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A Gesture Life
A Gesture Life
Author: Chang-Rae Lee
The riveting story of a Japanese immigrant who leads a proper, decorous life in a New York suburb. As his life slowly unravels, he is transported back to his days as a medic in the Japanese army in World War II, and his obsessive love of a young comfort woman. — "Not since Kazuo Ishiguro's Remains of the Day has there been a novel so attentive to...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9781573228282
ISBN-10: 1573228281
Pages: 368
Rating:
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 44

3.7 stars, based on 44 ratings
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review
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Top Member Book Reviews

  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
reviewed A Gesture Life on
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
What an interesting and surprisingly satisfying read. As a twenty-something, I didn't think I would connect with this book when I first opened it. It's traces the life of Franklin Hata, an eighty-something retired medical supply shop owner, as he meanders through retirement in a wealthy New York city suburb in Westchester. But, he is so well drawn through Lee's narrative, that you can't help but fall in love with him, and be drawn into the story of his life, his experiences in the second World War with the Japanese military, and his life as the father of a little girl he adopted. This book was moving and profound, and I would certainly recommend it to readers of any age.

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  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
reviewed A Gesture Life on + 19 more book reviews
Wonderful writer! Insightful views of experiences of the main character as a medic in the Japanese army in WWII and his attempts at assimilation into American life.
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
reviewed A Gesture Life on + 117 more book reviews
Brilliant. Lee Chang-rae writes with such subtle emotiion. A beautiful tale of war time atrocities and redemption.
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
reviewed A Gesture Life on + 15 more book reviews
Not as good as his first, but still interesting.


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