Waiting

Ha Jin

The title is deceptive. By definition, it insinuates that nothing of significance will happen until whatever is waited for finally occurs, and it further insinuates that this will be the experience of its characters as well as its readers. However, Ha Jin takes on the formidable task of telling a story about what happens _during_ the act of waiting; that time period that one usually brushes off as lost to fidgetiness and anticipation. He shows us that, inevitably, if you're made to wait for someone or something too long, the satisfaction of the payoff ultimately decreases. Something about you changes: your disposition, your insight, your emotions, your desire for what you're waiting for. There is an enormous amount of intimate action that takes place in this story, even as it appears as if nothing of much relevance is happening.

(okay, well, since this is starting to sound like a book review, I may as well give you the plotline)

Every summer Lin Kong, a doctor in the Chinese army, returns to his village to ask his wife for a divorce. Their marriage was arranged and it is a loveless union. Manna Wu, a nurse in the army and his mistress (the term is used loosely as they have no sexual nor even vaguely intimate contact whatsoever, purity being essential for an unmarried woman within their culture) waits for the day the divorce is granted and the two of them can become engaged. Each year, however, his wife promises the divorce but does not see it through, and he and Manna must wait another year before he can go back and try again. For eighteen years, summer after summer, they bide their time and endure this waiting. The emotional changes that occur, subtle as they are, during the course of every year that passes is "what happens" in this story. Jin unfolds their story lovingly, quietly, and deftly, with such rich detail that we understand alot of what is happening between them even as they don't. It's a tender, often harsh, look at two people caught within and crippled by the boundaries of their culture. Even in these modern times, the two of them cannot outwardly show their affection nor speak openly about each other lest they become the target of gossip and shamed within their society.

For a book in which so little happens, "Waiting" is a very compelling read. It won the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Well deserved.