Waiting Book review

The book kept me waiting! Over Christmas break, I read the book Waiting by Ha Jin. It was quite an easy read. There wasn’t any complex vocabulary so it wasn’t hard to understand at all. Everyone has their own taste and opinion about a book, and I honestly disliked this read. For me, although it was a fast read, it was just unbelievably slow for me. Though I did make a few half-hearted attempts to appreciate it for the style and the historical perspective due to the fact that it takes place in mid-century China because I found the details of their daily lives to be interesting (in a “OMG! NO FREAKING WAY! kind of way). The basic story is this: in Communist China, a couple needs to live separately for eighteen years before a person can divorce his or her spouse without that spouse's consent. Doctor Lin Kong married young to a woman his parents selected -- an unattractive woman with bound feet (which had passed out of fashion with the previous generation) that he was too embarrassed to bring with him to his hospital in the city, so he kept her in the country. (His wife, Shuyu, is incredibly simple and has no personality aside from her blind loyalty to her husband in hopes he would call off the divorce). She cared for his dying parents and gave him one daughter, Hua. Meanwhile, in the city, Lin develops a friendship with a nurse, Manna, that makes him think that he should divorce Shuyu. The novel charts out the years spent waiting for the year that Lin can finally divorce Shuyu and marry Manna, and finally live the life Lin has always truly wanted. A reason I disliked this novel is because I found the characters unlikeable (especially Lin, who is an incredibly weak-willed, selfish, passion-less, indecisive, son of a gun!). The characters, the novel's revelation, even the language! To start, most of the more complicated aspects of a situation like this (married man wants someone else, but who still wants to be the “good guy") were never touched upon. Both Lin and Manna's thoughts about their relationship were incredibly simplistic, and selfish, and I could never care about their worries because for some reason, I had a feeling that they didn't really love each other... they simply committed themselves to each other without trying to really discover and love the other person. The loved the thought of each other but the feelings weren’t really there, ya know? When Lin finally has this revelation, the tone of the voice in his head is so different it's as though a higher power said, "Enough! Don't you get it?" and had to explain it to him. Lin finally got what he wanted, but as I read on, all I could think of is: “Karma’s a bitch”. Yep, once you read it, you’ll understand. I understand that this novel meant to explain how the political situation reduced people to the point where they are incapable of maturing in any way, unable to make decisions or have deeper emotions that they believed should guide their actions. Not one character is a sound emotional being (except for Shuyu. I liked her a lot for her patience and loyalty.) The only two people who seem to ever actually be happy at any point in time are the rapist and the blank-slate wife. It's meant to illustrate the time period where individuality was clearly not prized and where the only inner feeling that was encouraged seemed to be one's devotion. But there was just something missing at every single turn that made me feel as though the author failed in their attempts at producing something truly good and meaningful. On a brighter note, I learned a little about the Chinese culture back then and it amuses me how much it’s changed now based on what my grandma tells me. I'm thankful that this was a quick read, though (and with a title like Waiting, you can bet that I was worried this would make things feel like time was dragging on), and I'm sure that someone will have thought this book said something truly meaningful about love and life. Honestly, it’s not a bad read at all; but I don’t quite recommend it.