My love of books began in first grade. Since then I have always tried to read a little for pleasure, even if it meant staying up past my bedtime. Last week, I was able to finally finish a real masterpiece about a Chinese POW during the Korean War. Wartrash by Ha Jin was a book I probably wouldn’t have picked up except that Superwoman, a good college friend living in DC, sent me a copy as part of a book exchange. The protagonist pulls you in right away, revealing that he has a tattoo on his belly that says “FUCK U…S…” He’s afraid that the immigration officials would ask him to pull his shirt up and deny him entry. But he arrives in the U.S. fine and begins writing his memoir of the Korean War in English. He speaks and writes in English well because he was taught early on, I think through a missionary. His ability enables him to rise in the ranks of the Com
munist army even in the POW camps. Fellow prisoners rely on him to ask the GIs for information and to read the scraps of American papers thrown in the trash. Though his English skills afford him some protection, the Communists continually test him while exploiting him since he had attended the Nationalist military school before being forced into the Communist army. I should clarify that he isn’t a Communist, but is forced to follow them to protect his family: his mother and his fiancé back in China.His memoir describes how he is used and how he is expendable to the army. It also shows how the entire army and all the POWs that are calculated as statistics and psychologically maneuvered as expendable lives. Fatalities are planned and used as bargaining chips, a way to show that the Americans are treating POWs unfairly to force concessions. You start to wonder how he gets out of the POW camp alive and whether he chooses to go back to China, to Taiwan, or some other country. It’s a sobering book and very well-written. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize if that means anything to you. Once you start reading, you might forget that the book is fiction because it is so well researched.
As part of the book exchange, I in turn, sent Superwoman The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler. Now if you live in or know the L.A. area, a Raymond Chandler mystery would be a fun read. They are usually set in L.A. and mention several landmarks and freeways. There are sly dames, tough baddies, and a sarcastic, witty private eye. If you’re smart enough, you might even solve the mystery before it’s revealed. These books are sexy, stylish, and have the unmistakable detective noir feel. I have only read three, but my favorite is The Long Goodbye. Superwoman told me she was engrossed in the book after being exhausted from reading texts for graduate school. I am always happy to help a friend.
