Stacy's review of Waiting: A Novel
Waiting: A Novel by Ha Jin
Stacy's review
rating:
recommended for:
people interrested in China or love
status:
Read in January, 2008
"Waiting" lives up to its title - you feel you are waiting for something to happen. In this case, the reader's feeling matches the characters, who are waiting to get divorced/married, respectively.
But while you are waiting, the very ordinary details of life accumulate, like the one or two strokes of an artists' pen that make up a sketch of someone you recognize instantly. In a minimum of detail, the author manages to create a completely believable portrait of three people in a love triangle, and a portrait of China in the late 20th century. What a contrast to the genre historical fiction I usually enjoy - where the love is explicit but expected, and the historical details are questionable.
And then, of course, is the ending. Ha Jin is a master at making you think nothing is happening, nothing, nothing... and then WHAM! There's the ending and you're knocked out of your comfortable chair.
It's not a page-turner, but it's a book that will resonate long after you ...more
But while you are waiting, the very ordinary details of life accumulate, like the one or two strokes of an artists' pen that make up a sketch of someone you recognize instantly. In a minimum of detail, the author manages to create a completely believable portrait of three people in a love triangle, and a portrait of China in the late 20th century. What a contrast to the genre historical fiction I usually enjoy - where the love is explicit but expected, and the historical details are questionable.
And then, of course, is the ending. Ha Jin is a master at making you think nothing is happening, nothing, nothing... and then WHAM! There's the ending and you're knocked out of your comfortable chair.
It's not a page-turner, but it's a book that will resonate long after you ...more
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