Engaging account of Chinese army doctor Lin Kong's 18-year wait, per an arbitrary local custom, to divorce his wife (by arranged marriage) and marry another woman. Alternative title (not really, but): "Wanting," as much of it boils down to an examination of what Kong wants. He has difficulty figuring it out. The last ~30 pages really kick it into gear as he finally comes to examine his own desires and choices. 
 The characters are multifaceted and engrossing, if sometimes frustrating, and their story entertaining. I'm a white guy, and not a particularly sensitive one, but I didn't find them to be inappropriately stereotypical, or "yellowface" as some have said. There are some recognizable types, especially in the dutiful wife Shuyu, but I thought she felt human. She wants to please, yes; but that's just who she is. And even she has boundaries, limits--things she will not do, and things to which she will not accede. I found the characters largely relatable and could draw comparisons, as I often find myself doing with the work of Chinese writers, between their plights and issues facing those in the American South where I was born and raised. Tradition, and the shame of confronting it, are enormous. 
 The prose is a bit stilted at times, as Jin writes conscientiously in a nonnative language, and the dialogue is particularly stiff; I don't find it terribly problematic, though. The setting is tightly confined for the most part inside the army medical center (with brief excursions to the rural home place of Lin's family), nicely insulated and perhaps even claustrophobic for those under the microscope of those around them, but still seems to offer an intriguing view of Chinese life, or at least some Chinese lives.