Post by Woodard on Jul 17, 2007 17:41:05 GMT -5
I just read the book "War Trash", and seeing as how it is about a Chinese Volunteer in the Korean War, I figured I'd comment on it.
Yu Yuan is a young Chinese junior officer who speaks English and is sent to Korea just in time to participate in the Disastrous 5th Phase offensive. He is wounded and captured, and the bulk of the book is about his life in Koje Do (yes, it's got a part about the Prison Riots) and on another island. He bounces back and forth between the Nationalists and the Communists, and I'm not going to tell you how it ends.
I enjoyed it, even if the characters were hard to keep straight sometimes. I don't know how accurate the Prison parts are, they don't jive with most other accounts of the "battle" and Jin was not a veteran of the war in any capacity (I usually don't read fiction unless it was written by veterans. I feel like they know what would be believable to other veterans). I felt that Jin could show how "Chinese" people may react in certain situations versus how "Westerners" may react, things like that.
I'd enjoy hearing anyone's comments whose read it, I'd really love to hear some feedback from Chinese or Chinese Americans (Jin is an English Professor At Boston University and publishes in English. I feel pretty sure "War Trash" is not available in China).
Yu Yuan is a young Chinese junior officer who speaks English and is sent to Korea just in time to participate in the Disastrous 5th Phase offensive. He is wounded and captured, and the bulk of the book is about his life in Koje Do (yes, it's got a part about the Prison Riots) and on another island. He bounces back and forth between the Nationalists and the Communists, and I'm not going to tell you how it ends.
I enjoyed it, even if the characters were hard to keep straight sometimes. I don't know how accurate the Prison parts are, they don't jive with most other accounts of the "battle" and Jin was not a veteran of the war in any capacity (I usually don't read fiction unless it was written by veterans. I feel like they know what would be believable to other veterans). I felt that Jin could show how "Chinese" people may react in certain situations versus how "Westerners" may react, things like that.
I'd enjoy hearing anyone's comments whose read it, I'd really love to hear some feedback from Chinese or Chinese Americans (Jin is an English Professor At Boston University and publishes in English. I feel pretty sure "War Trash" is not available in China).