Author: Pearl S. Buck
Date Originally Published: 1931
Read in: November/December 2008
My last two novels for the classics challenge are books that many of my high school classmates read, but somehow I missed out on them. I remember kids reading Pearl Buck's The Good Earth in ninth grade social studies classes. My teacher did not assign this book. I decided to read it because it won the Nobel Prize and it's a novel commonly assigned to teens in their courses.
The book follows the life of Wang Lung from the time of his marriage to the time of his death, during pre-revolutionary China. [Spoilers Below] I was immediately drawn to the affairs of his family. He experienced many hardships as a young man, mainly because of a meddling uncle and a drought. But with persistence and dedication to his land, he became very rich. My favorite character by far was Wang Lung's first wife (he later takes a concubine), O-Lan, who birthed her own children (literally by herself) and was a steady force for the family. Sadly, Wang Lung does not truly appreciate her until she is dying. His tribute to O-Lan's death was a beautiful moment in the book. While Wang Lung is tied to his land, his heirs are not. Perhaps this is attributed to the revolution (which is only somewhat evident in the background) or because his sons were raised completely different from himself, in a life of luxury. The sons' discussion to sell his land, nearly devastate Wang Lung near the end of his life. While the sons reassure their father that they won't sell it, they smile in agreement behind his back to go against Wang Lung's wishes after his death. [End Spoilers]
I thought this was a beautiful book. If you're looking for a light and short classic read, I would highly recommend it.
3 comments:
Nice review, Traci. This book has special meaning for me, since my high school quiz bowl team reached the state finals because of it. We were all tied at the end of a semifinal, so we went into "sudden death" (ooh). The tiebreaker question mentioned the name O-Lan, and all four of us on our team immediately buzzed in with the answer "Good Earth". We only knew it because we had just read that novel the previous year.
Ah, the nerdy memories. But they aren't all happy. Don't mention the scientist Linus Pauling in my presence, for instance...
--Jeff
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I agree this is a beautiful book and my favorite character also was O-Lan. The scene where she dies was so sad I cried. I never liked Pearl Buck before but I don't know why I had that opinion. I also read part of Pavilion of Women. I'll have to finish that to make a comment though.
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