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302nd out of 4,060 books
—
19,720 voters
Waiting
by
Ha Jin
The demands of human longing contend with the weight of centuries of custom in acclaimed author Ha Jin's Waiting, a novel of unexpected richness and universal resonance. Every summer Lin Kong, a doctor in the Chinese Army, returns to his village to end his loveless marriage with the humble and touchingly loyal Shuyu. But each time Lin must return to the city to tell Manna...more
Paperback, 308 pages
Published
September 19th 2000
by Vintage
(first published January 1st 1991)
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This book makes me feel dirty: like I need to scrub myself with Lysol several times over. Is there a term for a Chinese equivalent of an "Uncle Tom"? Because that's the kind of book this is. It's stuffed to bursting with Western stereotypes of Chinese people: the happily subservient, foot-bound woman; the sexually insatiable Asian beauty; the emasculated, impotent male. Ha Jin is deliberately writing a book targeted at a Western audience, designed to provide non-threatening images of China to th...more
The onslaught of awards and critical acclaim this book has garnered (including the biggie, The National Book Award of 1999) epitomizes the most lamentable trend in such current practices: pandering political correctness.
Despite featuring wooden dialogue spoken by boring characters I could care less about and descriptions that rival phone book listings in their vividness, Waiting DOES conform to pre-existing, fetishized Western notions of Chinese culture. Thus, delighted progressive (probably whi...more
Despite featuring wooden dialogue spoken by boring characters I could care less about and descriptions that rival phone book listings in their vividness, Waiting DOES conform to pre-existing, fetishized Western notions of Chinese culture. Thus, delighted progressive (probably whi...more
I enjoyed my second reading of this book by Ha Jin much more than the first. Perhaps it was timing or my still-maturing literary consciousness, but for me, the book has ripened significantly in the 7 or 8 years since my first perusal. While I cannot say that I admire the characters of Lin or Manna any more than I originally did, Shuyu stood out to me as a shining example of "blooming where you're planted". She managed to be happy, productive and capable of growth and forgiveness, in the difficul...more
I enjoyed many things about this book: its clear, simple language; its deceptive simplicity (it's got the rhythm of a folk tale or fable but is layered with meaning and feeling); its quiet, deliberate pace; the rich detail, particularly in descriptions of natural settings which shine with poetry.
I have some complaints as well. The dialogue is often stilted and strange ("bye-bye now") or peppered with odd phrases that distract ("by hook or by crook," "shilly shallying," "tut tut"). Also, though t...more
I have some complaints as well. The dialogue is often stilted and strange ("bye-bye now") or peppered with odd phrases that distract ("by hook or by crook," "shilly shallying," "tut tut"). Also, though t...more
Apr 19, 2008
Preeta
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
hedgehogs, sloths, slow lorises
Shelves:
books-for-hedgehogs
This book did make me feel like I was waiting, so maybe it did what it set out to do. But it wasn't a good kind of waiting. It was the kind of waiting I used to do when I would have to go to some government office with my parents and they would make me sit still and behave myself, and I would feel a terrible physical ache in unmentionable parts of my body from having to contain so much desire to fidget. Actually, that sounds a lot more exciting than this book was.
What Waiting reveals about chinese culture and the effects of the Cultural Revolution on (recently) contemporary China is fascinating. And to be sure, this book is steeped in such information from the mind-boggling ways in which politics enter into the most non-political facets of everyday life to details of cuisine that westerners would never guess were edible (jellyfish!!!). For this alone, the book is worth a read.
But sadly, the protagonist is not only unsympathetic, he he boring; so frustrat...more
But sadly, the protagonist is not only unsympathetic, he he boring; so frustrat...more
the main thing which sticks out to me about this book (apart from the culture shock-ness of 70s China, sounding more like the turn of the 20th century until we are given some dates and clues further on in the novel) is that nobody is perfect.
in fact, hardly any of the characters are likeable - not that you find yourself disliking them too much either. Lin, the main character, is very weak willed and lives a dispassionate life - however, he goes through a lot with respect to his different partner...more
in fact, hardly any of the characters are likeable - not that you find yourself disliking them too much either. Lin, the main character, is very weak willed and lives a dispassionate life - however, he goes through a lot with respect to his different partner...more
i first came across this book in 2004. i have to admit that the politics alluded me, the history of communist china isnt exactly my thing, but what i got out of this book when i read it was the universality of the concept of “waiting”. when you think about it, we are all waiting…for something. we will spend our entire lives waiting for one thing or another, and each time we acquire what we were waiting for, we find something else to be waiting for. we always think that what we are waiting for is...more
As someone who grew up in China, I found the characters very real. I read many reviews about this book talking about how none of characters are likable, except for the simple peasant ex-wife of Lin's.
But I think that is what the author was trying to tell us-that the system reduced every individual's humanity and individuality to the extent no one was a complete person anymore. The only reason that the simple peasant wife Shuyu seems to be more likable is because she was more human than anyone e...more
But I think that is what the author was trying to tell us-that the system reduced every individual's humanity and individuality to the extent no one was a complete person anymore. The only reason that the simple peasant wife Shuyu seems to be more likable is because she was more human than anyone e...more
Good winter read. Walks you through the emotional details of a man's life as he struggles with choosing between his life in the rural Chinese countryside and his work at a military base in a large city. He spends 11 years agonizing over whether to leave his simple wife and child behind for a more modern life with a military nurse. Ha Jin is a master at making you feel the magnitude of the decision by building sympathy with each character. At the same time, his detailed account of everyday life m...more
I couldn't decide if I wanted to give this book one or two stars, but ultimately decided to go with two because it kept my attention and was a fast read. That being said however, I hated almost everything about this book, particularly the main characters. There were times when I thought the strength of my burning hatred for the main character would be enough to ignite the book into flames. But if you like books about weak, self absorbed, indecisive, and passionless characters who are not even re...more
Many reviews attribute this to the "system," failing to understand that it is more of the culture. It's about the non-confrontational attitude, avoidance of "troubles", deeply mesmerized into the souls of many men in the country of the story. One simply tolerates the lack of satisfaction or personal enjoyment, instead of taking action to change one's path, which will result in immediate hurt to another person, in this case, the wife. Personal sacrifice for family well-being. At a deeper level, w...more
Jun 14, 2010
Nate D
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People interested in life in communist China
Recommended to Nate D by:
Mom
Shelves:
china
Reading this story of lives left in limbo by the repressive social circumstances of Cultural Revolution China, I began to get that sensation of frustration that I normally feel when I sense my emotions being manipulated for melodramatic effect. Except that I don't think that this book was especially manipulative; rather it's a quiet, likely truthful account. Still, I kept wanting to yell at the characters to break out of their stifling society, even though I know that this would realistically ne...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I liked this book. When I first read it, I had only really read fluffy YA books. This book was an introduction to a whole new genre, new feeling. I admit it was a bit slow at times but I admired the characters. The wife for being so steadfast in her love, the husband for finally realizing what he had and lost, the lover for her pain, all of them gave something to the story. But I think I liked the title the most. It perfectly reflected the book. Maybe it's because this book helped me reach a new...more
I so wanted to like this book. It won some awards and I had heard good things about it. But I found that I had no interest in the characters and really hated the time that I spent with them. I was happy for the book to end. I think that it was the author's intent for me to be frustrated with the characters and the title "Waiting" seemed to refer to the lives of these people, who could just never act or do the thing that they thought would make them happy. But the more I read, the more I felt lik...more
Jul 11, 2012
Florence MacIntosh
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Florence by:
Major Award Winner
What struck me was its honesty. You may downright dislike some of the characters, it’s almost impossible not too as they seem to make such ludicrous life choices. Once I turned off my inclination to judge, to shut down my mind set of always thinking like a westerner, I thoroughly enjoyed this simple, fable-like tale. Ha Jin offers poetic insight into a foreign way of life. I believe I came away from this with a little better understanding of Chinese society. Found it interesting that the author...more
I am not sure why this book won anything - a relay race, a pie-eating contest, let alone a National Book Award. It's got a good theme to it - how the communist Chinese government's totalitarian ways caused great unhappiness - but the writing was so dull that I couldn't deal. I was just Waiting for it to end. It went something like this:
"I had only 12 more years before I could divorce my wife and marry Manna."
A bird flew by the window. A leaf fell from a tree. The clouds were grey.
Snore.
"I had only 12 more years before I could divorce my wife and marry Manna."
A bird flew by the window. A leaf fell from a tree. The clouds were grey.
Snore.
This man Lin is a lucky man who has no idea of his good fortune, takes his wife and their home for granted and thinks he wants something else in life. He wants a different woman who is better looking, more urbane. The sad thing is, he is always trying to do the right thing, be a good man. I recognize his personality type, he wants to be good all the time, he botches things up like mad and is sad and tormented about it, but at the center of all that is selfishness that he isn't even aware of. His...more
Ha Jin creates immediate tension in the opening line of the novel: “Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu” (3). The book depicts a city doctor during China’s cultural revolution, Lin Kong, in his tireless attempts to divorce his country wife in court. Reading the scenes the first time through I could only hope to see Lin Kong finally get a divorce and be with his true love, Manna Wu; on second reading of the book, and in afterthought, however, I’ve become awa...more
Questo libro scritto da un cinese emigrato da una ventina d’anni in USA ha vinto una messe di premi letterari (fra cui il National Book Award nel 1999 ed il Pen/Faulkner Award l’anno dopo) oltre ad essere stato finalista al Pulitzer e ad avere conseguito anche un notevole successo presso il pubblico.
Indubbiamente si tratta di un’opera particolarmente suggestiva che forse ha colpito il pubblico e la critica americani oltre i suoi meriti, perché a differenza dai libri solitamente premiati in USA...more
Indubbiamente si tratta di un’opera particolarmente suggestiva che forse ha colpito il pubblico e la critica americani oltre i suoi meriti, perché a differenza dai libri solitamente premiati in USA...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
What a drab little book. And how ironic that, on its back cover, Lisa See offers up a plaudit about the purportedly "tremendous love story" enclosed in its covers. That is a much more simplistic conception of this novel than Ha Jin probably intends for us to take away. In fact, it's not just simplistic. It's entirely wrong. This story isn't a love story. It's a character study about a decent man whose indecisiveness and dispassionate nature nevertheless lead him to waste his life away, "waiting"...more
Aug 15, 2010
Lisa (Harmonybites)
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Those Interested in Contemporary China
Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by:
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List
Shelves:
contemporary,
libertarian,
literary-fiction,
romance,
ultimate-reading-list,
novels,
fiction
The writing seems very spare. It's not a translation by the way, but by a man whose native language is Chinese writing in English.
The characters often exasperated me with their varieties of passivity: Lin in not insisting on divorce or letting Manna go; his wife Shuyu in her submissiveness and passive-aggressive refusal to divorce; Manna in her--waiting. That's very much the plot and theme for two-thirds of the book--waiting. And the last third... well. That would be a spoiler, but not much, bec...more
The characters often exasperated me with their varieties of passivity: Lin in not insisting on divorce or letting Manna go; his wife Shuyu in her submissiveness and passive-aggressive refusal to divorce; Manna in her--waiting. That's very much the plot and theme for two-thirds of the book--waiting. And the last third... well. That would be a spoiler, but not much, bec...more
My thanks to Alexis for recommending this book. It's the story of Lin, an army doctor, living on a military base somewhere in China. He has lived for many years away from his wife and daughter who farm in the country. Lin has been in love with Manna, an army nurse, for seventeen years. During that time he has repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, tried to obtain a divorce from Shuyu, his gentle peasant wife, so that he can marry Manna.
There is very little action in the book. All the action takes place...more
There is very little action in the book. All the action takes place...more
On vacation, I read “Waiting” by Ha Jin, winner of the 2000 Pen/Faulkner Award. It is a meditative book, pensive as the title implies. It tells the story of a Chinese doctor, Lin, and his love interest, Manna, a nurse in the army hospital where he is assigned in the 1960s. Lin is already married, but it was an arranged marriage and he is ashamed of his uneducated, peasant wife. He leaves her behind in the country where she cares for both of his parents and has one daughter. He does not love her,...more
My first foray into any sort of literary effort from China. Ha Jin writes easy prose with an eye for detail and a yen for describing in minute detail the physical and mental landscapes of the places and people in them respectively. The story is set in the fictional town of Muji City amid the backdrop of Mao's cultural revolution in the middle of the last century. The unbelievable megalomania of a stridently bureaucratic and freakishly omnipotent communist regime is displayed in a rather understa...more
Siapa sih yang suka menunggu? Rasanya, banyak orang mencantumkan kata "menunggu" di kolom "hal yang paling tidak disukai/ dibenci. Menunggu, mau hanya 5 menit, atau bahkan 1 menit membuat orang tersiksa, kesal dan marah. Mau menunggu orang ngasih amplop gaji atau orang nagih hutang, tetap saja kesal.
Jadi, coba deh bayangkan kalau harus menunggu selama hampir 20 tahun! Seorang lelaki: Lin, berjanji pada pacarnya: Manna untuk meninggalkan istrinya: Shuyu. Itulah Waiting yang dibuat oleh Ha Jin.
Bi...more
Jadi, coba deh bayangkan kalau harus menunggu selama hampir 20 tahun! Seorang lelaki: Lin, berjanji pada pacarnya: Manna untuk meninggalkan istrinya: Shuyu. Itulah Waiting yang dibuat oleh Ha Jin.
Bi...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What about this book makes it worthy of the National Book Award? | 1 | 19 | 07. November, 06:22 Uhr |
Ha Jin is the pen name of Xuefei Jin, a novelist, poet, short story writer, and Professor of English at Boston University. Ha Jin writes in English about China, a political decision post-Tiananmen Square.
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“You strive to have a good heart. But what is a heart? Just a chunk of flesh that a dog can eat.”
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28. Januar, 18:19 Uhr
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