''Native Speaker'' (1995) is the first novel by Korean-American author

Chang-Rae Lee Chang-rae Lee (born July 29, 1965) is a Korean-American novelist and a professor of creative writing at Stanford University. He was previously Professor of Creative Writing at Princeton and director of Princeton's Program in Creative Writing. E ...

. It explores the life of a man named Henry Park who tries to assimilate into American society.

Synopsis

Plot

Henry Park, a young Korean-American "spook" for Dennis Hoagland, is assigned to infiltrate the camp of John Kwang, a Korean-American politician running for mayor of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Henry struggles with the recent separation from his white wife, Lelia, due to the premature death of their son Mitt. Further, he develops a keen

double consciousness Double consciousness is the internal conflict experienced by subordinated or colonized groups in an oppressive society. The term and the idea were first published in W. E. B. Du Bois's autoethnographic work, ''The Souls of Black Folk'' in 1903 ...

, knowing that his actions will cause the ruin of a fellow Korean-American, and tarnish an exemplar of success for members of a "

model minority A model minority is a minority demographic (whether based on ethnicity, race or religion) whose members are perceived as achieving a higher degree of socioeconomic success than the population average, thus serving as a reference group to outgroup ...

" in America.

Characters

*Henry Park: An industrial spy who is assigned to be on John Kwang's pre-campaign team. His Korean name is Byong-ho. *Lelia Park: Henry's estranged wife who is a speech therapist from a wealthy, Scottish-American East Coast family. She met Henry at a party during one of his initial assignments. *Mitt Park : Henry and Lelia’s son who died at the age of seven. *John Kwang: A Korean-American politician running for Mayor of New York who becomes a surrogate father to Henry. *Emile Luzan: A Filipino-American therapist whom Henry spied on but ended up befriending. He helped Henry recover from Mitt's death. *Sherrie Chin-Watt: John Kwang's PR assistant. Married to a European-American banker, but having an affair with Kwang. *Mr Park: Henry's father, a strict man who was once an industrial engineer in Korea. *Mrs Park: Henry's mother who died from cancer when Henry was ten. *Dennis Hoagland: Henry's boss. *Maid (Ahjuma): A young Korean woman who took care of Henry as a child. *May: John's wife whom he met when she came from Korea. *Sophie: Jack's Italian-American wife. *Jack: Henry's best friend and coworker who is a Greek-American. *Janice Pawlowsky: Henry's manager of John Kwang. *Eduardo Fermin: A Latino man who idolizes John Kwang. He dies during a fire at Kwang's campaign headquarters. He's also a spy for Hoagland's spy firm, but John Kwang thinks he works for mayor De La Roos's reelection campaign. *Pete Ichibata: A Japanese co-worker known for crude jokes and excessive drinking. *John Kwang Jr: John's and May's son and Peter's brother troubled with school who reminded Henry of his son Mitt *Peter Kwang: John Jr's brother and son of John and May *Lelia's parents: Henry's in laws and Mitt's grandparents *Molly: Lelia's friend and an artist. During Henry and Lelia's separation, Lelia stays in Molly's apartment.

Major themes

Henry is the quintessential Korean-American, as much of his Korean heritage resonates through his voice, personality, and beliefs. His Korean upbringing still shows up in his adult life. Like many American immigrants trying to find an identity in a foreign land, Henry is an "...emotional alien...stranger ndfollower..." who constantly feels isolated from the country in which he lives and also the country from which he came. Even though he is American, Henry Park feels a constant alienation and sense of isolation. There are many challenges that come with fitting into American life because of the difference in culture, beliefs, behavior; and because of the desire to still hold on to one's heritage.

Awards and nominations

PEN/Hemingway Award The PEN/Hemingway Award is awarded annually to a full-length novel or book of short stories by an American author who has not previously published a full-length book of fiction. The award is named after Ernest Hemingway and funded by the Hemingway ...

for Best First Novel *

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Discover Great New Writers Award *

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

*QPB New Visions Award *

Oregon Book Award The Oregon Book Awards are presented annually by Literary Arts to honor the "state’s finest accomplishments by Oregon writers who work in genres of poetry, fiction, graphic literature, drama, literary nonfiction, and literature for young readers. ...

ALA Notable Book American Library Association Notable lists are announced each year in January by various divisions within the American Library Association (ALA). There are six lists, part of the larger ALA awards structure. * ''ALA Notable Books for Adults'' (est ...

References

{{reflist 1995 American novels Novels by Chang-Rae Lee Novels set in New York City Berkley Books books American Book Award-winning works Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award-winning works