Description
Set in 1951–53 during the Korean War, this novel unfolds as the memoir of Yu Yuan, a young Chinese officer sent as a “volunteer” to bolster Mao’s forces—only to find his fate redirected into American custody. Inside the camp, Yu Yuan confronts the daily pressures of survival, the seductions of conformity, and the quiet, costly forms of dissent that can emerge when ideology collides with lived experience. Ha Jin’s unflinching storytelling illuminates a largely overlooked chapter of wartime history, revealing how captivity reshapes identity and what “home” can mean when every certainty is stripped away. Written with the precision and moral intensity that have made him a National Book Award–winning master of second-language fiction, the book echoes the tradition of war literature that refuses to look away.
Available Editions
paperback
Pantheon Books
Published Jan 1, 2004
352 pages
ISBN: 0375422765
Reviews
No ratings yet. Be the first!
No written reviews yet.
Details
First Published
2004
Language
eng
Content Warnings
Content and trigger warnings for War Trash by Ha Jin.