The Asian American Literary Prize
The Asian American Literary Prize is a prize which exists since 1988. It is presented by the Asian American Writer's Workshop and it is awarded in the three categories of fiction, poetry and nonfiction. It is meant as an honor for writers of Asian-American descent whose works are published in English.
Chang-Rae Lee got the Asian American Literary Prize for A Gesture Life in the year 2000. The book deserves to get a prize because it shows the deeper meaning of integration and the remaining thoughts, feelings and memories of the past, which are still inside the immigrant and influence his, in this case Doc Hata's, acting towards other people immensely. The book gives an insight into an immigrant's life that no one could get just from seeing the outside.
It is not only about the insight knowledge we get from Doc Hata as an immigrant from an Asian country but also why he acts like he does it. This means how his past, especially the experiences he made during the war, influences his actions in the present time. It shows also how his routines help him to get along with what he experienced in the past and in the war. The novel shows a man who comes to terms with a lot of things from his past and who acts according to this, but who also changes towards the ending and breaks out of his routines. This changes and the fact that the flashbacks give us so much insight into a person who has experienced so much makes it obvious to give a prize to this book and also to this author.
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