Customer Reviews (1)

A PULITZER PRIZE WINNING MASTERPIECE...
This 1932 Pulitzer Prize winning novel is still a standout today. Deceptive in its simplicity, it is a story built around a flawed human being and a teetering socio-economic system, as well as one that is layered with profound themes. The cadence of the author's writing is also of note, as it rhythmically lends itself to the telling of the story, giving it a very distinct voice. No doubt the author's writing style was influenced by her own immersion in Chinese culture, as she grew up and lived in China, the daughter of missionaries.

This is the story of the cyclical nature of life, of the passions and desires that motivate a human being, of good and evil, and of the desire to survive and thrive against great odds. It begins with the story of an illiterate, poor, peasant farmer, Wang Lung, who ventures from the rural countryside and goes to town to the great house of Hwang to obtain a bride from those among the rank of slave. There, he is given the slave O-lan as his bride.

Selfless, hardworking, and a bearer of sons, the plain-faced O-lan supports Wang Lung's veneration of the land and his desire to acquire more land. She stays with him through thick and thin, through famine and very lean times, working alongside him on the land, making great sacrifices, and raising his children. As a family, they weather the tumultuousness of pre-revolutionary China in the 1920s, only to find themselves the recipient of riches beyond their dreams. At the first opportunity, they buy land from the great house of Hwang, whose expenses appear to be exceeding their income.

With the passing of time, Wang Lung buys more and more land from the house of Hwang, until he owns it all, as his veneration of the land is always paramount. With O-lan at this side, his family continues to prosper. His life becomes more complicated, however, the richer he gets. Wang Lung then commits a life-changing act that pierces O-lan's heart in the most profoundly heartbreaking way.

As the years pass, his sons become educated and literate, and the family continues to prosper. With the great house of Hwang on the skids, an opportunity to buy their house, the very same house from where he had fetched O-lan many years ago, becomes available. Pressed upon to buy that house by his sons, who do not share Wang Lung's veneration for the land and rural life, he buys the house. The country mice now have become city mice.

This is a potent, thematically complex story, brimming with irony, yet simply told against a framework of mounting social change. It is a story that stands as a parable in many ways and is one that certainly should be read. It illustrates the timeless dichotomy between the young and the old, the old and the new, and the rich and the poor. It is no wonder that this beautifully written book won a Pulitzer Prize and is considered a classic masterpiece. Bravo!
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Review--Dragon Seed
This novel bore little resemblance to the original Pearl S. Buck which I read, but the binding and printing was very niceley done. The story itself was moving, believable, fact-filled, compassionate and hard-nosed--in other words, a good read, if perhaps somewhat raw for younger readers. The spirit of empathy for a unique and complex people came through very strongly, perhaps in the spirit if Pearl S. Buck, if not in her own words. ... Read more

Product Description
With an array of colorful characters, this translation of the Chinese classic Shui Hu Chuan chronicles the adventures of 108 bandits struggling to help the emperor rid himself of the despotic prime minister. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

3.5 Stars . . . Adds Very Little
I'm a huge fan of Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth." She captured the feel of Chinese life, while also painting the sometimes dark, sometimes bright hues of human existence and struggle in any culture or era. With this in mind, I was excited to see how she handled the localized, yet universal, story of Jesus in the time of Herods and Caesars.

Buck does a fine job of encapsulating the New Testament, making it feel approachable, readable, believable, but she does little to add to the existing story in the Bible. Of course, it's a daunting task to take on the most revered and bestselling book of all-time. To put too much personal interpretation would be to invite criticism. To add nothing new would be to nullify the project's usefulness.

Sadly, I think Buck erred on the side of safety here. She gives little theological, historical, or personal insight, instead paraphrasing what already stands in numerous versions in English alone. I respect her writing. I respect even her desire to make the Bible more accessible to others. I'm just not sure that I could recommend this over a New Living Translation of the New Testament or even the New King James Version. Perhaps this explains why I had such difficulty finding a copy of Buck's book.

Excellent condition
The Book came in excellent condition and shipping it out was on time.
thanks ... Read more

Product Description
This is a story of hope and reconciliation. It is about an American father and his Eurasian son living in Korea. It is not without some soul-searching and a great deal of understanding on the part of his American wife that they get together as a family.

The father is an aspiring politician in Philadelphia. Put in shock and a moral dilemma by the sudden knowledge of his son, conceived while a soldier stationed in Korea, the father weighs his political future against his responsibilities to himself and his wife. The situation is further complicated by his childless marriage.

This is very modern in its treatment of a politician's seemingly conflicting goals of public success and conscientious personal behavior. The story confronts the disparity of two cultures: east and west and two generations. It is a very timely book for all of those reasons, but the reward of reading this book is Pearl Buck's ability as a story teller. Marital love, parental love, alienation, adoption, and ambition are all woven into this marvelous, poignant novel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

I wish that she hadn't written this!
While a 24 year old soldier in Korea, Chris Winters, an educated and newly married man, moved in with a beautiful Korean girl and fathered a child.When his tour of duty finished, he simply returned home and didn't bother to think about his child, offering no form of support to mother or baby. Now that he's a successful budding politician running for the post of Governor, he's stunned when a letter arrives from his son, begging for help. His wife Laura flies to Korea and forms an attachment to the child, bringing him back to the US for a good education. During Chris's political campaign, he orders Laura not to mention the fact that she's a brilliant industrial chemist, but rather to dwell on the time before their marriage when she was a model as he says" people will feel threatened if they know you're smart!"
Although I am a devoted fan of Pearl Bucks Chinese books, this story made me so angry that I could barely finish it. It's probably a product of its time with its accepted patronising attitudes to women and womens roles in life and in society in general but I found it extremely uncomfortable to remember how we blindly accepted the put-downs and totally patronising attitudes of men.

It's like a beatiful stallion in the wind
This story is an intriguing story of a man who cheats on his wife and has an illegitimate child. His wife journeys to Asia to see his son. This story is as beautiful as a pearl(no pun intended) It describes the beauty of Asiaand America. I would rather cuddle up with this book than eat cheesecakeany day.

One of the best books I have ever read
This is Ms. Buck at her best.This is the story of a man's struggle to deal with his illegitimate son,a son he never knew existed, and this son's struggle to not only deal with his new family, but a whole new world. This story touches the reader in the very best way. ... Read more

Product Description
Paperback that is the 81st printing - September 1976 and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. It tells the story of the rise of the House of Wang - the family of the Chinese peasant Wang Lung who gloried in the soil he worked. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A PROFOUND STORY SIMPLY TOLD...
This 1932 Pulitzer Prize winning novel is still a standout today. Deceptive in its simplicity, it is a story built around a flawed human being and a teetering socio-economic system, as well as one that is layered with profound themes. The cadence of the author's writing is also of note, as it rhythmically lends itself to the telling of the story, giving it a very distinct voice. No doubt the author's writing style was influenced by her own immersion in Chinese culture, as she grew up and lived in China, the daughter of missionaries.

This is the story of the cyclical nature of life, of the passions and desires that motivate a human being, of good and evil, and of the desire to survive and thrive against great odds. It begins with the story of an illiterate, poor, peasant farmer, Wang Lung, who ventures from the rural countryside and goes to town to the great house of Hwang to obtain a bride from those among the rank of slave. There, he is given the slave O-lan as his bride.

Selfless, hardworking, and a bearer of sons, the plain-faced O-lan supports Wang Lung's veneration of the land and his desire to acquire more land. She stays with him through thick and thin, through famine and very lean times, working alongside him on the land, making great sacrifices, and raising his children. As a family, they weather the tumultuousness of pre-revolutionary China in the 1920s, only to find themselves the recipient of riches beyond their dreams. At the first opportunity, they buy land from the great house of Hwang, whose expenses appear to be exceeding their income.

With the passing of time, Wang Lung buys more and more land from the house of Hwang, until he owns it all, as his veneration of the land is always paramount. With O-lan at this side, his family continues to prosper. His life becomes more complicated, however, the richer he gets. Wang Lung then commits a life-changing act that pierces O-lan's heart in the most profoundly heartbreaking way.

As the years pass, his sons become educated and literate, and the family continues to prosper. With the great house of Hwang on the skids, an opportunity to buy their house, the very same house from where he had fetched O-lan many years ago, becomes available. Pressed upon to buy that house by his sons, who do not share Wang Lung's veneration for the land and rural life, he buys the house. The country mice now have become city mice.

This is a potent story, brimming with irony, yet simply told against a framework of mounting social change. It is a story that stands as a parable in many ways and is one that certainly should be read. It illustrates the timeless dichotomy between the young and the old, the old and the new, and the rich and the poor. It is no wonder that this beautifully written book won a Pulitzer Prize and is considered a classic masterpiece. Bravo!

Interesting novel undermined by stiff prose
Upon its publication in the early 1930's, Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth" must have been a curiosity -- a novel written by an American woman, based on her experiences and observations, about a Chinese family in their homeland.

Wang Lung, the main character, is a diligent farmer who lives and works on a modest bit of land with his new bride, a former servant girl named O-lan, and his widowed father.As time goes by, one year brings drought and famine and Wang Lung moves his family to a distant city to find better opportunities.He gets a job pulling a rickshaw while O-lan and the children beg in the streets and even once resort to stealing meat from a butcher, which offends Wang Lung's sense of honesty.An interesting scene develops when he encounters a white Christian missionary who gives him, without explanation, a picture of the Crucifixion, an image that puzzles and horrifies him.During a peasant revolt against a wealthy house, he and O-lan acquire some money with which they are able to return to their own land and buy even more.

With agricultural conditions now more favorable, Wang Lung builds his farm into a profitable business with time and hard work, and he can afford now to send his two oldest sons to a school for the education that he had never had for himself.As his wealth increases, his house becomes a small dynasty of extended family, including his troublesome uncle and cousin, and numerous servants and concubines, including a prostitute named Lotus whom he "bought" when his newfound prosperity presented him with too much spare time in which he grew bored with O-lan.At the end of his life, Wang Lung realizes that, despite the vast riches he has amassed, he has never shed the soul of a farmer and an almost religious relationship with the soil, one which his materialistic sons do not share.

Implied in the novel's title, and illustrated in Wang Lung's dramatic reversal of fortune, is that the welfare of these farmers depends almost solely on the bounty of the earth and the mercy of nature.In fact, the story is a little too simplistic.It feels like a fable, containing simple lessons about hard work, kindness, pride, greed, and other basic human traits, written in stiff, mechanical prose that seems intended for young or naive readers.It contains the kind of sentimentality and melodrama that seems appropriate for a silent movie.Most curiously, it is not as thoroughly descriptive of Chinese culture, society, and geography as, say, Rudyard Kipling's writing about India or Paul Bowles's writing about northern Africa, but I suspect that Buck's other books about China provide more extensive detail.But despite my criticisms, "The Good Earth" is an informative, if not very effective, work.

Wonderful book, but a lure to "impractical" studies
I first read this book when I was about 14 years old, loved it, and went on in high school to read every Pearl Buck novel I could get my hands on.However, I want to warn potential young readers that too many Pearl Bucknovels read at an impressionable age can lead one to major in an"impractical" subject in college, like Chinese Literature, ratherthan a more lucrative field like computer programming or engineering! :) This advice comes from someone with a 1987 B.A. in East Asian Studies--awonderful, fascinating discipline, but not the one I have stayed in to earna living.Still, my life is richer for having encountered the works of LuXun (short stories, which I read in the originals) and Dai Hou Ying (Stonesof the Wall, which I read in the translation by F. Wood), etc., works whichI would recommend to readers who enjoy Pearl Buck novels.

A lengthy, dragging book with some interesting realizations.
I was forced to read this book for school and I found it to be quite a bore.The book seemed to go on forever and never end.I was simply happy when I passed the picture section of my book.Over all I did not enjoyreading this book and wonder how it can be a classic and yet so unenjoyablefor many students. It was more a painstaking process to read than anythingelse.I can not recommend this book to read unless you wish to be verybored. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

The Child That Never Grew
This is a wonderful and touching story of a parent dealing with handicapped daughter back in the day. It is a very easy read and very worth reading.

A milestone book on LD children
This old book was first published in 1950 by Pearl Buck (1892-1973), a 1938 Nobel laureate, but originally drafted by her in the much earlier days. Her first daughter Carol was born as a LD child in 1920, due to a delivery accident in a remote village of China. The cause is now known as PKU, a disorder in phenylalanine metablism (and PKU can be fully cured now), but then nobody knew either cause or therapy. That was a beginning of this tragedy of both Carol and her mother Pearl. But that is not the whole story. Pearl's first husband, a scholar, kept ignoring his own LD child, and did not give any special finacial support to this daughter. So when Pearl, then just a house wife, realized that Carol had to be taken care of by the best special school for LD children in the United States for the rest of her own long life (till Carol's death in 1992), she started writing a novel on Chinese farmers, The Good Earth, hoping to earn some money as royality for the sake of Carol's life-long welfare. In 1932, to her great surprise, this book becames the world best seller, and even filmed in 1937 with a great success, and eventually awarded her the big prize the followig year. In other words, this LD child Carol transformed her mother's life and career so dramatically, in a better sense.

Having met so many other mothers who also have LD children, eventually after the end of WW II, Pearl decided to publish her true story on Carol, which turned out to be her first and sole real daughter, in order to share her own difficult experience with these mothers. Meanwhile she adopted several orphan children including Janice Walsh with her second husband Richard Walsh, a talented editor who published "The Good Earth" very successfully.

In the early days of Carol's youth, Pearl had a great difficulty in being willing to admit that Carol's brain had been permanentally damaged. One day, however, at a small hospital in the United States, an old German doctor privately approached her and explained, though in his broken English, to convince her that her daughter would never grow further. To me, that particular scene was the most moving and unforgettable in this book. For I am a retired molecular oncologist who has been trying to develop, particular during my stay in Germany, the first effective therapeutics for a genetic disease called NF1 (neurofibromatosis type 1) which causes not only tumors but also frequently LD in many young children.

Fascinating Read
It was fascinating to read the account from such an "open-minded" individual as Pearl Buck as having had such difficulty dealing with/ accepting her disabled daughter.Although she clearly loved her daughter she hid her from the rest of her family and the rest of the world almost until the end of her life.Ms Buck was an advocate for the disabled but could not deal with society's prejudices with regard to her own child.

Worth reading.
A very moving book. The book was written 50 years ago, and it sounds as current as if it had been written today. A mother's feelings are timeless.

A moving family story
"The Child Who Never Grew," by Pearl S. Buck, is the true story of the struggle of the author after learning that her daughter Carol, born in 1920, was mentally handicapped. The 1992 Woodbine House edition contains a foreword by James Michener, an introduction by Martha M. Jablow, and an afterword by Janice C. Walsh, who was Pearl's daughter and Carol's's sister.

Jablow notes in her intro that "Child" first appeared as an article in "Ladies Home Journal" in 1950 and was shortly thereafter published in book form. Jablow notes that the book is "a landmark in the literature about disabilities." As such, I consider "Child" a fitting companion text to a book like Helen Keller's "The Story of My Life." Jablow notes that mental retardation "carried a shameful stigma" when Buck first had this story published; Jablow provides further useful historical context for the main text.

Buck writes very movingly of her heartache at the discovery of her child's plight. She documents her awareness of the stigma against people like Carol, and also tells of her search for an institution where Carol's special needs might be met. Buck passionately defends the humanity and worth of the mentally retarded, and tells what her experiences with Carol taught her: "I learned respect and reverence for every human mind. It was my child who taught me to understand so clearly that all people are equal in their humanity and that all have the same human rights."

Walsh's afterword continues the story of Carol. She fills in some of the very obvious gaps in Buck's story. Walsh's contribution to this book is very moving, and includes photos of Carol.

In addition to being a work of historical and sociological importance, I found "The Child Who Never Grew" to be a moving and very personal piece of American literature. For another good companion text, try William Styron's "Darkness Visible," in which the distinguished writer tells of his battle against clinical depression. Also, try "On the Way Home," by Laura Ingalls Wilder; this book has additional material by Laura's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, and like "The Child Who Never Grew" is thus a sort of mother-daughter literary collaboration. ... Read more

Product Description
A guide to reading "The Good Earth" with a critical and appreciative mind. Includes background on the author's life and times, sample tests, term paper suggestions, and a reading list. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The good about The Good Earth
From the moment you open this book and begin chapter one you are hooked. The way Pearl Buck describes the characters and setting you can perfectly picture them in your mind. When meeting the farmer Wang Lung, you see his love for the land from the beginning of the book. When Wang Lung goes to meet his chosen bride O-lan, Pearl Buck shows the thought process of men and what they feel is beautiful in a woman. From describing the binding of the feet and how Wang Lung is greatly disopointed with O-lan and her seemingly large feet. Pearl Buck shows how faithful O-lan is, being alone during birth and getting back in the feilds the same day to help Wang, even on her death bed O-lan is faithful to Wang. Pearl aslo disscusses the value of men and women children and how Wang took pride in his boys and shame in his girls.When there is a great famine in the village, you can feel how poor these people were and how they struggled to survive, even leaving thier land to go find food. The protagonist and antagonist are clearly dipicted, with Wang Lung struggling with himself and society. The most disturbing part of the book is when Wang Lung meets Lotus Blossm and she becomes his mistress. The luxeries he gives her over O-lan because she has small feet and hands is discusting. The way Pearl Buck shows how men felt about women and how they were just property and nothing else, and the way he breaks O-lan down and treats her like trash because of her feet. The way Pearl shows how he comes and fluants the affair in O-lan's face is absolutly heart wrenching. The way Wang Lung climbs the social ladder and eventually moves away from his land, shows how money changes everything but can never change the persons soul. Throughout the book Wang always returns to his land, even on his death bed he returns to the Good Earth, the land where he built his foundation, the land where he built himself. The ending isn't as satisfying as the rest of the book but, it gives good meaning to the title of the book. This is a extrodianary book, that dipicts social status in China, a woman's value in life, beauty and ugliness, money, religion, love and friendship. I don't know what more you could ask from a book.

HORRIBLE BOOK NOTES
Chief is gay. Oh yea horrible book notes because it did not mention details in the plot of the good earth. ... Read more