{"product_id":"native-speaker-9781573225311","title":"Native Speaker","description":"\u003cb\u003eONE OF \u003ci\u003eTHE ATLANTIC\u003c\/i\u003e'S GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe debut novel from critically acclaimed and \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e-bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eOn Such a Full Sea \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e My Year Abroad.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eNative Speaker\u003c\/i\u003e, 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003eNative Speaker\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChang-rae Lee \u003c\/b\u003eis the author of \u003ci\u003eOn Such a Full Sea\u003c\/i\u003e, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, \u003ci\u003eNative Speaker\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the Hemingway Foundation\/PEN Award for first fiction, \u003ci\u003eA Gesture Life\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAloft\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Surrendered\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the Dayton Peace Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Selected by \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e as one of the twenty best writers under forty, Chang-rae Lee teaches writing at Princeton University.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Riverhead Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50618698432786,"sku":"9781573225311","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_94c699c6-0ed3-4286-921c-3c46e55c0be8.jpg?v=1732540277","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/native-speaker-9781573225311","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}