Book Review: "Waiting"
Book Title: Waiting
Author: Ha Jin
Publisher: Vintage International
The story begins with the sentence, "Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu." It sets the tone of a fluid depiction of the sometimes-comical situation between a military doctor Lin, the country wife he tried to divorce, Shuyu and his lover and coworker Manna. There are physical struggles: sexual tensions between two adults. There are mental and psychological struggles: a married man's dilemma and an old maid's concerns. There are social struggles: the standouts between the pursuit of personal pleasure and the sanction of the big brother.
Across the two decades or so time span of which the story covers, from 1960's onward, the turmoil and change of communist China loomed largely overhead. The Cultural Revolution had come and gone and the "new economics" and personal wealth emerged. The chills of the Northeastern China air also permeated through out the military hospital in Muji city where most of the story took place and into the hearts and souls of our characters. It has a little bit of M.A.S.H. and a little bit of "Chio Ju vs. the People" (Chio Ju Da Kuan Se). But mostly it has the vivid, colloquial details that we had seen in "In the Pond", an earlier novel by Ha Jin, which is now a trademark characteristic of Ha Jin.
Besides the two novels, "Waiting" and "In the Pond", Ha Jin also has two collections of short stories, which I have not had a chance to enjoy, as well as some poetry works. One has to admire his prolific production given the fact that he was only transplanted onto this country and her language since 1985. His background gave him a unique advantage to delve into a wealthy source of stories and characters and backdrops that are new and fresh and fascinating. His is a special achievement for there were storytellers before him that had told an exotic story or two about China but none had told a story so rich in contemporary history and so eloquent in details about the China that we feared and wanted to peek into so much. Ha Jin had certainly earned a place in the literary world that does not have many voices with a Chinese accent.