The SurrenderedRead an essay by Chang-rae Lee here. The bestselling, award-winning writer of Native Speaker, Aloft, and My Year Abroad returns with his biggest, most ambitious novel yet: a spellbinding story of how love and war echo through an entire lifetime. With his three critically acclaimed novels, Chang-rae Lee has established himself as one of the most talented writers of contemporary literary fiction. Now, with The Surrendered, Lee has created a book that amplifies everything we've seen in his previous works, and reads like nothing else. It is a brilliant, haunting, heartbreaking story about how love and war inalterably change the lives of those they touch. June Han was only a girl when the Korean War left her orphaned; Hector Brennan was a young GI who fled the petty tragedies of his small town to serve his country. When the war ended, their lives collided at a Korean orphanage where they vied for the attentions of Sylvie Tanner, the beautiful yet deeply damaged missionary wife whose elusive love seemed to transform everything. Thirty years later and on the other side of the world, June and Hector are reunited in a plot that will force them to come to terms with the mysterious secrets of their past, and the shocking acts of love and violence that bind them together. As Lee unfurls the stunning story of June, Hector, and Sylvie, he weaves a profound meditation on the nature of heroism and sacrifice, the power of love, and the possibilities for mercy, salvation, and surrendering oneself to another. Combining the complex themes of identity and belonging of Native Speaker and A Gesture Life with the broad range, energy, and pure storytelling gifts of Aloft, Chang-rae Lee has delivered his most ambitious, exciting, and unforgettable work yet. It is a mesmerizing novel, elegantly suspenseful and deeply affecting. |
From inside the book
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... mother pressed him and he finally said that he'd heard the truck had been ambushed and attacked, and that those not immediately killed had been taken prisoner. For the next weeks her mother asked every person she came across.
... mother pressed him and he finally said that he'd heard the truck had been ambushed and attacked, and that those not immediately killed had been taken prisoner. For the next weeks her mother asked every person she came across.
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... finally released her and for a moment it seemed he was going to strike her or perhaps kick her. But he simply turned to mount the road again. Hee-Sung had crawled away but then the two other soldiers stood her up on her feet, saying she ...
... finally released her and for a moment it seemed he was going to strike her or perhaps kick her. But he simply turned to mount the road again. Hee-Sung had crawled away but then the two other soldiers stood her up on her feet, saying she ...
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... finally ushering June into a state of virtual sleep. It was not wholly sleep because she did not yet dream—she never quite dreamed anymore. Instead, her mind rode alongside itself in a state of animal vigilance, such that she could see ...
... finally ushering June into a state of virtual sleep. It was not wholly sleep because she did not yet dream—she never quite dreamed anymore. Instead, her mind rode alongside itself in a state of animal vigilance, such that she could see ...
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... finally stopped. Her nose felt as if it was smashed. It was only when she checked her own skin for blood that she realized they were gone. Her brother and her sister. She peered down and saw the blanket draped over the coupling, their ...
... finally stopped. Her nose felt as if it was smashed. It was only when she checked her own skin for blood that she realized they were gone. Her brother and her sister. She peered down and saw the blanket draped over the coupling, their ...
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... finally the yielding to her position, which was what made her business consistently, if never tremendously, profitable. Her talent, her gift, was an instantly patent resolve, so that both longtime acquaintances and strangers like Clines ...
... finally the yielding to her position, which was what made her business consistently, if never tremendously, profitable. Her talent, her gift, was an instantly patent resolve, so that both longtime acquaintances and strangers like Clines ...
Contents
THREE | |
FOUR Fort Lee 1986 | |
FIVE Yongin South Korea 1953 | |
EIGHT | |
NINE | |
THIRTEEN | |
FOURTEEN | |
FIFTEEN | |
SIXTEEN | |
SEVENTEEN | |
EIGHTEEN | |
NINETEEN | |
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Common terms and phrases
already anymore arms asked aunties began beneath Benjamin Betty Harris body breath Bruno can’t chest Clines cottage crying dark don’t want door Dora drinking eyes face father feeling felt finally fingers Fort Lee girl gone hadn’t hair hand happened Harris he’d head Hector I’ve Ilion inside Itaewon June June’s Jung kissed knees knew leave legs light Livorno look morning mother mouth neck never Nicholas night nodded officer okay Old Rudy once orphanage Patricia Cahill perhaps pulled pushed quickly rest Reverend Lum Reverend Tanner seemed Seoul she’d shoulders side simply sitting sleep smell soldiers Solferino somehow someone soon sorry stay stepped Stolz stopped suddenly sure Sylvie Sylvie’s talk tell There’s they’d things thought told Tom Harris took turned voice wait walked wasn’t week What’s window woman Zelenko