The Boat Rocker

August 29, 2016
In his latest novel, Ha Jin (Waiting) takes aim at exploitative novels and international relations as he tells the story of Feng Danlin, a Chinese expatriate journalist living in New York and working for an independent, and influential, Chinese news agency. The year is 2005, and when word comes in that Danlin’s ex-wife, Yan Haili, has written a novel touted by the Chinese government as an instant worldwide bestseller, he pens several exposés concerning the book, challenging everything from the novel’s lackluster style and use of a 9/11 backdrop to Haili’s claims that she has signed a million-dollar-plus deal to adapt her tale into a Hollywood film. It isn’t long before Danlin’s articles gain traction and are reprinted throughout China. He finds himself celebrated by readers, but also the target of a series of verbal and written attacks by Haili and her entourage, and his boat rocking leaves many wondering if, by exposing Haili as a liar and the Chinese government as nefarious, Danlin may also be damaging potential Chinese/American interactions. Ha Jin stretches Danlin’s initial missives, though amusing, nearly to the point of repetitive exhaustion, yet as the novel shifts focus from small squabbles to a more worldly narrative dissecting homeland loyalty and international relationships, it gains momentum. Ha Jin’s prose is always pleasurable to read.

Since emigrating from his native China, Jin has earned considerable renown for his poetry, stories, and novels (Waiting won the National Book Award in 1999). But he's never been known as a barrel of laughs.What makes his latest so refreshing is that it's laugh-out-loud funny while being as illuminating as ever. The plot is simple enough: investigative reporter Feng Danlin, who narrates the book, works for a Chinese news agency in New York. His editor assigns him to unravel the true story behind a blockbuster novel by his ex-wife, Yan Haili, who dumped him on the day he traveled to America to join her and who's now written a romance that exploits 9/11 and is attracting international attention and million-dollar film deals--and even an endorsement from President George W. Bush. She's been mentioned as a contender for a Nobel Prize, though Feng knows she's "certainly not a gifted writer" and thinks all the attention is "getting more farcical by the hour." The problem is that everything he writes in his exposes seems to some like the bitterness of a jilted husband whose own writing has never generated such interest. There are accusations about his failings as a husband, his misogyny, and his betrayal of China. As the plot thickens, it seems that not only does the Chinese government have a vested interest in the success of Haili's novel, but that American bureaucracy and Danlin's own employers have begun colluding against him. Is he paranoid? Could his ex-wife's novel have more merit than he thinks? Is the fix really in? The tensions extend well beyond the two antagonists, as relationships of male/female, fact/fiction, Chinese/American, freedom/fatalism, and ideals/realities are all thrown up for grabs, subverting conventional wisdom. The narrator ultimately realizes what an innocent he's been, and the reader shares the epiphanies of this pilgrim's progress. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from September 15, 2016
A quintessential interpreter of the modern Chinese experience, Ha Jin follows A Map of Betrayal (2014), a taut novel about a Chinese spy in America, with an even more tightly focused tale narrated by an idealistic journalist internationally popular with Chinese readers for his daring exposes of Chinese corruption. A newly naturalized American citizen living in New York at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Feng Danlin, as naive as he is courageous, precipitously investigates a dubious Chinese news story claiming that the White House is endorsing a romance novel written by his ex-wife, Yan Haili. Danlin unleashes his fury over the lies of the Chinese governmentcontrolled media and his conniving ex in increasingly reckless salvos, and Haili and her ruthless backers calmly and diabolically retaliate, stripping Danlin of all that he has accomplished. Yet this stubborn boat rocker remains undaunted: What I want is to be an honest, independent, and rational voice. Laced with acid observations about the complicated collusion between China and the U.S. and the often compromised role of the press, as well as passages of ambushing beauty and drollery, Ha Jin's intensely internalized tale of moral and political dilemmas, greed, conscience, and longing is suspenseful, passionate, and wise.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

Starred review from August 1, 2016

When Fen Danlin first landed in New York to join his wife, Yan Haili, she delivered him to a "seedy" Chinatown inn with $500 and instructions to stay--alone--within walking distance of an arranged restaurant job. She returned the next day with divorce papers, leaving him sobbing. Seven years later, Danlin is an online newspaper columnist known for his exposes revealing "the towering corruption of Chinese politics and media." He's assigned to write about an upcoming "landmark novel" allegedly endorsed by George Bush, with multinational editions pending and Hollywood rights already sold. The author of this potboiler, which preys on 9/11 sentiment with headlines coinciding a week before the tragedy's fifth anniversary, is Danlin's ex-wife. Danlin's boss insists that any conflict of interest is outweighed by this "bunch of scumbags" whose public relations scheme must be disclosed. Unmasking Haili's lousy writing and bloated mendacity pits Danlin against China's unforgiving power elite; at stake are his career, his relationships, even his safety. VERDICT National Book Award-winning Jin uses sly, black humor to underscore the high price of integrity, the consequences of betrayal, and the power of the written word. Jin's latest should cross multiple genres and is especially timely for an election year. [See Prepub Alert, 4/16/16.]--Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016

In 2005 New York, Chinese expatriate reporter Feng Danlin is committed to pouring out exposes for a small-but-tough news agency's website read by Chinese worldwide. But he's pretty anxious about his latest project: investigating former wife Yan Haili, a novelist who will do anything to please the Chinese government. Suggested by real-life events; as always, National Book Award winner Ha Jin knocks us backward.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2016

When Fen Danlin first landed in New York to join his wife, Yan Haili, she delivered him to a "seedy" Chinatown inn with $500 and instructions to stay--alone--within walking distance of an arranged restaurant job. She returned the next day with divorce papers, leaving him sobbing. Seven years later, Danlin is an online newspaper columnist known for his exposes revealing "the towering corruption of Chinese politics and media." He's assigned to write about an upcoming "landmark novel" allegedly endorsed by George Bush, with multinational editions pending and Hollywood rights already sold. The author of this potboiler, which preys on 9/11 sentiment with headlines coinciding a week before the tragedy's fifth anniversary, is Danlin's ex-wife. Danlin's boss insists that any conflict of interest is outweighed by this "bunch of scumbags" whose public relations scheme must be disclosed. Unmasking Haili's lousy writing and bloated mendacity pits Danlin against China's unforgiving power elite; at stake are his career, his relationships, even his safety. VERDICT National Book Award-winning Jin uses sly, black humor to underscore the high price of integrity, the consequences of betrayal, and the power of the written word. Jin's latest should cross multiple genres and is especially timely for an election year. [See Prepub Alert, 4/16/16.]--Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.