The Good Earth

Rating:
Summary: The Good Earth is good
Review: It is the start of the Communist take over of China, the era of change. China had two distinct classes of people---the rich and poor. The rich, so enveloped in their high-class lives, were unconcerned with the realities of the country. The poor knew too well all of the plagues, floods, famines, and the war ragging around them. The downfall of the old aristocracy was caused by their immense greed. This is where Wang Lung entered. Because of their decay, he was able to buy more land and become wealthy from it. However, a great mistake this farmer made was building it according to the old system. He separated himself from the land, and allowed his sons to be away from the land, which in turn caused his downfall. Though the book was written as a third person narrative, it tells the story of Wang Lung's rise from poverty to riches. Everything that happened was described as he saw or experienced it. The narrator told his thoughts or feelings but rarely shared those of the other characters. The way Buck presented the events that directly happened to Wang Lung limits our understanding of the world around them. By using this unique and somewhat limiting point of view and setting the story against the background of the Communist take over of China, Pearl Buck created a new twist on the rags to riches story. The most predominate theme throughout the book was the connection between man and the land that he worked. As a man put his life into his land, he reaped more benefits and wealth. Throughout the book, Wang Lung repeatedly reflected back on the wonderful feeling that he had whenever he plowed and worked his land. Whenever he was working with O-Lan, his quiet but strong wife, he felt as though he was in harmony with her. The land supplied stability and he was always transferring any monetary gain into more land. Whenever he went away from the land, his family started to decline. Another important issue that Buck repeated was the role of women. The way she subtly commented on the status of the Chinese woman had great emotional impact. Throughout the book, no matter what role the woman had in the house, they were always subservient to men. The principle function of the woman was to bear sons. Wang Lung and O-Lan did not even name their first girl; he just called her "slave" or "poor little fool." Two more important factors in the make up of The Good Earth were family and religion. The family was the central unit in Chinese society. There was a strong respect for the elderly, which had long been a tradition in Wang Lung's family. He was forced to aid his uncle because he was family and an elder. Wang Lung, however, thought his uncle brought disgrace upon his family name. Religion also played an important role in Chinese society. In Wang Lung's society of farmers, they were very superstitious and worshiped two earthen gods that would protect their crops. Whenever Wang Lung carried his first born son home, he realized that he was attracting bad luck. He hid the baby while saying aloud, "It is nothing but a slave girl." All of these themes contributed to this wonderful work of literature. However, the way Buck kept her characters performing in the same way might be the greatest part of the book. All of their actions and thoughts kept with their personalities. Even though this is true, they were so complex that you could not stereotype them. Wang Lung was not just a farmer, but his actions were fundamentally those of a farmer. O-Lan was an honest, hardworking woman, yet she stole from a rich man's house during a riot. Buck used these tools to successfully recreate the life of a poor farmer that raised himself out of the dirt that he worked so hard to the lavish life of being a wealthy landowner.

Rating:
Summary: My opinion...
Review: I love this book. It is one of my favorites. I recommend this book to people who love to read about family problems and gossip. I do not recommend this book to people who adore reading about horror, mystery, or adventure. But if you really want to, you can try the book.

Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: well, the only reason i rated the good earth 4 stars is because it didn't really give me the feeling of "oh my goodness, that was the greatest book i've ever read" after i finished it. but, i have to admit, that it was a great book. while reading it for pleasure, many of my friends and even my teachers were commenting on how good the book was! i found the book very interesting, not just because of the ideas/events presented in the book were amusing, but also because of the fact that the author was an american. being a chinese, i myself have read many historic fictions in Chinese, but it just never entered my head that a westerner could depict the life of chinese household in pre-revolutionary time so well and vivid. and yah, at some point, the content did offend me. for it sort of purely portrayed the bad points in Chinese people (stealing, lust, pride..etc) and never revealed much of how civilized people at that point lived. but again, through Wang Lung and O-lan, the book showed how Chinese people have nature of hard-working, loyality, and qualities of the sort. i'd recommend this book to all those who are interested in chinese history, for it is a book that is worth your time. (it only took me a week..)

Rating:
Summary: Simplicity is Genius
Review: In this novel, the author presents a fascinating and profoundly told tale of an extraordinary yet unmistakeably common farmer experiencing the hardships and triumphs of life. The primary motif of the story, a man's unquestioable understanding of the importance of land and wise caring for "the good earth," becomes wonderfully intertwined with the author's takes on common Chinese tradition of that era. Starting out as a dirt poor farmer, the main character Wang Lung works hard and feeds off of his determination until he eventually prospers into a rich and respected lord. Upon reaching this final financial state, the delightfully dark and curious ending to this novel presented the invitable doom typical of the dynastic cycle (what goes up, must come down...). I was absoluetly entralled by the striking depiction of raw human emotions, the way the language and often contemption comedy meshed together, and most of all, the wonderful satire of ancient Chinese practices. The simple, straightforward, yet powerful language utilized throughout the book stirs up strong emotions from both the characters and the reader to create a masterpeice of a novel. I strongly recommend this book to those who enjoy to laugh at the follies of human nature but don't want to take on something as complicated as Shakspeare.

Rating:
Summary: A "universal" classic
Review: Like millions of readers, I read the Good Earth as an assigned reading in junior high. I've re-read it six or seven times in the twenty years since, and it gets better and more meaningful each time. Pearl Buck's genius is astonishing, particularly her ability to draw minor characters so vividly with just a few lines, and the way her major characters become permanently etched in one's mind. Yet I've always found it curious that so many readers tend to read the Good Earth as though it were a sociological documentary about turn-of-the-century Chinese village life. This bracketing effect, I think, has been the main reason why Buck and her novel-- notwithstanding her Pulitzer Prize for it --is generally omitted from the Western canon's short list of major novels. Literary scholars often caution against reading works about unfamiliar cultures as sociological texts, but it remains a human response. I, for one, have always viewed Buck's Good Earth as a masterpiece of broad scope, and her Wang Lung is arguably as universal in his own way as Hamlet. Yet we do not read Hamlet as the prototypical 16th century Dane (although he's the only 16th century Dane for most of us). Instead, as Westerners we tend to see ourselves in his character (as Coleridge famously put, "I do see a bit of Hamlet in myself, if I may say so"). Indeed, the characters and themes in Buck's Good Earth merely "differ in degree rather than in kind" to other major works of Western literature. Perhaps not surprisingly, many Chinese and Chinese Americans reserve criticism, or at best grudging respect, for Buck's portrayals. It might simply be a general resentment that Buck was white, and not Chinese, and her portrayals of Chinese life have received so much attention. So here's the rub: The Chinese will say that Buck's work does not really represent them, and non-Chinese continue to regard the work as the definitive sociological portrayal of late-19th century Chinese culture. But I say that credit should be given where it is due-- The Good Earth reads as a major work of universal literary genius, not as an historical depiction. I'm just glad that the Pulitzer Prize panel had the wisdom nearly seventy years ago to bestow the honor, as it was rightfully deserved.

Rating:
Summary: A Novel Truly Deserving the Pulitzer Prize
Review: Though the language used by Pearl Buck is somewhat dated, the story of Wang Lung is a wonderful tale of man's struggles to survive, thrive and prosper. The connection of man to earth is a still-viable theme in our age of wanton destruction of our planet. The artfully described backdrop of life in rural China is also facinating, giving one a deeper understanding of the culture and people who are now our neighbors and friends. This book is a must-read for anyone who desires a better understanding of not only the interconnectedness of life, but of the cultural basis for many Chinese traditions.

Rating:
Summary: Informative books are never a thriller
Review: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck depicted the culture of a traditional Chinese family. It contrasted the lazy lifestyles of the rich and the hardworking lives of the poor. This is a very good novel if you want to learn about those type of things (or if you were assigned to the book like I was for Global Studies). However, if you are looking for a book just for leisure, I would not recommend this unless you're remarkably fascinated by Chinese culture.

Rating:
Summary: The Magic of Pearl S Buck
Review: I read the paperback version of The Good Earth years ago and till today, is still enthralled by the story of Wang Lung, the farmer. From his simple wedding to O-Lan, through the birth of his children, the hardship of famine, the migration to the city, the return to the good earth, a new begining and a mistress, the saga is amazingly real and down to earth. The language is exquisite - no one else writes English the way Buck writes - as a Chinese speaker, I am gratified to know that Buck has written the prose in such as a way as to portray the Chinese language as it would have been spoken. It is pure satisfaction to read right to the last page. I only found out that Good Earth is part of a trilogy. Now I must get my hands on the second and final works and be carried off again, in the magic of Pearl S Buck. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read
Review: I really enjoyed this book, I had to read it for World Lit. I liked this book better than the others we had to read. I would like to read the other two book in the series, I want to find out what happend to Wang Lung and his children. The ending is to long, but I couldn't put it down once I started to read it.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Storyteller ... A Great Story
Review: I was swept away into the past and felt like I was living each characters' life. I truly emphasized with each of the women's lives. Born to be slaves they were under pressure to do whatever any man bid of them, but they triumphed in their own way, using whatever they could to survive their situation or raise above their station in some way. Whether it was using hard work, feminine wiles, cunning, manipulation, or overt scheming, they made their way in the world at the time. The struggles with the elements and their dependence on the land made for very interesting reading. I especially fell in love with, and pitied O-Lan. Ugly, looked-down upon O-Lan. It seemed she triumped more than all because she was satisfied with so little. I loved this story. Pearl S. Buck is a true storyteller. Looking forward to reading more of her classics.