The Good Earth

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Summary: I thought I would dislike this book...
Review: ...but it captivated me. It was easy to first deem the book boring, simple, and uncultured, with Pearl Buck being a mediocre author, but I was proved wrong. She gives the characters depth, and you love/hate/respect/pity them. Never judgemental towards the culture or exalting it, she finds the perfect balance, and writes a truly touching book.

I recommend that you pick this up and give it a try.

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Summary: more than what it seems
Review: On the surface this might come across as a simple story about a Chinese farmer making his living. Like all good literature though, there is a lot more there if you digest and probe it a bit. It's a story about life, about the decisions that are made and not made, and about being tied to the land. All of those are at play without considering what it says about life in China, which adds another dimension to The Good Earth.

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Summary: Trancends Space and Time!
Review: Every soul that has the ability to read should absorb this book. These are the lessons we all encounter at some point in our lives.

Wang Lung and his family's journey through life serves as a passage we all can travel through and come away better people for having done it. His wife O-lan represented such great strength, and I hurt when I knew she was hurting from the actions of her husband but was unable to show it. Her life went the way of so many women's lives, unfullfilled and short-changed. Likewise, I hurt when Wang Lung hurt. I felt his confusion, guilt, stubborness, etc. These are brilliantly crafted people that I am honored to have met.

I totally understand why this book transcends space and time. Over 30 years after her death, Pearl S. Buck's legacy is still changing people for the better....thank God for good storytelling.

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Summary: One of my favorites
Review: As a student of Asian Studies, I must point to this book as the spark that lit my love of China. I read this book when I was in the 8th grade, and I must say that it to this day is still one of the best I have ever read. Pearl Buck, even as a westerner, never looks down upon her characters. She writes with such love and admiration for China that is uncommon for most of her western contemporaries. This is a good introduction to the rest of Buck's numerous works.

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Summary: Don't Bother...
Review: I know this is a classic but save yourself some time and don't bother. However, if you are a poor high school student and are forced to read this for class, check out the audio book at your local library. Since I listened to the audio book, I can vouch for it.
I decided to give this book a try when I read about it in an article. To read this book, you have to keep in mind that it was written in the 1930's and is about turn-of-the-century China. My Chinese-American boyfriend couldn't even listen to the first half-hour, because he felt that the representation of the Chinese was too simplistic & naive. I tried to explain to Mike that the author, Pearl Buck, spent four decades of her life in China and therefore knew what she wrote about. He refused to continue listening.
I did finish the entire book, but the end was not satisfying. To Buck's credit, I was drawn into the novel and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I was attached to the Wang Lung character, although he had many annoying faults. Unfortunately, Buck repeated herself so much that I could practically predict what Wang Lung would say next.
Yes, the book contains some of the themes that English teachers really like (I will not bore you with the list). But just like so many books we are required to read in high school, not a lot of knowledge can be gleaned from them.
If you want to read some really excellent books about China and Chinese people, check out anything by Ha Jin (In the Pond, Waiting) or Dai SiJie's 'Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress.' Fantastic books that will make more of a lasting impression and are ultimately more satisfying.

Rating:
Summary: An absolute MUST-READ...
Review: This is a wonderful novel with many classic themes, surrounding the life of Wang Lung, who started out as a poor farmer in China, ending up as a father of six, and a wealthy landowner. Also, it's a alarming portrayal of what life was like in 19th century China. Reading this book sparks my interest not only in reading others by Pearl Buck, but also what life was like for the author growing up in China herself, though that's probably already been revealed in her novels.

One of the most beautiful themes in this book is the power of nature. Not only were everyone's lives at the mercy of the heavens and the land, but the land often, (though not always) reminded Wang Lung from where he came. Many times he forgot that everything that happened to this man related back to the earth. His luck, whether good or bad, his happiness, his frustration, could always be traced back to the earth.

This story has a lot of sad irony. One being that the grass was always greener on the other side for Wang Lung, plus the fact that he didn't appreciate what he had until it was gone. Wang Lung changed so much when his fortune improved, becoming callous and ungrateful for what he had. At times it seemed like he was happier when he was poor. O-Lan, his first wife, stood behind him from the beginning, and was many times the catalyst towards his rise to riches; bearing sons, silently taking care of him, his father, their children and their little home, stealing jewels when they were stranded in the city, relentlessly helping him in the fields. She was a picture of unbelievable strength, resolve, and selflessness. How quickly her husband forgot these things when times changed for the better, thus taking Lotus as his concubine. The most heartwrenching part of this book was O-lan, whose heart was broken time after time.

Pearl Buck wrote in such a simplistic, factual style, yet the story itself kept me glued from the very first page. Every now and then, however, she took my breath away with just a sentence that revealed so much emotion: "And out of his heaviness, there stood out strangely but one clear thought and it was a pain to him, and it was this, that he wished he had not taken the two pearls from O-Lan that day when she was washing his clothes at the pool, and he would never bear to see Lotus put them in her ears again."

Though Wang Lung wasn't portrayed simply as a "bad" person. Like the earth itself, he had his faults and assets, and as he aged, he remembered these good things he had, when faced with new, more complicated troubles, involving his expanding family and wealth...his concubine, his slaves, his uncle and cousin, his sons now growing up in a wealthy household, becoming accustomed to standards much higher than Wang Lung ever experienced.

One thing I didn?t realize is that "The Good Earth" is the first of a trilogy centered on the family of Wang Lung. Now I'm reading "Sons," of which I also can't put down, for entirely different reasons. However, I loved "The Good Earth." It's a beautiful and enlightening story.

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Summary: BRILLIANT BOOK
Review: When I first looked at this book I thought this must be a very book. But i had to read it for school. Being an asian girl myself I got to know more about my culture and the customs. I was very surprised to find it an easy good read. I recommend this book to anyone who likes a simple moving novel.

Rating:
Summary: Pearl S. Buck's THE GOOD EARTH
Review: After reading this book for our fifth grade study of China I realized that this is the best book I could have read. It is very interesting in the way that it tells a story that shows the pros and cons of the old Chinese way of life. You will read how Wang Lung the farmer struggles through his complex life to a rewarding end. This book is rather alarming in some places but that is needed to show the whole picture of life in mid and pre-revolutionary China. You will read how hard he struggled with his wife on his land, and how he struggles to return to it pulling a rickshaw in a southern city. You will also share in his feelings of confusion and pride as he and his wife rise out of poverty to amazing wealth.
I liked this book because of how it told about every aspect of Wang Lungs life, good and bad. I like the way that it explains the problems with life in old China instead of just glorifying it. This book is full of emotion as it follows the ups and downs of the life of a Chinese farmer during the revolution.

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Summary: Amazing Book
Review: I was assigned The Good Earth when I was in the 11th grade. After looking at the cover and glancing thru a few pages, I thought I was stuck with a peice of boring literature. However, as i started reading it, i really began to get "into" the story. As a student who had never really cared much for reading, it was really wierd for me to actually not want the story to end. I would recommend this book to anyone. It is a great story about China and how their culture shaped peoples lives. After reading many books for school which i didn't like, I had a really bad taste for school literature. This book, however, gave me new greater outlook on reading.

Rating:
Summary: Truly a must read...
Review: I first encountered this tale of Chinese peasantry while taking a high school course in advanced literature. Of course, I could not appreciate the point of reading this tale which seemed so removed from my own life, but I nonetheless enjoyed the story. Now, upon reflection, this novel changed my tastes in literature forever, not only for its down-to-earth description of a Chinese family which rises from poverty to excess, and the struggles encountered in each realm, but also for its introduction into a culture wholly foreign to mine (though much more ancient!).
The story takes place near the dawn of communism in rural China, as we are introduced to the farmer Wang, a peasant farmer whose only concern is eating, although he dreams of more. With the help of his wife (really, she does most of the work), he manages to overcome a famine and become a rich land owner. However, in order to act the part of a patrician, he takes in concubines and shuns his wife. The story then tells of the early childhood of his children, and although the story is carried on in two sequels ("Sons" and "A House Divided"), the followups pale in comparison to this wonderful story.
I cannot say enough; each and every person should be exposed to Buck's masterpiece, if only to get a glimpse of the China that was and will never be again.