Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful & subtle book
Review: This was a lovely book. It's text is simple, but moving. It plot remains with you long after you've finished the book. A beautiful glimpse into the mind of a fine Asian writer.
Rating: 
Summary: Food for Thought
Review: I read this book in three days and enjoyed it very much. The story of Lin and Manna gives you something to think about. The moral of the story is be careful what you wish for as it may eventually come true. Lin and Manna were so obsessed with the idea of getting married and being together that they never considered if they truly loved one another. It was intresting to read about the culture differences and customs people of their country had to face. I agree with some of the reviewers that the ending was not in keeping with the rest of the book and seemed rushed. The book was not fast paced, but then it wasn't meant to be. I would recommend this book as it is well written, keeps your interest, and is a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Richness in simplicity
Review: The author, Ha Jin (Xuefei Jin) left China in 1985. Illiterate until his mid-teens, he presently teachs English at Emory University and has published two books of poetry, two collections of short stories, and two novels."Waiting" is a simple fairy tale, a story in which much is being said underneath its surface. Based on an old ancient Chinese folktale (or a true story as defined by the author in an interview), Ha Jin recreates and sets the plot in a moder post-revolutionary China. There is a two-fold approach: the universal, in which Ha Jin deals with human nature, its virtues and frailties, the issues of loyalty, duty, friendship, betrayal, and love; and the strictly Chinese, the social/political system. Although the characters are not politically oriented and the plot evolves indifferent to the chaotic world outside the insular setting, there is a clear political allegory and ideological irony (the book has been banned in China). All the characters are directly or indirectly victims of a social/political system, of a collective society where the individual can never exist or act "per se." The plot is a love triangle: Lin Kong, a Chinese physician, loyal officer of the Revolutionary Army, entangled in a loveless pre-arranged marriage, for 18 years desperately seeking a divorce; his wife, Shuyu, an illeterate village girl, bound feet, subservient, and with a moral superiority which the author does not explore; Manna Wu, a modern woman, hospital nurse, in love with Lin Kong. Lin Kong personifies the sleepwalker, a man who is pushed and pulled by others' opinions, by external pressures, and by internalized official rules. A fourth character (Gen Yang), although secondary, is the anti-thesis of Lin, being opportunistic and ruthless he holds to the belief that "character is fate," he defies and uses the system in his favor, and gets away with what he wishes. The prose is concise, clear, with beautiful lyrical passages and imagery. It portrays a life perspective different from Western society, a reality much un-known outside China and sometimes difficult for the outsider to understand. It will much depend on the reader's sensitivity and cultural openness to get the most out of this novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Waiting
Review: I struggled through the entire book. Lack-luster. Boring. I wouldn't have given this any stars if I could have gotten away with it. I don't recommend this book at all.
Rating:
Summary: review for Waiting
Review: I gobbled up this novel very quickly because it was written in such a way that I made me eager to unfold the next development in the problematic love story between Lin and Manna. However, I felt that the best part of the novel was not the love story itself, but it's message about the nature of the dynamics between men and women. The novel relates a love story of how a humble, virtuous man and a humble, modest woman still encounter the relationship problems decribed in Men from Mars/Women from Venus! I loved this book!
Rating: 
Summary: What was he waiting for?
Review: In this novel, set in communist China, the main character is a doctor who wishes to end his arranged marriage to his plain but virtuous wife. He wishes to marry the woman he works with whom he and all his associates view as his girlfriend, but, due to strict communist guidelines, is more like a platonic friend. Over the course of 18 years, they wait for him to get a divorce. By the time he is allowed to get one, none of the characters are really sure what they have been waiting all of these years for. He marries his girlfriend, only to become disillusioned that, now in her 40s, she is no longer the fresh young woman he desired. Now, as his new wife is dying of heart disease and he has the care of his infant twins, he longs for the simplicity and comfort of his first family. As the book ends, he has his first wife and daughter waiting for him, even as he decides that perhaps he never wanted to be married at all! This is a very passive and emotionally depressed man who effectively ruins the lives of the women around him. The real question left unanswered is why they wait for him at all?
Rating:
Summary: Excellent choice for a book club
Review: "Waiting" is a well crafted tale that will elicit thoughtful discusion in a book club. The characters may be hard to relate to given the setting and the culture but that is precisely what makes the book interesting. The order and simplicity of the lifestyles portrayed allow the underlying question of "What IS love?" to be revealed.With prose that is clear and never distracting, Ha Jin weaves in irony and resolution for a satisfying read.
Rating:
Summary: Those who wait most patiently......( 3 1/2 stars)
Review: This is the story of a man who seeks to divorce his wife in order to marry a woman whom he has grown close to at the hospital where they work. The story takes place in China. The wife is not a worldly woman, but she has been a faithful wife, a good mother and taken care of her in-laws in their old age, illness and death. Her husband seems to be a man who has not truley known love, his marriage was arranged and was a "suitable" match. He lives away from his family and visits them once a year. His female companion, a comrade at the hospital, believes that she should be his wife and after many tries to start a life without him, she decides to wait until he is allowed to divorce his wife. The span of this tale is an 18 year marriage. The story portrays the lives of the people in China.It describes the military and political aspects as well as their daily routines, living conditions, meals and attitudes etc. It does so in a very concise and simple manner that gives you a clear glimpse into their lives. All of the characters seem to be waiting for contentment and love....the question is who waits the most patiently and eventually receives what it realy is that they were waiting for. This is an interesting book and very well written. The big surprise is which character(s) you really dislike and which you care about.
Rating:
Summary: eloquent and multifaceted
Review: Ha Jin's new novel, Waiting, is understated and restrained as it is eloquent. Lin Kong is an army doctor entangled in a dissatisfying arranged marriage. His wife, Shuyu, lives in the country tending to his ailing parents while Lin pursues his military career in the city. Lin meets Manna, a nurse who works in his ward at the army hospital. Despite obvious obstacles, they pursue a courtship and fall in love: "Her moist lips curled with a dreamy smile as though she were drunk. Slightly dizzy himself, he stood up and hurried away for fear that others might see his face, which was burning hot." Jin constructs a powerful tension, a dichotomy of individual desire versus obligation and stifling conformity within a collective society that drives the narrative. Lin's desire resonates as an aching yearning yet strangely he quietly accepts her lot. For seventeen years, Lin treks back to his village in the hope of being granted a divorce from Shuyu. Each year his petition is denied. The village council sees no reason why the couple should divorce. Lin returns to the city disappointed and weary, his relationship with Manna impossible and unconsummated. The simple plot is less interesting than the political allegories the lie underneath the surface of the story. Shuyu represents a remnant of China's past, with her bound feet and subservient manner. She continues to defer to Lin even after he treats her indifferently or poorly. Manna is a product of China's revolution after Mao's regime. She is disconnected and appears to be self-reliant yet paradoxically she is emotionally crippled and clings to Lin. Lin is the most fascinating of all the characters because he's an anti-hero, flawed, almost meek, yet the reader feels sympathetic to his situation. He is a protagonist on the cusp of change, straddling two worlds. Ha Jin is a skilled writer and undoubtedly there is more to this story than I grasped during the initial reading. The characters and their entanglements are interesting and multifaceted. This book can be read on many levels.
Rating:
Summary: Waiting for Godot in China
Review: When I finished this book I felt like the characters in Waiting For Godot. These characters wait and wait for someone who never comes. Like them, I waited for the reason this book won prestigious awards to appear and, like Godot, it never did. I finally decided that the reason it won was its comment upon life in Communist China. Unlike some of your reviewers I found no humor in the book but I do understand those who thought it political commentary. To decide thus is to rationalize that one has not wasted her time in reading it.Alas,one could take the cynical view that such puts a book in the running for prizes. Still, I would recommend it--just not too highly. The social commentary is interesting and the theme unusual. Additionally, while I do not agree that the characters necessarily deserved their lot it was definetly not a Hollywood ending. It is also a quick read and enjoyable if one does not expect a stellar work.
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