Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Ocean of Words: Stories

Ocean of Words: Stories

Jin, Ha

Paperback

Series: Vintage International

General Fiction

ISBN10: 0375702067
ISBN13: 9780375702068
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: Jul 28 1998
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.56
Height: 0.66 Width: 5.17 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
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 liberalism.

In Ocean of Words, the Chinese writer Ha Jin explores the predicament of these simple, barely literate men with breathtaking concision and humanity. From amorous telegraphers to a pugnacious militiaman, from an inscrutable Russian prisoner to an effeminate but enthusiastic recruit, Ha Jin's characters possess a depth and liveliness that suggest Isaac Babel's Cossacks and Tim O'Brien's GIs. Ocean of Words is a triumphant volume, poignant, hilarious, and harrowing.

A compelling collection of stories, powerful in their unity of theme and rich in their diversity of styles. --New York Times Book Review

Extraordinary. . . . [These stories are shot through with wit and offer glimpses of human motivation that defy retelling. . . . Read them all. --Boston Globe

An exceptional new talent, capable of wringing rich surprises out of austere materials. --Portland Oregonian

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