96 books
—
47 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “Ocean of Words” as Want to Read:
Ocean of Words
by
Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award
The place is the chilly border between Russia and China. The time is the early 1970s when the two giants were poised on the brink of war. And the characters in this thrilling collection of stories are Chinese soldiers who must constantly scrutinize the enemy even as they themselves are watched for signs of the fatal disease of bourgeois lib ...more
The place is the chilly border between Russia and China. The time is the early 1970s when the two giants were poised on the brink of war. And the characters in this thrilling collection of stories are Chinese soldiers who must constantly scrutinize the enemy even as they themselves are watched for signs of the fatal disease of bourgeois lib ...more
Get A Copy
Paperback, 205 pages
Published
July 28th 1998
by Vintage
(first published 1996)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
Ocean of Words,
please sign up.
Be the first to ask a question about Ocean of Words
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30
Start your review of Ocean of Words
A good collection, compelling enough for me to tear through it in less than 24 hours, although the quality is a bit uneven. Highlights: "Love in the Air," "Dragon Head," "My Best Soldier." All stories involve soldiers of the People's Liberation Army and take place on the border of China and Russia during the 1970s.
...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I didn't love this one but it is definitely worth reading. A series of short stories, told from the point of view of a Chinese soldier stationed on the Russian border during the 1970s (Author may have actually been stationed there at about this time - before he left for the US and became an Emory prof)Stories complicate our stereotypical understanding of the Cultural Revolution. Told from the standpoint not of the intelligentsia but of peasants, also concerned with demonstrating they are not cou
...more
This is a nice collection of short stories that slowly gained on me. The first few short ones were okay at best, but Ha Jin's longer stories really make it worth reading. All of the 12 short stories, none of which are longer than 45 pages and most are 15 pages, center around Army units on the Chinese-Russian border in the 1970s, likely in the northeast of China.
While the lesser stories drone as a little monotonous among themselves, the latter stories, especially Ocean of Words which provides the ...more
While the lesser stories drone as a little monotonous among themselves, the latter stories, especially Ocean of Words which provides the ...more
Beautiful compilation of short stories about soldiers on the Chinese-Russian border during the 1970’s. Ha Jin has a firm grip on the souls of men, and this book is an expo of those talents.
An impressive collection of stories, all set among Red Army troops stationed along the Russian border. The stories are told in a deceptively modest style (deceptive in the sense that there doubtless was a tremendous amount of editing and whittling-down that went into these stories' making), and they range in tone from the comic to the brutal. Jin is able to evoke ambiguous psychological states, subtle relationships, and bleak landscapes in prose that never shows off or calls attention to itself.
...more
Ha Jin the author of Waiting also shows a create use of mutiple short stories in one book. He discuss the hardships that soldiers had faced during that time between the Russians and the Chinese.
Each chapter discuss how each soldier feel and interact with certain things during the war. The war brought many hardships and problem to many people. There were also corrupted government officials that lead people into the wrong path. Each story is unfold in a way that describes an event of the People ...more
Each chapter discuss how each soldier feel and interact with certain things during the war. The war brought many hardships and problem to many people. There were also corrupted government officials that lead people into the wrong path. Each story is unfold in a way that describes an event of the People ...more
I picked this up at random at the library and am glad I did. The stories are interesting and take me to a place and time remote from my own. At the same time they don't feel foreign at all. There is a little bit of moralizing about the cultural revolution but for the most part it's not heavy handed and the stories are about the people involved rather than about politics. I would definitely like to read a novel by Ha Jin.
The style of the writing didn't wow me. I would also say I thought the arran ...more
The style of the writing didn't wow me. I would also say I thought the arran ...more
"Grandma was right: The most wicked creature on earth is man. That ox had worked for its master till it was old; when it couldn't work well the master sold it to the slaughterhouse for money. The ox had wept just now, begging the fat butcher in silence for its life, but people wanted to eat beef, so they ignored its tears and butchered it. Man is a true beast."
...more
As I read through this piece of art, I almost touched the apparition of the mid 20 century. All these images and protagnists are so vivid that as if they were truly there. And I venerate what Ha Jin had done for these once lost figures, they should not be forgotten.
It is a well-written novel as well as a crucial historical document of that specific period of time.
It is a well-written novel as well as a crucial historical document of that specific period of time.
Although I did not read all of the stories in the book, the ones I did read I really enjoyed. The prose was beautiful and I found the stories of those living in the opressive world of communist China fascinating.
a wonderful collection of short stories set on the russia/china border during the 1970s. all told from the perspective of soldiers in the chinese army, what was most intriguing to me was how familiar their thinking and motivations were with my own.
Interestign perspective on a perverted period of Chinese history. I like this writer and his style--very engaging, I thought. The story is an eye opener about this time and I has a feeling of "being there".
...more
I didn't find this collection of short stories notable for an overarching storyline or beautiful prose, but it gave a valuable glimpse into the lives of young men on the front lines in Cold War China. Another testament to how important words, and who controls the words, are.
...more
Enjoyed this initial book by Ha Jin. He sheds light on a particular kind of Chinese experience, as I recall, namely, being a soldier in the Red Army. His writing is tight, and he knows how to craft stories well.
Stories interconnected by place--people (many of them soldiers) along the Chinese-Russian border. Reminds me of The Orphan Master's Son in terms of the privation and the dangers and especially the diet of sorghum.
...more
Among Ha Jin's books, this one is the best. Of course, this is just my opinion. The book is about soldier's life. Many songs in Chinese have been eloquently translated into English. And what is the best about the stories? Irony.
...more
For me this was just an okay book. I had a really hard time getting in to it and I had to force myself to read it. It was a short book so I finished it quickly but it was difficult to keep reading it.
One of the better short short collections I have read. Ha Jin has a talent of finding the humanity in the most impersonal of bureaucratic constructs.
Excellent writing as always but I wasn't that engaged by any of the stories.
...more
Half stars because I've only just begun. They are short stories exquisitely written.
...more
Another good collection of short stories, this time dealing with the all too human PLA on the Russian border during the 1970s...A great companion book to Ha Jin's 'War Trash.'
...more
Excellent stories-- definitely explored a different world view in this.
This book reminded me of Tim O'Brien's Vietnam War masterpiece "The Things They Carried."
...more
I enjoyed most of these stories. "Love in the Air" and "Ocean of Words" were two of my favorites.
...more
Holy moly, I don't know if I'm just too easy please or something, but this is amazing.
The title and a titular short story within this collection alludes to Cihai, the first dictionary of Standard Chinese. I find this book to be incredibly complex and deep. It tells of powerful messages through seriously beautifully written language (very very aesthetic) within the many stories taking place in the 70s.
It, in some ways, is a Hulanhezhuan but more blatantly sad and thought-provoking. I'm not going ...more
The title and a titular short story within this collection alludes to Cihai, the first dictionary of Standard Chinese. I find this book to be incredibly complex and deep. It tells of powerful messages through seriously beautifully written language (very very aesthetic) within the many stories taking place in the 70s.
It, in some ways, is a Hulanhezhuan but more blatantly sad and thought-provoking. I'm not going ...more
It seems like a subtle sociopolitical commentary simply portrayed by the soldiers under the Party. It's crisp and biting, if you take the hint. You can feel the insecurity and paranoia; the almost "otherwordliness" of their world.
The storytelling is simple, yet absorbing. There's always this element of irony in every characters' dispositions: a mixture of cunning and flaw that I find enigmatic. It's human, all too, human. ...more
The storytelling is simple, yet absorbing. There's always this element of irony in every characters' dispositions: a mixture of cunning and flaw that I find enigmatic. It's human, all too, human. ...more
#4
Kang jerked his head and rushed to look for her on the new frequency. Without much effort, he found her again. His body grew tense as he became engrossed in the sways and ripples of the heavenly melody. How wonderful to work with a woman at night. If only she could call him like this for an hour. But she stopped and asked, “Please answer.”
Kang jerked his head and rushed to look for her on the new frequency. Without much effort, he found her again. His body grew tense as he became engrossed in the sways and ripples of the heavenly melody. How wonderful to work with a woman at night. If only she could call him like this for an hour. But she stopped and asked, “Please answer.”
Ha Jin is a masterful short story teller and this collection is the best of his I've come across since The Bridegroom (The Bridegroom is still his best, though). An in-depth look at army life in China.
...more
Collections of short stories often lean towards the uncanny, but Ocean of Words is a lovely compilation of commonplace tales of life in the Chinese military of the 1970s.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers also enjoyed
Related Articles
His Favorite Novels About China: Embark on a voyage to China with these picks from the author of Nanjing Requiem, a novel set during the 1937...
14 likes · 5 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
