Book review: 'Waiting' by Ha Jin

Ha Jin has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist and for the book reviewed here (Waiting, 1999) he received the National Book Award (USA) and the PEN/Faulkner Award (wikipedia). These impressive credentials led me to pick up Waiting and I can say I was not disappointed.

Waiting is a love story spanning two decades. Each of three main characters waits for what they need most, and each is only partially satiated. Insomuch Waiting, despite its "exotic" flavour, is not about uncommon sentiments. The book has its fair share of weaknesses.

There is a melodramatic feel built into the temporal span of the story, which seems to percolate into the lives and actions of the protagonists as well. The characters do clearly evolve over the course of the story, but at any given time are somewhat one-dimensional. I also felt that some of the key events occurred a bit abruptly, depriving the story of their true emotional weight. The narrative is also somewhat devoid of the style one expects from literary fiction. At certain points one gets the feeling that the passage was either translated, or first thought in Chinese before being written in English, or that the author was trying too hard to manufacture depth. It is not the kind of book that will make you want to pause and think about the passage you just read, about why the author chose to say something in a certain way. This story is about the story, not so much its narration.

Having said that, the book does still strike a chord with the reader, and by the end of it, you feel for everyone involved. Perhaps because despite the melodrama we know that what we're reading is not as distant from us as the time-space setting of the story would make it appear. We are dealing with the nature of desire, and its rawest form is universal, regardless of the object or context.

It is the end that shines most and elevates the reader's experience a notch. The end is grim and joyous, hopeful and despairing at once. And it is so, because by the end, the story has managed to make layers of incisions (albeit not very subtle) into the characters, so that whereas at one level a battle is won, at another, hopelessness is complete.

It should be mentioned that the critique of communist control over society (always a fashionable subject) is an essential part of the story - almost a character unto itself. For the most part it does not appear gratuitous or exaggerated. It might have led to the book's popularity with the US audience, or at least with award judges, but the book is more than just that. It is ultimately a narrative of our strengths and frailties, and the battles we fight with each in our minds and hearts.

Yes, recommended. It will be a quick and satisfying read.