Rating: 
Summary: A very good novel of pre-revolutionary China
Review: "Pavilion of Women" was Pearl S. Buck's first novel about an upper-class Chinese family. It's the story of Madame Wu, beautiful and intelligent, who decides on her 40th birthday that her physical duty to her husband is over and, against his will, finds him a concubine. She is as deep as he is shallow, a good wife and mother, who prides herself on having raised four sons and married off the three oldest, but she doesn't realize she has never loved her husband, until she meets her real soulmate in the person of Brother Andre, a renegade Catholic priest whom she engages to teach her son foreign languages. Madame Wu also becomes Brother Andre's pupil and learns more from him than he ever set out to teach; what Brother Andre gives Madame Wu is the priceless gift of self-knowledge. Madame Wu has been the heart and soul of her large household, totally in control in her quiet way, but she realizes that running her large household is one thing; running her family's lives is something else again, and the best thing she can do for them is help them be who they were meant to be. In Madame Wu, Pearl Buck created a remarkable character who after 40 years finally learns what it is to love.
Rating:
Summary: A very good novel of pre-revolutionary China
Review: "Pavilion of Women" was Pearl S. Buck's first novel about an upper-class Chinese family. It's the story of Madame Wu, beautiful and intelligent, who decides on her 40th birthday that her physical duty to her husband is over and, against his will, finds him a concubine. She is as deep as he is shallow, a good wife and mother, who prides herself on having raised four sons and married off the three oldest, but she doesn't realize she has never loved her husband, until she meets her real soulmate in the person of Brother Andre, a renegade Catholic priest whom she engages to teach her son foreign languages. Madame Wu also becomes Brother Andre's pupil and learns more from him than he ever set out to teach; what Brother Andre gives Madame Wu is the priceless gift of self-knowledge. Madame Wu has been the heart and soul of her large household, totally in control in her quiet way, but she realizes that running her large household is one thing; running her family's lives is something else again, and the best thing she can do for them is help them be who they were meant to be. In Madame Wu, Pearl Buck created a remarkable character who after 40 years finally learns what it is to love.
Rating:
Summary: A very good novel of pre-revolutionary China
Review: "Pavilion of Women" was Pearl S. Buck's first novel about an upper-class Chinese family. It's the story of Madame Wu, beautiful and intelligent, who decides on her 40th birthday that her physical duty to her husband is over and, against his will, finds him a concubine. She is as deep as he is shallow, a good wife and mother, who prides herself on having raised four sons and married off the three oldest, but she doesn't realize she has never loved her husband, until she meets her real soulmate in the person of Brother Andre, a renegade Catholic priest whom she engages to teach her son foreign languages. Madame Wu also becomes Brother Andre's pupil and learns more from him than he ever set out to teach; what Brother Andre gives Madame Wu is the priceless gift of self-knowledge. Madame Wu has been the heart and soul of her large household, totally in control in her quiet way, but she realizes that running her large household is one thing; running her family's lives is something else again, and the best thing she can do for them is help them be who they were meant to be. In Madame Wu, Pearl Buck created a remarkable character who after 40 years finally learns what it is to love.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a 6 star book!
Review: I have read just about all Pearl S. Buck has written and this book was my favorite if it is possible to pick one amoung this authors fabulous books.
This is a must read for any woman -it is fanatastic and a life changing read.
It will make you cry, smile and you will love it!
Rating:
Summary: Sensational!
Review: I love and treasure this book immeasurably. Every time I find a copy at a used book sale, I buy it and send it to my one of my women friends. Women everywhere should read this spectacular, beautifully written story of the independent, sassy Madame Wu. I thought Ms. Buck could never top "The Good Earth" but this one did it for me. I won't give a book report, just my humble opinion that this book should be on the reading list of every woman on earth....even my 20-something daughters loved the story.
Rating:
Summary: Sensational!
Review: I love and treasure this book immeasurably. Every time I find a copy at a used book sale, I buy it and send it to my one of my women friends. Women everywhere should read this spectacular, beautifully written story of the independent, sassy Madame Wu. I thought Ms. Buck could never top "The Good Earth" but this one did it for me. I won't give a book report, just my humble opinion that this book should be on the reading list of every woman on earth....even my 20-something daughters loved the story.
Rating:
Summary: I absolutely adored this book
Review: I stumbled across this book in an old store and couldnt get home fast enough to read it. I found it fascinating to gain insight from my armchair, culture and traditions from China. I loved the characters and the style it was written. There was more than just a change in a life here (Madam Wu) there was the lifelong friendship of her best friend, the challenges of their children, the political times they faced, forbidden love and the complexities of arrogance.. My only regret is that this book is no longer in print.
Rating:
Summary: Warning
Review: If you plan to read this book and do not wish to have it spoiled for you, do not read the review by "Manuela Bonfanti from Geneva".
Rating:
Summary: Feed My Lambs.
Review: Madame Wu decides to purchase her own birthday present---a concubine for her husband. It is China in the 1930's and though the practise of concubinage exists it is considered--to say the least--old fashioned. Madame Wu does not care. She is now forty years old and wishes to be free of pregnancies. Her sons are scandalized. Has their father been guilty of infidelity? Madame Wu reprimands them for entertaining such a wicked thought. Her best friend, Madame Kang , is also scandalized. Both are wealthy and both are good hearted, but there the similarity ends. Madame Kang is fat, earthy and simple. Madame Wu is ethereally beautifull, brilliant and wise. The essence of feminine grace incarnate---with a tragic flaw. When Madame Kang says she could not bear the jelousy. Madame Wu finds this puzzling, as puzzling as her husband's hurtful unwillingness to go along with her plan. Hasn't she always chosen right? Her entire life been devoted to the best interests of the family; from finding appropiate wives for her sons to coddling the whims of her husband; an overgrown, sweet tempered child who would be lost without her guidance. This is the first clue. For all her sensuality and for all her sagacious insight into human nature Madame Wu has never truly loved anyone. Why should she? After all, passion is an extreme and all extremes upset harmony. Harmony has enabled her to mother her family. But now that she's forty, is it really asking too much to have a helper ease her burdens? Which brings us to the second clue. Motherhood has consumed her, and she wishes for a little solace and freedom. But who will pay the price ? Enter Father Andre, a towering hairy giant of a foreign barbarian, with a mind to match Madame Wu---and his own peculiar ideas about men, women--and freedom.
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The principal theme of Buck's novel is the elusive one of freedom, and how love can make freedom possible--even from beyond the grave. As Andre dies, his last words, whispered to Madame Wu as she begs for guidance, come from Jesus: "Feed My Lambs." Andre is her soulmate, which she can finally acknowledge and love. And thus begins her final transformation, as she takes care of Andre's orphans and communes with him in spirit. By the end of the story Madame Wu has no faith; no belief in God or gods. But she knows without doubt that, like Andre, her soul is inmortal. She has loved. The plot is subtle and bold at the same time. Her style is economical and yet lush. Don't ask me how he manages it. Buck was a genius, or perhaps it is more accurate to say she was a magician. It's a mystery. Whatever you do, do not make the ludicrous mistake of thinking that this classic is a 'Woman's Novel.' That's laughable. Anyone tells you otherwise probably thinks that 'Moby Dick' should be read by sailors only. Men as well as women can enjoy being spellbound by this masterpiece. All you need, at the risk of sounding like a blues sax player, is soul.
Rating:
Summary: A female character every reader is forced to admire
Review: Madame Wu's decision is a difficult one to make, yet she makes it without hesitation. On her fortieth birthday, a new woman is to enter the house of Wu as the concubine of her own husband. Unwilling because of hi love for her, he nevertheless has to accept his wife's wish. Not even the distress her own children feel prevent her from carrying out her plan. Although criticised by everyone, Madame Wu won't change her mind: hers is a deliberate decision. Yet, her own sons and daughters-in-law do not understand why she would want to preserve this old tradition. Everybody feels Madame Wu's beauty and intelligence perfectly justify her husband's affection. The decision of taking a concubine coming from her is highly stupefying and distressing, as no wife would tamely accept her husband taking a second wife, let alone forcing him into doing it. Throughout the book, the reader experiences a mixed feeling of impotence, admiration and anger. Impotence towards habits and traditions that seem impossible to change. Admiration for a woman who is capable of bearing such a situation. Anger for her unwillingness to change it. The reader is led to wonder why should a woman want to perpetuate well-rooted traditions, when these are totally against her sex. And this is exactly what the younger generation cannot understand either. The discovery the reader makes towards the end of the book is overwhelming: Madame Wu has never loved her husband. The concubine she is forcing in his bed is thus nothing but a means of conquering a freedom she has never been allowed to have as a devote wife. The discovery of the love she feels for the dead clergyman André reassures her on her resolution and partly explains Madame Wu's reject of occidental habits. A cold, conscious, determined woman. A woman representing the triumph of the mind over passion. The control of the feelings matched to the more truthful and purest love for a man.
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