The Good Earth

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Summary: 13 year old school girl from Arizona
Review: My school required me to read this book. I learned something from the requirement because I saw the book and read the preview and thought that I was in for a long ride. I was wrong, I really enjoyed it, and that is a surprize because I'm a really picky child. This is a great book. Take it from someone who knows!

Rating:
Summary: Too much too fast.
Review: This book was an excellent piece of writing. It was full of details and had and interesting base: Pre-revolutionary China. However, the book changes too dramatically too quickly. They're poor but not starving then they are dying and go to a city and they come back rich and build a big house and have internal family problems. The book did not develop the characters themselves enough before they are suddenly somewhere else and having a different lifestyle.

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Summary: Not as good as the movie
Review: I have read that "The Good Earth" may be the most over-rated book ever to win the Pulitzer Prize. However, since I have not read all the Pulitzer winners, I can't comment on that. But, it seems to me that it does have several shortcomings. The biggest, to me, is a fairly boring last third of the book. After Wang Lung has struggled mightily from starvation to prosperity, author Pearl Buck is challenged to find obstacles for Lung to take on. What she comes up with is lame indeed after members of his family are forced to fight famine, droughts and floods, eat dirt, strangle their newborn child, beg for thier existence, drive a rickshaw, evade rambling thieves and armies, an entire cataluge of seemily impossible odds. What are some of his latter day strugges: whether his wife will accept his mistress; whether his sons can get along; how much education is too much? These are real downers after a fast-paced beginning. Much has been made about the simplicity of the writing. Well, these are simple people, so it fits. I find the tone of the book is much like reading the Bible, which also makes sense, because her father was a missionary. However, one drawback of this simplistic style -- which she maintains steadfastly throughout -- is that when something truly exciting happens, such as the attack of the locust, she is unable to create the power within this style to capture the intensity of the moment. In this vital respect, the movie towers over the book. I recommend you buy the video. Forget the book.

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Summary: The book was pretty good.
Review: I believe that this book was okay. It could've been better but the way the author used China for the setting really set the book.

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Summary: Excellent!!! A Must Read!!
Review: This is an inspiring story about the Asian culture

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Summary: An enjoyable type of novel.........
Review: Summary and Comments: This is an excellent novel because it illustrates a poor farmer who later becomes a rich lord, from negative to positive. Wang Lung, the main character, gains his wealth through his crops. He uses his extra money to buy more acres of land for more crops. This novel is a strong story of rags to riches. The author does a wonderful job describing and detailing each scene. I recommend this book to all readers.

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Summary: A powerful tale of a man that goes from rags to riches.
Review: The novel The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck is a powerful and enriching story of a peasant farmer who diligently works his way from rags to riches. Growing up, Wang Lung slaves hard in the land that he lives off of and the result is that he dies as a rich lord of a powerful dynasty. The only reason I rate this book as a 9 and not a 10 is because I am saving my 10 for my all-time favorite book, of which I may not have read yet. There is a lot of truth in the book which I admire greatly. When Wang Lung and his family are poor, they see the rich as overly-extravagant, stuck-up snobs who have abandoned the land, the giver of all life. And yet, when Wang Lung rises into power because of the wealth he obtains from his land, he and his family fall right into the same pattern that the reigning dynasty before him embraced. That is true of society today in many aspects. People talk trash about social groups that aren't like themselves but if by chance that certain individual advances into that particular social group, they would adopt the same attitudes and actions, the very ones they scorned earlier. To wrap it up, The Good Earth makes you feel good when you read it and you can really relate to the characters because of the truth in the principles. If you're looking for a short, but provokatively insightful novel, read The Good Earth

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Summary: A classic still worth reading . . .
Review: Pearl S. Buck takes you back to the life of Chinese peasants during the 1800's. Her writing is almost poetic and she makes her characters seem so real you care about them. I must have read this book 10 times already and it always gives me a sense of peace. You not only learn something of the history and traditions of China but you understand some of their motives. Mostly, it has taught me that not matter what changes human feelings and emotions remain the same throughout time.

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Summary: A masterpiece of the struggles of a poor farmer in China.
Review: The Good Earth is written by a master. Pearl S. Buck spent most of her life in China, and it shows with the feeling that she put into her book. Wang Lung, a Chinese farmer, is the main character, and the The Good Earth is about his struggle from mediocure farmer to rich Lord. He survives, along with his a family, a drought, begging, torment, and other hardships throughout the book. His uncle turns on him, and he, in turn, turns on his uncle. A remarkable book on a farmer and his family. I don't believe that Pearl S. Buck could have written a more superb book!

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Summary: This book is for anyone who is interested in chinese culture
Review: "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck tells about the struggles and joys of a farmer named Wang Lung. This book tells you a lot about what the chinese life style is like and i found it very informative. The reason I gave it an eight was because of this interest that it sparcked in me. I hope you will consider reading this book if you are at all interested in the life of the chinese