The Surrendered

The Surrendered (2010) by Chang-Rae Lee. With a historic sweep from the Korean War to modern-day Italy, "The Surrendered" is one of the best books I've read this year. It starts with June, a Korean girl, fleeing south from the North Korean army in 1950. Along the way, she meets Hector, a handsome American soldier of Irish descent. And the two of them end up at an orphanage run by the Tanners, Sylvie and Ames, after the war. Lee's writing is like poetry, image piled upon image to make a solid whole. The book has passion and betrayal, beauty and violence, healthy love and terminal illness. It's wholly different from any book I've read -- popular books involving the Korean War are rare. But it's certainly an involving and worthy read. It's a work of beauty. Grade: A