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Jun 30, 2018RogerDeBlanck rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
No writer confronts the deep-seated corruption of China’s communist party with more piercing insight than Ha Jin. In his novel The Boat Rocker, the main character Feng Danlin is a naturalized American citizen. Now living in New York City, he writes columns for the Global News Agency, an online site that has gained reputability by reporting on the waywardness of China’s political machine. When Danlin’s boss asks him to investigate why the Chinese government is oddly backing an unknown author and her romance novel in U.S. markets, Danlin jumps at the opportunity to expose the fraudulence of the book, especially since the author is Danlin’s ex-wife, Yan Haili. Narrated from Danlin’s perspective, the story charts the mudslinging that ensues between Danlin’s associates and Haili’s backing within the Chinese communist party. Danlin’s quest for the truth becomes derailed due to forces of collusion and bribery, which are set in motion from deep within the communist government. Ha Jin is a master at employing wit and humor to address critical social issues, and his clean and spare prose has never been more fluid than it is in this engaging novel. Even though an element of comedy resides throughout the story, it is seamlessly underscored with the frightening reality of corruption in which Ha Jin brings to light within the machinations of the Chinese government.