“Ha Jin’s masterful style and deep affection for his subject make the book a pleasure to read - especially for those unfamiliar with Li Bai or Chinese poetry in general... The Banished Immortal liberally quotes Bai’s work, sometimes reproducing complete poems in translation to show the depth of his imagery and style. A number of readers will pick up this book knowing its author but not Li Bai, and Ha Jin makes sure they see Bai’s prodigious talent. Newcomers will be swept up in Bai’s personal history while fans of his work will enjoy Ha Jin’s own take on the man and his influence.” (Shelf Awareness, starred review)  

“A taut introduction to the life and poetry of the influential eighth-century Daoist poet.... Ha Jin's polished biography will give a wider audience access to the politics and beauty of a major Chinese poet." (Publisher's Weekly, starred review) 

“Award-winning novelist and poet Jin offers a glimpse into the life of one of China’s most celebrated poets.... Jin creates a kind of hagiography that is both scholarly and emotionally engaging.... Essential.” (Herman Sutter, Library Journal, starred review)

“In Tang dynasty China, a poet could nurture high hopes. Becoming an imperial counselor exercising statecraft wasn’t inconceivable, especially if, like Li Bai (701–62), who is also known in English as Li Po, one had studied swordsmanship and history as well as literature... He once wangled a court placement but in less than two years resigned, disappointed at being treated as a writer only, not necessarily of poems; he never became a made man. His life as distinguished poet and fiction writer Ha Jin (The Boat Rocker, 2016) so limpidly relays it was peripatetic rather than domestic, usually away from the family he strove to support. Yet he was an unstaunchable fount of poems of friendship, drinking, dancing, nostalgia, and regret and, what is unusual and particular to him, poems adopting the perspectives of others, including ordinary men and women. Bai still stands, with his friend Du Fu, at the pinnacle of Chinese poetry, and his influence is extensive the world over.” (Ray Olson, Booklist)