he speaks English, he soon becomes an intermediary between his compatriots and their American captors. With Yuan as guide, we are ushered into the secret world behind the barbed wire, a world where kindness alternates with blinding cruelty and one has infinitely more to fear from one’s fellow prisoners than from the guards. Vivid in its historical detail, profound in its imaginative empathy, War Trash is Ha Jin’s most ambitious book to date.
My rating: 4 stars.
Content warnings: R. Scenes of wartime violence and disturbing images.
Thoughts: The Korean War isn't one that I've read very much about, so it was really interesting to get a piece of literature written from the perspective of the "other side." And seeing perspectives like that I think are very important, even if fundamentally people don't agree. It's still important to see the man behind the enemy.
The story is at times, very rough and hard to get through. But it's an important issue to face, not only that "the enemy" are men too, but also what presumed good men are capable of stooping to in altered situations. If Ha Jin's novel is the beginning of a conversation about this, it is very much worth the read.
No comments:
Post a Comment