"Waiting" by Ha Jin

Man marries a woman out of respect for his parents. Later, man meets another woman and gets a crush on her. They both wait for 18 years (without consummating their relationship) so that man can get a divorce from wife. Once the divorce is finalized, man marries woman, gets her pregnant and eventually discovers that he was better of with wife # 1.

When I picked "Watining" by Ha Jin, I was under the impression that the National Book Award committee did its homework by reading the story (not the book, but the story behind the book) before bestowing its prestigious award to the author. Boy was I wrong. The book never lives up to the expectations of the average reader. Believe me, I’m not looking for much. All I’d like to find is relief from the mundane feelings of boredom. If I’m to sacrifice 6 hours of my time for a book as opposed to learning a new language, watching a new movie, playing a new computer game, I expect to be entertained not with dull Chinese realism, but with a sensational story, a new custom, worthy vernacular, anything but mind-numbing realism full of bad human choices and self-pity.

My opening sentence of this short criticism summarizes the whole book. The rest of the story relates daily human interactions of an ill-conceived society. Do yourself a favor, learn a new language, play a new computer game, watch a new movie, anything but pick up this agony. If you must learn something about Chinese history, the Cultural Revolution, or complex societal relationships of the Eastern world, then I highly recommend “Wild Swans” by Jung Chang.

-by Simon Cleveland