Waiting: A Novel [B0021]

2000 PB. Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award. National Book Award Winner. Pulitzer Prize Finalist. A rich and atmospheric novel about a man living in two worlds, struggling with the conflicting claims of two utterly different women. The demands of human longing contend with the weight of centuries of custom in this novel of unexpected richness and universal resonance. Every summer Lin Kong, a doctor in the Chinese Army, returns to his village to end his loveless arranged marriage with the humble and touchingly loyal Shuyu. But each time Lin must return to the city to tell Manna Wu, the educated, modern nurse he loves, that they will have to postpone their engagement once again. Caught between the conflicting claims of these two utterly different women and trapped by a culture in which adultery can ruin lives and careers, Lin has been waiting for eighteen years. This year, he promises will be different.

From Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Wow, I really enjoyed this one. The writing was so different - simple yet complex and I felt like Ha Jin captured China and Chinese culture so well. The characters were so well developed but their ways of thinking were so straightforward, "simple" and almost lacking emotion at times and really put the reader in the POV of what Communist China must have felt like. Will want to check out more by the author!"; "Slow, yet intriguing the whole time. Ha Jin weaves an unconventional love story of a conflict between tradition and modernity, and desire and morality. The writing is accessible even to those who do not have an understanding of Chinese culture, traditions, or sentiments and opens the doors to see a picture of life in post revolutionary China."