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Title: bored. bored. bored.
Review: Although there is some stunning prose in the book that is simple and profound in its wisdom, the language doesn't make up for unlikeable characters, slow moving plot and odd dialogue. The book reads as if it was translated which is wasn't. I enjoyed the glimse into the Chinese culture, but it was really hard to care about Manna or Lin, the main characters. By the end I didn't care what happened to either one of them. I enjoy reading books that are slower in pace (I loved Plainsong) but no book can get away with a thin plot and characters that are hard to root for. Waiting decades to get married only to be disatisfied with the marriage and want to end it. That's life I guess, but hardly the payoff the reader expects. We've struggled through all their tedious trials and tribulations only to have Lin realize he might have been better off with his now ex-wife. Hard to like the guy.
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