Waiting is a no-frills novel that cuts through the extras of life and gets right to the brunt of the problem, which, in this case, is the "love affair" between an army doctor and nurse in communist China. The characters are all wonderfully developed, though not particularly as people that you'd want to spend heaps of time with yourself. It's not a novel, though, that leaves the reader with a sense of satisfaction when he or she has finished it. Perhaps it's because Ha Jin tells his story about the senselessness of life but doesn't offer any convenient salvation for Lin and Manna, the two "lovers." And though I know that sometimes life goes that way, people are disappointed, frustrated, and unhappy, I guess that in a way I read books to get away from all that. Still, Waiting is well-written and gives you a peripheral insight into Chinese society, but it's most certainly neither a relaxing nor joyous read.