A Person of Interest: A Novel Audiobook

" This is a highly interesting and extremely well-written book, fast-paced except in a few rare places which I admit could have been cut down. One of the most compelling things is that the plot is actually based on real-life events, most importantly the story of Ted Kaczynski, a PhD Mathematician, social critic and Professor at Berkeley University of California who eventually became a terrorist known as the 'Unabomber'. As a result of his Marxist-inspired beliefs, Kaczynski slowly began to reject technological advances as contrary to human progress, since those advances could be used for violent and even lethal purposes, as exemplified by the advent of the nuclear bomb during World War II. The only way forward for Kaczynski was to target those brilliant minds who spearheaded technological advances, i.e. researchers and academics, hence his nickname of 'Unabomber' as he sent out mail containing bombs to university professors and other people whose work he deemed dangerous for the future of humanity. Kaczynski was eventually arrested for his brutal use of anarchist beliefs to justify the bombings, which he declared were the only way society would take heed and turn away from technological 'progess' (he had ceased to believe in debate and peaceful social reform). He is now serving life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, and it is his story that forms the overall story arc of Susan Choi's novel. There are other historical and cultural references in this very rich book, especially those concerning McCarthyism and the hysterical anti-Communist mindset of that era, as the protagonist, a Mathematics professor called Lee, is of Asian descent and therefore comes under strong suspicion during those troubled years of American history. He relates his run-in with the authorities, which considered him more suspicious than white Americans on account of his origins, due to the prominence of China as a Communist country. Mixing real historical events with fiction, Choi weaves a tale of love, failed ambition and desire for redemption which constantly reminds the reader that the personal sometimes really IS political, as her protagonist Lee arouses the FBI's suspicions for two main reasons: his Asian background AND his inability to mourn his colleague publicly (that colleague is the book's 'Unabomber''s victim in the opening pages). In other words, this book exposes the injustice of racial profiling and the cult of collective expressions of grief, if one can put it that way. Indeed, Lee never liked his colleague Hendley, and he is therefore unable and unwilling to fake grief by going to the memorial organized for him by the university. That combined with the fact that the two professors were known to have antagonized each other time and again seems enough for the FBI to direct its attention to Lee. Except there is also a THIRD reason, which is also the one that gives credence to the idea that the personal is political in this novel, as Lee lies to FBI agents about one piece of mail, a letter from Lewis Gaither. Gaither and Lee were best friends in graduate school, but ended up falling out completely when Lee stole Gaither's wife Aileen when she was still pregnant with her and Gaither's first child, a son they decided to call John. Gaither writes to Lee after a silence of 3 decades, and the letter is interpreted by Lee as a taunt and an insult, a way for Gaither of taking revenge on the man who stole his wife. This is the reason why he lies to the FBI, saying he threw that letter away in order to spare himself the humiliation of other people finding out that the only personal correspondence he's recently received is an unfriendly and unwelcome one. This seemingly benign lie transforms itself into a major incident which underpins the whole plot, as the FBI finds out that Lee lied and misconstrue his lack of forthcoming cooperation as proof of his having something to hide. Lee thereby becomes a 'person of interest', which differs from a 'suspect' in the sense that they are not charging him with anything at that stage. Even when Lee finally tells them the truth about Gaither and him, the agents are unconvinced and force Lee to take a polygraph test in order to ascertain whether or not he is still lying to them. The results are conclusive and declare Lee has been truthful. While all these events are unfolding, Lee is constantly looking back on various periods of his life, from his graduate school days with Gaither, to his meeting and subsequent affair with Aileen, and perhaps most importantly, the divorce crisis he created, which resulted in Aileen losing custody of John and a son growing up without his real mother. Indeed, Gaither took John away from Aileen and Lee did not try to stop it; in fact he welcomed this vengeful move as he had no desire to raise his former friend's son. Lee's betrayal of his friend seems even worse when seen in the light of his inability to stand by the woman he betrayed him for: he could at the very least have attempted to get John to come and see his mother before she died on a hospital bed without having ever known her son... And that's the problem with this book, and the reason why I can only give it 3 stars: for all the fine and acute psychological insight Choi puts into her protagonist, he is almost never likable for more than 5 pages, since his loneliness and estrangement from his daughter as well as other people seem largely of his own doing... One does however feel pity and even anger on his behalf when Lee is confronted with the FBI's abrupt declaration that they have re-examined his polygraph and found it inconclusive due to his ethnic background: apparently, lie-detectors do not work on Asian and Middle Eastern people because they have a different ethical make-up/understanding of the truth as relative or whichever way they try to explain it to an outraged Lee (whose day began with being asked to take some 'time off' teaching until the FBI case and rumors 'blow over')!!! I thought this episode in the book constituted a powerful and very apt indictment of the practice of racial profiling, one that resonates even today... But then again the ending ruins all this by offering a kind of deus ex machina resolution to the question of who is the 'Brain Bomber' and who recognized him from the kind of language he used in his anti-technological society Manifesto, therefore tipping off the FBI and leading to his arrest... indeed, the answer is just dropped on the reader without any kind of build-up or prior hint/indication as to that person being guilty all along... there is only one word for this: ANTI-CLIMACTIC!!! "

" fascinating exploration of interpersonal relationships, motivations for violence and how the human heart works - absorbing enough that even though I had to return it to the library because someone else had it on hold, and I only made it back to the top of the holds list 3 months later, I still remembered vividly exactly where I was in the story - and felt as compelled to finish it. worth reading by any criteria, and the ending has a brilliant twist. "

" Very well-written--part character study, part mystery. "

" Choi's A Person of Interest is a meticulous, deliberate, and beautifully written character study; it's also a low-level thriller with an absorbing plot and convincing psychological complexity, and, in an American sense, a novel of our times. Stylistically, the novel is dominated at times by long paragraphs of highly accomplished descriptive prose, and in this sense it's density done well. Those who work in academia will appreciate some of the observations of university life (regarding his office hours, Professor Lee "each afternoon would carefully stand the door open twelve inches, or the width someone needed to duck in casually and say hi; not wide open, as if in eager anticipation, and not merely slightly ajar, as if he slightly begrudged this time for his students"). "

" The book is brilliantly plotted and its characters are fascinatingly introspective. However, the ending of the story is too pat and the the second half is weighted down by tedious,reverie-like reflections by the professor and his unknown stepson, John/Mark/Lewis. "

" Who doesn't love a mystery starring an aging mathematics professor?!?! Clever. "

" This should have 3 1/2 stars. The book started out so strong. Interesting characters and a good premise. However, it soon drowned under the pretense of its own language and the ending was stupid. Nevertheless, it killed time on two flights. "

" Literary thriller! This was real good, with flashbacks just as compelling as the main story, if not more so, intricate prose, and complicated, so-called unlikeable, characters. "

" Surprisingly suspenseful -- interesting reflection and growth of main character "

" There evidently is such a thing as too much character development. This book would benefit from editing about 1/3 of it out. Story was good but overly long in getting to it. "

" I started reading this one and realized that I had read it. Actually remembered lots of it. "

" succeeds as both an in-depth character study and a suspense novel. i found some sections of the book slow (particularly Aileen's section), but overall it was an enjoyable read. "

" Once every two years or so I actually cannot complete a book, and this was one of them. Agonizingly slow with a protagonist who was not only unlikable but boring. "