NATIVE SPEAKER by Chang-Rae Lee Books/Berkley:...

NATIVE SPEAKER by Chang-Rae Lee Books/Berkley: $12; 349 pp.). Lee’s highly praised first novel is narrated by Henry Park, an American of Korean descent. Cut off from the culture of his ancestors but regarded by non-Asians as an exotic presence, Park struggles to forge an identity and restore his crumbling marriage. Lee excels at capturing the staccato rhythms of speakers uncomfortable with English. Observing the ethnic diversity that surrounds him, Park reflects, “At their height, the Romans lived among all their conquered, the outer people brought to the city as ambassadors, lovers, soldiers, slaves. And these carried with them their native spice and fabric; rites, contagion. Then language. Ancient Rome was the first true Babel. New York City must be the second. No doubt the last will be Los Angeles.”