Literary Award Winners Fiction Book Club discussion

Please discuss Parts 1 and 2 of Waiting by Ha Jin here - I will be leading this month's discussion.

Hope you can join us.

Sorry I've been delayed in getting the discussion started for this book. I thought I'd start with a few questions that might prompt some thoughts. There's no obligation to answer any of these, they're just prompters.
- Do you have any views on how Shuyu and Manna represent the differing cultures within China at the time?
- And how were women viewed at different points in time and across different areas in China?

When I read the section about the early years between Lin and Manna and working in the hospital, I was intrigued by the scene where Manna helps Lin to cover and save his books. I read this interpretation of that part of the novel in an article:
"Among the luminous themes woven through Waiting' is one concerning books and reading. Lin has a passion for literature; he despises his wife for having let his books get mildewed. Early in their courtship, he asks Manna to help him make paper dust jackets to hide the titles of forbidden foreign novels - those 'that contained bourgeois ideology and sentiments' - from the hospital's vigilant political department. Manna is only a casual reader. 'Why, she asks herself, 'should he run the risk of keeping them? He could be publicly denounced for doing that.
"Waiting can be read as a long and eloquent answer to Manna's question, an all too rare reminder of the reasons someone might feel so strongly about a book."

Do you have any views on this and the journey the story takes us on?

I am enjoying how eloquently this story is being told. I have just read up to chapter seven and in these first 61 pages so much has happened! Shuyu represents the old way of life, the bound feet, marrying who her parents tell her to marry, looking after her husband's old parents and accepting her lot in life. A rural peasant living a hard life as evidenced by her already old, harsh looking face - looks 40 when she is only 26 at the time of her marriage. Manna has a career in the city. It is Manna who invites Lin to the play and arranging to meet him for a walk on Sunday afternoon.
The love story journey is filled with interesting asides on Chinese politics, the way of life, the restrictions in freedom as demonstrated by Lin and Manna covering Lin's books.
I read this story around ten years ago and gave it a five star rating and it is just as stunning a read second time round.

I made the same connection between the traditional ways with Shuyu and more modern ways with Manna. But the ending caused me to question if that was what Ha Jin was getting at.

I am not sure I understand the bit about the significance of the book jackets as a theme through the novel.

I haven't finished the book, so I'm not sure whether there is a theme around books and reading as the article suggests. I wonder if having read the article now it will influence my reading...

I look forward to your thoughts when you have finished.