Waiting by Ha Jin (English) Paperback Book

Description: Waiting by Ha Jin For more than seventeen years, Lin Kong, a devoted and ambitious doctor, has been in love with an educated, clever, modern woman, Manna Wu. Every summer, he returns to ask her for a divorce and every summer his compliant wife agrees but then backs out. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description The winner of the 1999 US National Book Award for Fiction, a poignant and deliciously funny love story, set in China during and after the Cultural Revolution.For more than seventeen years, Lin Kong, a devoted and ambitious doctor, has been in love with an educated, clever, modern woman, Manna Wu. But back in his traditional home village lives the humble, loyal wife his family chose for him years ago. Every summer, he returns to ask her for a divorce and every summer his compliant wife agrees but then backs out. This time, after eighteen years waiting, Lin promises it will be different. Notes A poignant story of arranged marriage and forbidden love, set in rural China, which paints a vivid picture of a China which remains hidden to western eyes. Author Biography Ha Jin left his native China in 1985 for the USA. He is the author of three novels, Waiting - winner of the 1999 National Book Award for Fiction, and the 2000 PEN/ Faulkner Award - In the Pond, The Crazed, three collections of stories and three volumes of poetry. He lives near Boston and teaches at Boston University. Review Beautiful and compelling * Daily Mail *Dreamy and beautifully written... Reading it will take you into a different world altogether * Marie Claire *A deliciously comic novel * The Times *Imagine if Romeo and Juliet had been made to stretch out their passion for 18 years, without consummating their love. Now imagine them in China during the crazy bureaucracy of Maos Cultural Revolution, unable to talk in private let alone kiss...the insights into Chinese culture and the complexities of human longing are beautiful and compelling * Daily Mail *A classic folktale...an extraordinary novel * Independent * Promotional The winner of the 1999 US National Book Award for Fiction, a poignant and deliciously funny love story, set in China during and after the Cultural Revolution. Kirkus UK Review This fictional tale takes the gentle vein of the Wild Swans genre - recollections of Chinese rural family life and tradition - and gives it a sly twist. The heroes are Lin Kong, a doctor who leaves Goose Village to work in a military hospital, and Manna Wu, his girlfriend who is a nurse. The author, who left China for the USA in the mid-1980s, pitches the reader into his familys predicament from the very first sentence - Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu. The title of his book could not be more apt. Lin is a young man when we first meet him; he has fathered a child, Hua, but regrets entering the marriage which his villager parents had arranged. The village which is his home is more than a days journey from the hospital where he is based, and he only has 12 days leave every year. Manna comes to his room to borrow his books, and he gets to know her. She is an orphan and has already been abandonned by her first lover, Mai Dong.Their courtship proceeds slowly and with much decorum, and each year Lin promises to legitimise their union by severing the link with Shuyu; each year the pair reach the courthouse when Shuyu, urged by her bother, proclaims that she does not really want the divorce. And so the waiting continues. The storytelling is quaint, sometimes clumsy, but in its very syntax is illustrative of an ancient and pervasive mindset - that of correctness. Lin allows his fragile passion to be crushed beneath the weight of other peoples opinions, while Mannas self-esteem is ravaged, along with her body, as she ages. The story itself is sad and full of regret, but flecked with moments of humour, even bawdiness. Shuyu emerges as one of the most engaging characters, despite or perhaps because of her limited vocabulary and placid acceptance of the slow-moving state of affairs. Its the opposite of an action tale, but that doesnt make it any less readable. (Kirkus UK) Prizes Winner of US National Book Award for Fiction 1999 Short-listed for Irish Times Literary Prize,International Fiction 2001 Review Text Beautiful and compelling Review Quote Beautiful and compelling Promotional "Headline" The winner of the 1999 US National Book Award for Fiction, a poignant and deliciously funny love story, set in China during and after the Cultural Revolution. Details ISBN0099287595 Author Ha Jin Pages 320 Year 2000 ISBN-10 0099287595 ISBN-13 9780099287599 Format Paperback Publication Date 2000-10-05 Imprint Vintage Place of Publication London Country of Publication United Kingdom DEWEY 813.54 Media Book Short Title WAITING Language English Publisher Vintage Publishing UK Release Date 2000-10-05 AU Release Date 2000-10-05 NZ Release Date 2000-10-05 Narrator Jesse Vilinsky Translator Frank Wynne Birth 1969 Affiliation Research Scholar, Amal Jyothi Centre for Nanoscience and Technology, Kerala, India Position UN Under-Secretary General and Rector Qualifications Psy.D. Alternative 9781407021348 Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:1124972;

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