Winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award (1999). The author moved from China to the US in 1985. The novel was originally written in English.

I plan to release this sometime during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

From amazon.com:
"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...

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Bringing to the August social.

Thank you for bringing this along today. I've heard of Ha Jin before but have not read any his books; this one sounds like a very good read. And a very timely one!

I must admit to being perplexed by the many rave reviews and accolades which have been heaped upon this book. The story is interesting, in some ways, but the writing style is extremely stilted and uncomfortable, to the extent that it makes the characters seem stiff and ridiculous. Curiously, I found the style remarkably reminiscent of another book by an expatriot Chinese writer written in a second language (Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie, which was written in French and then translated into English). I am beginning to wonder if the Chinese language is so different from Indo-European languages that it simply doesn't travel well. Then again, I don't recall having this problem with Gao Xingjiang's Soul Mountain, which was translated directly from the original Chinese. Hmmm.

While I did find the descriptions of everyday life in Communist China quite interesting (especially the food!), I found the characters strange and annoying. Are we supposed look at Lin as a selfish, moronic ass? Or are we supposed to empathize with him? I honestly can't tell, and this can't be a good thing. The book takes a rather startling turn in the last 20 or so pages, and I honestly don't know if Ha Jin knows exactly what he's doing with his character and narrative. If this book accurately depicts life in contemporary China, then it's a very sad, backward nation that does its citizens no favours. However, it's a mistake to make that judgement based on this uneven, often unpleasant, often truly unlikeable book and its unconvincing, often truly unlikeable characters. Strange and frustrating, but I thank you for giving me the chance to read it.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Released as part of the "Never Judge A Book By Its Cover" challenge (Week 7: Red, pink or hearts for Valentine's Day).

Happy reading!

MY SON FOUND IT IN A PHONE BOOTH....


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