Overall at the end of this book you will feel depressed but I would still recommend the book because it generates a lot of discussion. It is the age old story- man meets woman and he falls in love but has the small issue of his wife. He is torn by two women- very different- and it gets to the question of what true love is.

I didn't finish the book, so I can't say much. I just didn't get into the story or the characters. From what the rest of the people in my club had to say, who did finish the book, it just wasn't that good but not that bad...

I found this was an easy read, I got through it very quickly. The suspense kept me interested, and I found I was concerned about the characters (as frustrating as some of them were). The setting of Communist China from the 1960s to 1980s further added to the drama of patience and waiting. It was both an individual personal tale, and a larger story of a country "waiting" under Communism.