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WAITING, the latest novel by Ha Jin, has recently won the 1999 National Book Award . .
. and with good reason. This Emory University English professor, poet, short story writer,
and Chinese immigrant, tells a remarkably simple story with all the eloquence and aplomb
with which you would expect a writer to recount some epic historical situation. WAITING is
the story of waiting for love and fighting off the expected traditions of one's community
in order to embrace a far greater passion.
"Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu."
Lin Kong, a Chinese Army doctor is wrangled into an arranged marriage with a woman who
abides by the long-standing traditions of Chinese women, such as bound feet and an
unabiding loyalty to her husband. This embarrasses the intellectually superior Kong, who
is in love with an army nurse, Manna. Their affair continues for eighteen years as Lin
Kong tries to get his wife to commit to a divorce. Somehow, though, it never quite
happens. In the meantime, Lin longs for a life with his beloved Manna, but the waiting
they both must endure in order to make their union legal takes a high-priced toll on their
love.
WAITING is about the eighteen years of life in which Lin, Shuyu, and Manna fight, in their
own ways, for the lives they wish to lead. It is about the constricting influence of an
empire, a political allegory about life in Communist China, but it is also about the
constrictions we build for ourselves. WAITING is an elegant and simple story with
widespread repercussions --- read it slowly and savor the language while contemplating the
deep truths it poses in terms of how love exists and how long it can last.
Ha Jim himself served in the People's Liberation Army and came to the States only in 1985,
when he entered Brandeis University. If anyone understands the conflicts between one's
upbringing and one's innate desire to find a more progressive and satisfying way to live,
it is Jin. WAITING is a perfect example of what a novel should be.
--- Reviewed by Jana Siciliano
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