The Surrendered

By: Chang-Rae Lee

Narrated by: James Yaegashi

At the end of the Korean War, the lives of orphan June Han and American soldier Hector Brennan collide. Thirty years later, they meet again and are forced to come to terms with the secrets of their devastating past.

©2010 Chang-Rae Lee (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

“Lee’s masterful fourth novel bursts with drama and human anguish as it documents the ravages and indelible effects of war.” ( Publishers Weekly)

"[C]ompletely engrossing story of great complexity and tragedy" ( Library Journal)

A sorrowful haunt, gorgeous storytelling!

What a story! The author pulls you in immediately, you don’t have have to work at it, slaving away to find the meat. It hits you right in the face and then binds you up in sorrow and the human fragility. A beautiful story, one that needed to be told. One of my most high recommends!

Engrossing Portrayal of the Effect of War

This book and the narrator are terrific despite the brutality of the content. Although I am familiar with the history of the conflicts between Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese in the 20th century and America's role in this complex part of the world, this fictional story vividly portrays the effect of war on civilians. I don't think that the average American reader has any idea how World War II and the Korean War affected people in those countries and how these effects continue to shape immigrants 50 years later. Chang- Rae Lee's prose is stunning, particularly in an audio book format. This is one of my favorites from Audible

Miserable

First few chapters were great. Everything else is a horny mess. Stay away from this book!

YAWN!

Try as I may, in the end I did not care about the characters. I did get to the end but asked myself why??? Perhaps I missed the point. My wife asked if she should read The Surrendered.... ahhh...NO.

this bibliophile could not finish this book

I had such high hopes for this book. I love reading historical fiction, especially works about colonialism and Asia, so I jumped at the chance to listen a novel about the Korean War. But I became frustrated by the tired tropes of the novel, the melodramatic tone of the narrator, and the unsympathetic characters and unrealistic plot. I was about two hours from the end of the book, when the tension should have been building to a climax, when I made the decision to stop listening. I rarely abandon books, especially when I'm so far from the end, but I had stopped caring about what happened to the characters and it was a painful listen. The narrator sounded like he was narrating crime fiction, which didn't help my opinion of the book.