Description

Waiting by Ha Jin (1999 ed.)

Ha Jin’s Waiting is a quietly powerful novel about love, duty, and the long consequences of restraint. Set in Maoist China between the 1960s and 1980s, the story follows Lin Kong, a military doctor trapped in a loveless arranged marriage to his rural wife, Shuyu, while deeply devoted to Manna Wu, a nurse he loves but cannot marry without social and political consequences.

Bound by strict divorce laws and fear of public disgrace, Lin spends eighteen years requesting permission to end his marriage, forcing both himself and Manna into a prolonged state of emotional suspension. As years pass, personal desires collide with institutional control, revealing how political systems shape private lives and erode intimacy through enforced patience.

Written in spare, precise prose, Waiting explores themes of obligation, moral compromise, and the quiet cruelty of delayed choice. Winner of the National Book Award, the novel is a profound meditation on how time, conformity, and fear can become their own form of violence.

Copyright: Originally published in 1956. This paperback copy published by Vintage International in 1999 with cover art including “NATIONAL BESTSELLER”, “NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER”, and “‘A suspenseful and bracingly tough-minded love story.’ –The New Yorker“.

Condition: Good. Vintage. Ex Libris.

ISBN-10: 0375706410

ISBN-13: 9780375706417

Dewey Decimal: 813.54