Pros: Moving, universal tale portrayed with elegant simplicity Cons: A bit slow at points. Too graphic to add to my classroom library shelf.
I ran across Waiting by Ha Jin last spring at a book sale. I am a social studies teacher and had just finished teaching about the Cultural Revolution in China that week. The back cover of Waiting promised a love story set in...
Pros: Intriguing love story, realistic portrayal of China Cons: Depressing at times
Lin Kong, a doctor in the army, was forced to marry a village girl at a young age, with whom he had a daughter. The couple have never lived together - Lin just visits his wife and daughter for two weeks a year when he is on annual leave. Eventually he ...
Pros: Slow but in a way fascinating Cons: A very slow read
This is a book you pick up, put down and pick up again. It doesn't captivate you at all . Sometimes it seems to drone on with minute details dragging, dragging, dragging and yet if you plod through it there is a certain something that is ...
Pros: Informative in regard to everyday people's lives in Mao's China. Interesting descriptions. Cons: Uninspired narrative style, drags a bit, depressing.
Intro A few weeks ago, I picked this book off the library shelves and was about one-third of the way into it when I realized I’d read it before. My conclusion was that it couldn’t have made much of an impression the first time round, but ...
Pros: poetic, deceptively simple love story Cons: often dense and a little slow in the beginning
I have quite a bit to say about this one so I'm going to try to do so in an organized manner: The PLOT: The beginning of the plot is very like "Ethan Frome," with one man struggling between two women -- his wife whom he no longer loves (but to whom ...
Pros: In-depth character development. Clever use of irony. Cons: --
Recently struck with a terrible bout of the flu, I was bedridden for two days. It would have been a miserable two days indeed if not for the companionship of a couple of delightful books. One of them - Waiting by Ha Jin - really spoke to...
Pros: Spare, poetic prose; well-developed characters; strong setting Cons: Slow-paced plot (which is well worth the wait)
Ha Jin came to America to earn his Ph.D. in literature and planned to return to his native China to teach. While in America, Ha Jin saw the massacre at Tiananmen Square on television and decided that he could not return to work for such a repressive...
The first line of this novel is "Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife." How could you stop reading after that? With a vast and complex story, coupled with a deceptively simple writing style, Ha Jin has created a...
Pros: quick read, intriguing emotional plot twists Cons: disturbing description of a rape
Ha Jin's book began as a novella of 106 pages and was revised into "Waiting" after it received complimentary reviews. When I heard him read from it recently, he told us that it was a story lifted from the experiences of several members of his...
Pros: Superb use of language, subtle use of plot. Cons: None.
If you are a fan of Chinese novels or film, read this book. The haunting lyricism of repressed desire, often a feature of this genre, is exquisitely displayed here. If you haven't delved in before, this is a great place to start.
Pros: Excellent character development Cons: The middle can be slow at times
I read Waiting because it was set in China, a country I’m interested in learning more about. I loved Waiting because of its universal wisdom on life and love. It was not what I expected; I thought it would be a vibrant love story. It was...
Pros: beautiful language, compelling story Cons: stilted dialogue
In 1985, Ha Jin left his native China for the United States to attend Brandeis University. He never went home.
The massacre at Tianamen Square in 1989 convinced Jin that China, under such a murderous regime, would be an impossible place...
Pros: A sensual book: an Asian virtue of being quiet in the way you love. Cons: A slow book: the story of love and patience requires a patient reader.
While reading this text, I was wondering if patience was truly supposed to be a treasured virtue. The East advocates patience much more than the West. We, in the West, have only now begun to realize the great qualities and values of the past worlds. ...
Pros: Looking into the souls of the characters Cons: Having to "wait" along with the characters
This book is ingenious in its insight into human emotion. Much like Patricia Highsmith's "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov's "Lolita," "Waiting" is a thoroughly thought-out study in human emotion.
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