Title: simple prose, objective, convincing characters
Product review: Ha Jin has a simple, but effective prose style. He objectively utilizes historical material, while portraying convincing individuals.In "War Trash" he takes what could have been a dreary re-creation of prison life for Chinese prisoners of the U.S. during the Korean War, and makes it quite interesting without the use of melodrama. It helps that his protagonist, a young man with some education, is a very engaging personality who matures and grows in self confidence as the novel progresses. He is ethical without being heroic, much as the protagonist of "The Crazed".Ha Jin paints a chilling portrait of the Communist party during and immediately after the Korean War, while making the committed Communists in the novel nuanced individuals. This is my third Ha Jin novel, and actually the fastest paced of the three (others were "Waiting" and "The Crazed").
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