Waiting : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Universal Messages
Review: I enjoy reading books by Asian authors. Their stories are sometimes exotic and other times very familiar. Ha Jin's portrayal of China and people living in China seemed brutally honest. I was taken to another place and another time. I got to understood the characters' emotions and behaviors in the context of the time and culture. And I enjoyed the experience. That is why I continue to read books by Asian authors. However, at the end, I am brought back. I recognized Lin's feeling of ambivalence and identified with him living his life from a third person perspective and trying to sort out many emotions and thoughts to draw the bigger picture, to construct one's life. That message transcends time and cultural borders. I highly recommend the book.

Rating:
Summary: stunning
Review: I stayed up until 3 am reading this novel. When I was done, I got up and started cursing and shaking my head: I couldn't believe it. It was so beautiful I wanted to cry. The sustained and meditative style of _Waiting_ is quite different than his other works, which can be quite bleak. But this novel is utterly, utterly beautiful. Haven't read a book this good since Kazuo Ishiguro's _Remains of the Day_.

Rating:
Summary: Waiting...
Review: Ha Jin has written an interesting love story of a Chinese doctor in an arranged loveless marriage who falls in love and wants to marry a nurse. His wife must either agree to a divorce or by law, he must "wait" 18 years to have the divorce granted by the government. His very old world wife will not grant him the divorce, so he spends the years waiting in a chaste love affair with the nurse. This novel, though beautifully and eloquently written, would have made a much better short story or novella. Though the exploration of the struggle between contemporary and traditional values and the politics of modern China were compelling, I found myself "waiting" for the book to end. This is a love story with an interesting twist but an expected. I don't understand why this book won the National Book Award.

Rating:
Summary: Understated, painful story of love deferred
Review: Jin's patience in developing and exploring the restrictions of Communist China is simply remarkable. This is no archetypal love story, we have no perfect mates with perfect intentions. Instead Jin divides our sympathies for the old, discared wife while the new lovers struggle to find happiness in a system designed to prevent their relationship from ever occurring. Jin's prose has the feel of a translated work in its unusual pacing but his mastery of the language has the distinctly poetic feel of a master. Waiting is perhaps not the heart-wrenching, page-turner of a "true" romance but Jin's muted, introverted sensibility commands our attention and appreciation.

Rating:
Summary: Spare, true to life love story
Review: This was a great book on two levels. The portrayal of China during and after the Cultural Revolution was revealing and did much to humanize the lives of average Chinese during that time. It gave a nonjudgemental accounting of one man's life during that time. The heart of the book is the telling of a long term affair and its effects on the lives around the affair. Told by a male narrator in spare language, the reader is able to see into the mind and heart of Lin. As a single woman, the descriptions of feelings,changes, and outcomes of this affair ring true. I will give this book to anyone considering an affair. Lin and Manna cross cultures to provide insight into what is normally romantized.

Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: Ha Jin does a good job of drawing the dynamics of each character into the story and tying them together. His book gives a nice window into the lives of people in China during the Mao years. One of the most rewarding things for me is seeing the commonalities between any relationship, regardless of culture or country.

Rating:
Summary: Waiting
Review: This book would have been vastly improved by being written in Chinese and then translated by a competent translator. While Ha Jin usually writes in competent English, it is seldom lyrical and more often clunky. His command of idiom is weak and his dialog in particular is utterly unnatural. The story I felt was engaging enough, but really I was not all that impressed and I can't help but wonder whether the good press this book has received is not due to an anti-Communist perspective popular here in the States rather than the intrinsic merit of the book. However, I did think his portrayal of life in China and continued attitudes of Chinese toward family and marriage was accurate and perceptive.

Rating:
Summary: A gripping human comedy
Review: Ha Jing opened up an entire culture for me. His voice is distinctive, perfect for the story. There was no waiting by this book. I couldn't put Waiting down.

Rating:
Summary: An Old Wine in the New Bottle
Review: Realistic,detailed description of the people and events occurred in the Mao`s age makes me reminiscent of the days spent in China.The content of the story is nothing original to the Chinese who are over 30 years old.However,the story is still attractive to alien readers who are not so familiar with the background of Culture Revolution.The totalitarianism,the puritan discipline,the serfdom to obey. what I admire most in Ha Jin is his courage to write in an entirely new language with such fluency,confidence and clearness.Is`nt it a miracle!

Rating:
Summary: There is more to know
Review: The cultural revolution is redesigned but it is not over in China. A great deal of modern and commercial society is seeking to romanticize China and there is still a great deal that is wrong and inhumane created by the government. This books presents a look from a very personal side but one should not pretend that all is now well in China. I would reccomend "Tears of Blood" by Mary Craig and "In Exile from the Land of Snows" by John Avedon for a look at what it means to live under present day Chinese rule without the softness of a romantic eye. Ultimately when we trade with China we have to have a clear and unromanticized picture of who we give our money too. This book will help with your understanding but it is not a full picture if you are concerned about your role in the human race. Look into the other books. Another great NEW book is "Whispered Prayers" by Photographer Stephen R. Harrison.