Rating: 
Summary: Like watching trees grow
Review: I'm confused, like those who gave the book both good and bad reviews, as to why this story merited the National Book Award. I think that raised my expectations too much, because while I liked the idea behind the story, I found the writing to be slightly ponderous. The passage of 18 years is supposed to happen to the characters, not to the reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the wait!
Review: Despite the somewhat interesting view into Chinese culture in regards to marriage and relationships, I thought this book was very slow-moving and very disappointing. The "plot" never thickened - and the characters plodded through years of waiting while remaining uninteresting and predictable. I myself waited and waited to get caught up in the story - but only landed up waiting for it to be over!
Rating: 
Summary: beautiful human portraits
Review: Beautifully written and very moving, the characters in this book are portrayed with the utmost sympathy and yet without rationalization or romanticizing. I have a hard time understanding some of the negative reviews that complain the book is too long or goes nowhere. It was much more of a pleasure to read than a lot of the lowbrow genre fiction I read for entertainment. I never felt that there was a single wasted sentence.
Rating:
Summary: Waiting -- for something to happen
Review: "Waiting" is an appropriate title for this book, as I kept waiting for something to happen. The protagonists fall in love, but must wait 18 years for the man to divorce his wife from an arranged marriage, because of the legal limitations on divorces at the time. Throughout this lengthy courtship, nothing much happens between them. The tale in Waiting supposedly spans the Cultural Revolution, and a few years after its end. What bothered me most about this book was that it almost ignores the realities of life during this oppressive time in history. The portrayal of life is unrealistic, based on what I have read. The "harshest" thing which we hear about is the almost voluntary "confiscation" of a few books (leaving many more behind). Otherwise, the Cultural Revolution appears to have no impact on the story. The interaction between the characters is interesting since they reflect views of both "traditional" and Maoist China. However, the book drags, so much so that I found myself waiting (with the "lovers") for something to happen. At the end, your sympathy for the primary characters vanishes.
Rating:
Summary: Waiting ... I would've waited another 300 pages
Review: This work was excellent, loved it from page one. fascinating discussion of life in that period, with some great themes running throughout. i now plan to find more works by this author and hopefully devour them with the same appetite that the first few pages of waiting instilled in me. i recommended this to everyone I know, well almost, I didnt recommend it to my impatient friends who would be better of reading a book based on a movie like terminator 2
Rating: 
Summary: Journal Entries in the Third-person?
Review: Eighteen years of waiting. That's what Lin Kong and Manna do. And what becomes of all that waiting? Well, the book aptly tells. This is a love story set in conservative Chinese culture. Communism, with its rigid convention, spills over and provides the backdrop for Lin and Manna's relationship. The three main characters represent three tiers of attitude in this society: Manna represents the modern; Shuyu, the conservative; and Lin Kong as the one stuck in the middle. Lin is bored of Shuyu, convinced that he does not love her, and wants to divorce her. As for Manna, she is the carrot and Lin is the mule craning his neck after her. He plods forth in his occupation, waiting, and seems to come closer to getting the carrot. And when he gets the carrot.... I found the writing succinct and colorful but the pacing of the story was the one thing that made me pick up Hemingway. Eighteen years! It reads like one of those long family sagas--but not so long. It seems that Ha Jin was trying to stretch things out, and by doing so he made the story a little thin. I wanted more conflict. Sure, I got it when Manna was raped and when the villagers gathered outside the courthouse waiting for Lin Kong. But overall, the story is rather slow and dull for my liking. Feels kind of like a series of journal entries in the third person. But I just might read it again.
Rating:
Summary: Very depressing
Review: Although I liked certain aspects of this book and the somewhat spare style with which it was written, I found it terribly depressing. The whole part about not being able to divorce year after slogging year was a bit too much for me.
Rating:
Summary: long term relationship hardships
Review: In the novel Waiting, Lin, the main character is the victim of circumstances in both of his marriages. One, he is the victim of tradition, where love is secondary in a marriage. Second, his new relationship is dictated by his government, where the party line is more important than individual needs. Lin is a great character, and the book a very good novel.
Rating:
Summary: Waiting for another book by this author!
Review: I knew nothing about this book before it was nominated for and won the National Book Award. But then curiousity got the better of me, and once I began reading this tale set in China, I gulped dpown the pages of this intriguing novel. Ha Jin, who teaches at Emory University in Atalnta, has written a well constructed tale set agains the political climate of Commusinst China almost 30 years ago. The main character, Lin Kong, a doctor tries year after year to obtain a divorce from his country wife whom he only married so she would take care of his aging parents. But Lin Kong works in a a large city most of the year where he has a mistress who is urging him to marry her after all this time. And while his city mistress is more worldly than his country wife, it still doesn't change the fact that every year there are stumbling blocks to Lin being free to marry anyone. And in an ironic twist worthy of O. Henry or Alfred Hitchcock, by the book's end Lin King is found still waiting. I really enjoyed this book and while I'm not sure it should have won the National Book Award I do think its well written and very interesting.
Rating:
Summary: An "ever so slight" peek into the Chinese Culture
Review: I found this book so interesting, yet very subtle. The story line is slow moving and not to be hurried, just like the life of the main characters. I found this a delightful story that builds slowly, inch by inch, to a very thoughtful and surprising finish. BRAVO!
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