Helpful Score: 1
Loved the book.
Story was refreshing to read.
Simple, down to earth; telling a story of love, wanting, already having, and having to wait for what you think you want.
This is the China of the late 50's/early 60's thru late 70's (and perhaps early 80's).
Story of Lin Kong, a man living in two worlds, struggling with the conflicting claims of two utterly different women as he moves through the society designed to regulate his every move and stifle the promptings of his innermost heart. For more than seventeen years, the ambitious doctor has been in love ...with an educated, clever, modern woman, Manna Wu.
But back in the traditional world of his home village lives the wife (Shuyu) his family chose for him when he was young -- a humble and touchingly loyal woman, whom he visits every summer, year after year, in order to ask unsuccessfully for a divorce.
Ha Jin the author keeps you in suspense as the story unfolds. Does he get the divorce he wants that the society he lives in thinks is improper? Will the waiting Manna Wu continue to wait as the years go by and she becomes an old maid while waiting? With each passing year making her less desirable from any possible suitor besides Lin ou'll find yourself on the edge of every page because the story and characters and scenes and customs are so fresh and wonderful.
Highly recommended for light and enjoyable reading. Very touching. Lovely.
I think I would like to reread this story in a couple of years.
Danny N (Alameda)
Story was refreshing to read.
Simple, down to earth; telling a story of love, wanting, already having, and having to wait for what you think you want.
This is the China of the late 50's/early 60's thru late 70's (and perhaps early 80's).
Story of Lin Kong, a man living in two worlds, struggling with the conflicting claims of two utterly different women as he moves through the society designed to regulate his every move and stifle the promptings of his innermost heart. For more than seventeen years, the ambitious doctor has been in love ...with an educated, clever, modern woman, Manna Wu.
But back in the traditional world of his home village lives the wife (Shuyu) his family chose for him when he was young -- a humble and touchingly loyal woman, whom he visits every summer, year after year, in order to ask unsuccessfully for a divorce.
Ha Jin the author keeps you in suspense as the story unfolds. Does he get the divorce he wants that the society he lives in thinks is improper? Will the waiting Manna Wu continue to wait as the years go by and she becomes an old maid while waiting? With each passing year making her less desirable from any possible suitor besides Lin ou'll find yourself on the edge of every page because the story and characters and scenes and customs are so fresh and wonderful.
Highly recommended for light and enjoyable reading. Very touching. Lovely.
I think I would like to reread this story in a couple of years.
Danny N (Alameda)
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