“Waiting,” by Ha Jin was one of those book club read for me as a book I probably would not have found or read on my own, but since it was the book club choice I read it. I am intrigued by the Chinese culture, but I was unsure if the story would be interesting and compelling enough to want to read. I must admit it seemed to start a bit slow for me, but the more I read the more I wanted to read. The title is perfect for the book as everything seems to be revolving around “waiting” for SOMETHING! I have known friends in Asian cultures where they did have to follow these cultural norms of marriage and stay together no matter what the sacrifice was to do so. This is an interesting book to learn more about the Chinese culture, martial relationships, political history of the culture, and love and happiness (even if it is sacrificed).
“Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu.” Like a fairy tale, Ha Jin’s masterful novel of love and politics begins with a formula–and like a fairy tale, Waiting uses its slight, deceptively simple framework to encompass a wide range of truths about the human heart. Lin Kong is a Chinese army doctor trapped in an arranged marriage that embarrasses and repels him. (Shuyu has country ways, a withered face, and most humiliating of all, bound feet.) Nevertheless, he’s content with his tidy military life, at least until he falls in love with Manna, a nurse at his hospital. Regulations forbid an army officer to divorce without his wife’s consent–until 18 years have passed, that is, after which he is free to marry again. So, year after year Lin asks his wife for his freedom, and year after year he returns from the provincial courthouse: still married, still unable to consummate his relationship with Manna. Nothing feeds love like obstacles placed in its way–right? But Jin’s novel answers the question of what might have happened to Romeo and Juliet had their romance been stretched out for several decades. In the initial confusion of his chaste love affair, Lin longs for the peace and quiet of his “old rut.” Then killing time becomes its own kind of rut, and in the end, he is forced to conclude that he “waited eighteen years just for the sake of waiting.” – Amazon.com
Have you read this book? What did you think? What rating would you give it?
Speak Your Mind