WAITING

Hi I wanna share with you a winnerof the National Book Award for Fiction in 1999! This is my first book about contemporary China and the author has create an intimate knowledge of it with unexpected richness and feeling.......Hope you'll enjoy my review   

"Waiting" is a novel set during Maoist China. The plot is a microcosm of the cultures and lives of this Chinese era, it is centered on a love triangle between Lin Kong; a Chinese physician of the Revolutionary Army, forced into a loveless pre-arranged marriage for eighteen years desperately seeking divorce. His wife, Shuyu symbolizes the traditional and rural cultures of Chinese people; she is an illiterate village girl afflicted with bound feet, subservient and with high moral values. The third character in the triangle is Manna, she is the antagonist to Shuyu and represents the Motherland's acceptance of the emerging post-communist culture.

Ha Jin explores various themes which are evoked by subtleties that have a much richer meanings behind their apparent facades. The title and the central theme "Waiting" has two meanings; it exhibits the eighteen year wait the characters had to endure as well as their personal struggles for a new and supposedly better period in their life to begin.

There is clear political allegory and ideological irony. The characters are all bound (Shuyu literally) victims of the strict rural and communist traditions of a collective society that placed duty before self. This is in stark contrast to the modern values of instant gratification evident today. Ha Jin let's the reader delve into the notion of true happiness by depicting Lin Kong's sense of regret at the conclusion, suggesting the values of today limit the individuals' attainment of true bliss.

The theme of love is omnipresent and the novel explores its definition and value. There is irony in Lin Kong's search for love which he never finds, and Shuyu's love for her husband in an arranged marriage. Lin Kong later questions why he wanted Manna in the first place and doubts whether he even retains the capacity to love, or whether the continuous deferral of love and suspension of life has emotionally paralyzed him.

My favorite character is Shuyu, she has amoral superiority and subtle strength which the author explores indirectly but enough to allow the reader to appreciate. She is the embodiment of love and faithfulness exemplified by h er attentive care for Lin's parents and unremitting patience for her husband to come to his senses to who he really is and what he desires.

The prose is concise, clear, with beautiful lyrical passages and imagery. However, there were passages which dragged on and perhaps Shuyu's character could have developed further to evoke a greater sense of compassion for her. I also felt Ha Jin was setting the reader up for a dramatic ending yet the final pages were surprisingly muted. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the novel and found it to be meaningful and heartfelt; it was interesting to view the tumultuous times of China's heritage from differing perspectives seen through the eyes of common folk.   Now... have a nice day