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Sign up todayA Free Life
Narrator
Jaeson Ma
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Length
21 hours 49 minutes
Language
English
Meet the Wu family—father Nan, mother Pingping, and son Taotao. They are arranging to fully sever ties with China in the aftermath of the 1989 massacre at Tiananmen Square, and to begin a new, free life in the United States. At first, their future seems well-assured. But after the fallout from Tiananmen, Nan's disillusionment turns him toward his first love, poetry. Leaving his studies, he takes on a variety of menial jobs as Pingping works for a wealthy widow as a cook and housekeeper. As Pingping and Taotao slowly adjust to American life, Nan still feels a strange attachment to his homeland, though he violently disagrees with Communist policy. But severing all ties—including his love for a woman who rejected him in his youth—proves to be more difficult than he could have ever imagined.
Ha Jin left his native China in 1985 to attend Brandeis University. He is the author of eight novels, four story collections, a book of essays, and six books of poetry. He received the National Book Award, two PEN/Faulkner Awards, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Asian American Literary Award, and the Flannery O’Connor Award, among others. His novel War Trash was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2014 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is director of the creative writing program at Boston University.
Jaeson Ma is the son of two immigrant parents from China. A classically trained, New York-based theater actor who has appeared on Broadway, Off Broadway, and in numerous regional theaters, he has done extensive work in voice-over, specializing in Asian accents. He has provided voices for Vietnamese, Thai, and Japanese subjects for such shows as ABC News, Primetime Live, and 20/20.
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Reviews
“A Free Life offers the greatest reward to those who read with patience and in quiet contemplation, absorbing the author’s passion for language.”
“Striking…Jin’s language has ripened into something extraordinary.”
“A leisurely, generous tale…As vast and unbounded as the brave and overwhelming new world it describes.”
“Ha Jin writes of sacrifice, isolation, and valor with uncommon perception…Capacious, pointillistic, empathic, and tender, Ha Jin’s tale of one immigrant family’s odyssey in America affirms humankind’s essential mission, to honor life.”
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