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67th out of 200 books
—
535 voters
War Trash
by
Ha Jin
Ha Jin’s masterful new novel casts a searchlight into a forgotten corner of modern history, the experience of Chinese soldiers held in U.S. POW camps during the Korean War. In 1951 Yu Yuan, a scholarly and self-effacing clerical officer in Mao’s “volunteer” army, is taken prisoner south of the 38th Parallel. Because he speaks English, he soon becomes an intermediary betwee...more
Paperback, 368 pages
Published
May 10th 2005
by Vintage
(first published January 1st 2004)
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This book is a ficitional account of a Chinese prisoner of the Korean War. Apparently things weren't all funny, serious, then funny/serious like the TV show MASH made them out to be. Yu Yuan, or whatever various false names he used throughout his inturnment was a Nationalist Chinese who was used like a pawn by the Communist regime that had taken over before the war. He was sent into Korea to keep the United States out of North Korea just so they would be that much further from mainland China.
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Not a character novel, a sweeping memoir style that's hard to get used to. In the early chapters it feels like a book born from a writer who's been doing tons of research, i.e. a bunch of anecdotes he read about, squeezed together within a contrived context. But the pace is consistent and I got used to it after awhile, which let me focus on the really interesting historical/war special interest content. Not as relentlessly brutal or chilling as you might expect. The narrator, a Chinese POW in an...more
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War Trash by Ha Jin is a conventionally written fictional memoir that begins by detailing the involvement of Communist Chinese troops in the Korean war--as experienced by the narrator, Yu Yuan, who is not a party member--and then becomes a captivity narrative when Yu Yuan and thousands of fellow soldiers are taken prisoner by U.S.-led U. N. forces.
I found this novel to be interesting chiefly because of its point of view. The horrors of war recounted here are unfortunately commonplace and the sit...more
I found this novel to be interesting chiefly because of its point of view. The horrors of war recounted here are unfortunately commonplace and the sit...more
How engaging should a novel about uniformly unpleasant experiences be? This novel is brief, and pretty much stripped down of psychology; instead, a series of things happen to the narrator, a PLA soldier during the Korean War who spends most of his time in Korean refugee camps divided between Communist and Chinese Nationalist soldiers and overseen by the American military. I found myself thinking of Defoe quite a bit: the narrator has also brief moments of agency, and is mostly just the victim of...more
Jin, Ha. WAR TRASH. (2004). *****. Jin is a marvelous writer, and manages, with this book, to take us into the prison camp for Chinese POWs during the Korean War. I read this book when it first came out, but picked it up again to savor the language of the author. It is the story of Yu Wan, a clerical officer in Chairman Mao’s “volunteer” army fighting alongside the North Korean forces. When he is captured by U.S. troops below the 38th Parallel, he is interned along with other captured troops. He...more
I guess you would call this fictionalised history. Apparently well sourced, and historically accurate, all events are supposedly historically-sourced, except they are presented as having happened to various fictional characters within a fictional narrative.
It wasn't my usual idea of great literature. Written as if it was a memoir by a Chinese veteran of the Korean War; it really did seem authentic. It had all the excitement and emotion of well-written history (I find history exciting and moving,...more
It wasn't my usual idea of great literature. Written as if it was a memoir by a Chinese veteran of the Korean War; it really did seem authentic. It had all the excitement and emotion of well-written history (I find history exciting and moving,...more
A fictional memoir, War Trash tells the story of a Chinese soldier taken prisoner during the Korean War and held in a variety of prisoner-of-war camps.
A college graduate student, Yu Yuan has an uneasy relationship with the communist leadership in the camps, but his knowledge of English makes him indispensable as an interpreter and he witnesses key events and decisions.
The first few chapters describe the poor preparation of Yuan's unit, disaster in an attack pushed too far, and a desperate atte...more
A college graduate student, Yu Yuan has an uneasy relationship with the communist leadership in the camps, but his knowledge of English makes him indispensable as an interpreter and he witnesses key events and decisions.
The first few chapters describe the poor preparation of Yuan's unit, disaster in an attack pushed too far, and a desperate atte...more
Ha Jin’s novel, War Trash, is a remarkable historical fiction investigating the Korean War. Written as a memoir from experiences embodied through Jin’s fictional character, Yuan Yan, the novel serves as testimony, history, and art all woven into one to make an emotional, political statement condemning war. Yan narrates how he loyally serves the Chinese volunteer army, even though the soldiers stand no chance against the American forces that either kill or capture every Chinese infantryman. Once...more
This novel about a Chinese Army "volunteer" taken prisoner in the Korean War could have very easily been little more than an anti-Communist screed; in another world it might have been Communist propaganda. It is neither of these. Instead it is the story of a man and what he saw, and that is good.
The opening chapters actually involve some fighting in Korea, but these are sparsely detailed. Yu Yuan isn't much of a soldier - nor, really, are any of the so-called People's Volunteers, but they are th...more
The opening chapters actually involve some fighting in Korea, but these are sparsely detailed. Yu Yuan isn't much of a soldier - nor, really, are any of the so-called People's Volunteers, but they are th...more
Daf man rezensioeren, wenn man ein Buch nicht zu Ende gelesen hat? Ich finde, ja.
Nach "Ein freies Leben" und "Warten" hatte ich erwartet, auch in "Kriegspack" jene eigenartige ruhige Kraft zu finden, deren ruhiges und zugleich beklemmendes Beschreiben die Bücher von Ha Jin ausmacht.
Tatsächlich ist auch dieses Buch davon geprägt, die Lebensrealität der Chinesen, die im Koreakrieg gefangen genommen werden, blieb mir aber so fremd, dass ich irgendwann abgebrochen habe.
Ich wollte gar nicht mehr w...more
Nach "Ein freies Leben" und "Warten" hatte ich erwartet, auch in "Kriegspack" jene eigenartige ruhige Kraft zu finden, deren ruhiges und zugleich beklemmendes Beschreiben die Bücher von Ha Jin ausmacht.
Tatsächlich ist auch dieses Buch davon geprägt, die Lebensrealität der Chinesen, die im Koreakrieg gefangen genommen werden, blieb mir aber so fremd, dass ich irgendwann abgebrochen habe.
Ich wollte gar nicht mehr w...more
War Trash is the fictional memoir of a Chinese soldier in the Korean War. Early in the story, his unit is captured, and the remainder of the story documents his time in a few different POW camps. I didn't know much about the Korean War, especially the experience of the Communist army soldiers, and I thought the book did a remarkable job of showing the various conflicts that existed in the camps: violence between pro-Communist and pro-Nationalist factions of prisoners, power struggles within fact...more
"He's such a strapping man, yet he lost his mind so easily."
"Some men would not shoot their draft animals, but afraid other might kill them for meat, they set them free. Some of the horses and mules wouldn't go away and followed their former keeps to this shore."
"A large mole kept moving near the edge of Chaolin's left eye as he spoke."
"We were all like hungry ghosts, fearful but unable to stop wandering around."
"I hadn't come across a book for half a year. the deprivation had whetted my appetit...more
"Some men would not shoot their draft animals, but afraid other might kill them for meat, they set them free. Some of the horses and mules wouldn't go away and followed their former keeps to this shore."
"A large mole kept moving near the edge of Chaolin's left eye as he spoke."
"We were all like hungry ghosts, fearful but unable to stop wandering around."
"I hadn't come across a book for half a year. the deprivation had whetted my appetit...more
Critics agree that War Trash, by the National Book Award-winning author, has an unusual tone. Yu's methodical, even pedantic storytelling of the Chinese soldiers taken prisoner by U.N. forces struck some critics as dull; many complained of slow patches. However, several readers praised this very slowness. To them, Yu's is the soft voice of a man who wants to record a painful past without sensationalism. The New York Times Book Review even called Yu "one of the most fully realized characters to e
...more
This book is the "memoir" of the experiences of Yu Yuan, former student at the Huangpu Military Academy, during the Korean War, most of which he spends imprisoned by the Americans. Actually, you might say "during the Chinese civil war", because the effects of that conflict are everywhere. You might even say "during the Cold War". Yuan initially believes the reason he was given for his division being sent to Korea, to prevent the Americans from invading China; he has been told that the Chinese so...more
First, I'm absolutely amazed that this was written in English by an author who'd picked up English maybe 15 years earlier.
Second, at times it feels like the main character just happened to experience ever single possible event that occurred in Chinese/North Korean POW camps during the Korean war, owing to an author who really just wanted to cram a lot of the historical stuff in there.
Still, while the book remains fiction, it's an interesting start to learning about the Chinese side of the confl...more
Second, at times it feels like the main character just happened to experience ever single possible event that occurred in Chinese/North Korean POW camps during the Korean war, owing to an author who really just wanted to cram a lot of the historical stuff in there.
Still, while the book remains fiction, it's an interesting start to learning about the Chinese side of the confl...more
This book deserves a very long review which I don't have time to do at the moment. I think that it stands a chance (or should, anyway) of being one of those classic "let me tell you how war was in the 20th century, and also how it is in most centuries". The main character, Yu Yuan, is an observant, intelligent, kind character, a young man from (now) Communist China who gets caught up in the Korean War. While I was alive during the Korean War, I was a small child and had no idea what it was about...more
I suppose you'd call this historical fiction. It's a meticulously researched portrayal of a piece of the Korean War, but told as a pseudo-memoir by a fictional character. Yuan is a POW held in American camps during the war; he is Chinese but not a Communist so his narration gives an outsider's view of the Nationalists, Americans, North and South Koreans and Chinese Communists as he navigates through the POW camps.
Initially, I thought the writing was a bit off, I couldn't put my finger on it, bu...more
Initially, I thought the writing was a bit off, I couldn't put my finger on it, bu...more
This is an astonishing novel for many reasons. It is written as if it is a memoir, but really it's a novel. It's the story of Chinese Yu Yuan's experience (mostly) in POW camps during the Korean War-- an experience made even more complex by the fact that Yu Yuan speaks English. Ha Jin's writing style in this novel is incredibly (and mesmerizingly) simple, somewhat of an irony because it so successfully incorporates extensive historical detail and context. I loved this seeming contradiction in th...more
A sometimes sad and depressing book that has little uplifting to say about the actions of the Communists, the Nationalists or the Americans during the Korean war.
I book that reflects the brutal stupidity of war and the greed and cruelty of power - wherever it comes from or whoever wealds it. The participants are by turn cruel, sympathetic, selfish, kind and self-centred. This book reflects the impossibility of winning any war - there are always only losers and thise who gain very little by overw...more
I book that reflects the brutal stupidity of war and the greed and cruelty of power - wherever it comes from or whoever wealds it. The participants are by turn cruel, sympathetic, selfish, kind and self-centred. This book reflects the impossibility of winning any war - there are always only losers and thise who gain very little by overw...more
This novel of fictional characters, based on real events, followed a Chinese soldier through the Korean war and subsequent internment in US prison camps. The soldier (who speaks good english), educated at a Nationalist military school, is drafted into the communist army and sent to Korea, where he is captured with the survivors of his unit. The bulk of the book takes place in several prison camps. The book contrasts the culture, behavior, and outlook of the Nationalist and Communist prisoners, w...more
If Arthur Koestler rewrote Papillon and then crossed out every second word to skin the prose, War Trash is a prison memoir and an object lesson, taking pictures of a single predicament from every possible angle. The predicament: a young graduate of the military school fighting in Korea for the Chinese Red Army only a year after the Red Army's victory. For him, like most Chinese in 1951, communism is still thin, as popular as Hamas versus Fatah, their good faith a function of having momentarily d...more
Good points: Overall, the story was good, and I did get a little teary at the end. I liked the main character, who was caught in the middle of a war, a prison camp and two factions of Chinese--the nationalists and Communists. Definitely in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. The not-so-good points: found the writing hard. I can't seem to put my finger on it, but perhaps there was a lack of emotion. Some critics called it "spare" and "stripped bare" but I guess i needed a little mo...more
As with another of his novels, 'Waiting', I enjoyed reading 'War Trash' as it took me to a world and inside lives I've never given thought to. Our narrator is an English-speaking Chinese soldier who becomes trapped in the bizarre world inhabited by POWs in the Korean War. Nationalists and Communists work to win or keep soldiers on their sides, with the former to be sent to Taiwan and the latter repatriated. Meanwhile they are all pawns in the negotiations to end the war and ultimately destined f...more
War Trash is about a Chinese POW's experience in the Korea War. As a graduate from top nationalist military academy who fought the war for the communist party, he is asked to decide whether to join the communist China or nationalist Taiwan after release. He is encouraged, menaced by both the communist organization and nationalists in the prison camp. Being able to speak fluent English, he works as translator for the American soldier, which exposed him to many important occasions. Being unable to...more
Every single aspect of this book was exactly medium. Nothing was great and nothing was terrible. It is so medium I can't even think of anything I didn't like about it. The prose style is in keeping with the narrator (a non-writer memoirist writing in his second language), but as such leave a little wanting. The story, a Chinese prisoner-of-war during the Korean War, is compelling in theory, but overly-long and repetitive in practice. I usually hate it when people say "Eh. It was okay," and don't...more
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This fictional memoir-style novel told by a Chinese soldier taken prisoner by the US army during the Korean war, perhaps as a reflection of its mild-mannered, insightful, educated narrator, rolls forward in the chronologic, episodic manner of a real-life historical account. Jin incorporates detail-rich swaths of political and historical interest to ensure that the typical American reader learns something new about the aptly-named “Forgotten War”. Since the episodic nature of history doesn’t alwa...more
This book is one of those that is best appreciated after it's finished. The whole is more than the sum of the parts, and I found myself thinking about the book for several days after I finished it, which is a sure sign that it's a good one. Here are my thoughts, with no particular organization:
I thought it was an interesting choice by the author to write such a sympathetic character as the narrator of a pseudo-memoir. If this character is truly fictitious, then the author has all the freedom in...more
I thought it was an interesting choice by the author to write such a sympathetic character as the narrator of a pseudo-memoir. If this character is truly fictitious, then the author has all the freedom in...more
This is a very good book, just not my favorite. It's well-crafted, tells an interesting story, and educated me on a segment of history I'd never before considered.
After Mao takes over China, newly-Communist Chinese soldiers fight in the Korean War as a "volunteer army" (so as not to officially implicate China). When captured by the Americans, the Chinese are offered the chance either to go back to China or to go to Taiwan with the Nationalists (the party overthrown by Mao and the Communists).
W...more
After Mao takes over China, newly-Communist Chinese soldiers fight in the Korean War as a "volunteer army" (so as not to officially implicate China). When captured by the Americans, the Chinese are offered the chance either to go back to China or to go to Taiwan with the Nationalists (the party overthrown by Mao and the Communists).
W...more
So thank your lucky stars you were not a member of the Chinese Army around the time of the Korean War. As Douglas MacArthur plotted to invade Mainland China, Mao sent thousands of bodies to defend. But it was more like a mow-down then starve-off.
This PEN/Faulkner award-winning novel is the fictional memoir of Yu Yuan, a POW at several camps and a frequent pawn between the pro-Nationalists and the Communists. It's a dense read with some serious history and military strategy. The scale of human s...more
This PEN/Faulkner award-winning novel is the fictional memoir of Yu Yuan, a POW at several camps and a frequent pawn between the pro-Nationalists and the Communists. It's a dense read with some serious history and military strategy. The scale of human s...more
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Ha Jin is the pen name of Xuefei Jin, a novelist, poet, short story writer, and Professor of English at Boston University. Ha Jin writes in English about China, a political decision post-Tiananmen Square.
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