Rating: 
Summary: Naturalistic portrait of China and its inhabitants.
Review: THE GOOD EARTH is deserving of everything it got as far as accolades and awards go. That doesn't mean it's the best book ever written (excepting the Scriptures, of course, which are of devine origin and cannot be equaled by man, THE LORD OF THE RINGS is a close contender for that honour) but it does mean this is one classic you should probably read.The biggest reason THE GOOD EARTH had captured the reading public when it was first published was it had given them for the first time a picture, a portrait if you will, of China. China had largely closed itself off to the outside world, and by and large not a lot was known about it. Pearl S. Buck grew up in China, because her parents were Christian missionaries over there. Obviously, the main character Wang Lung does not abide by the principals Buck grew up with, and there's a reason for that. This book's main purpose was to give a clear cut picture of China, and Buck gives a naturalistic portrait of her beloved country. She tells it as it is (or was), with no moral judgements either way...I would like to read the next two books (SONS and A HOUSE DIVIDED) in this trilogy, which a lot of people do not know is a trilogy...I don't know if her style is like that in all of her books, but it is sucessful enough here for the purposes she employed them for (really, how in-depth can you get on a man's life covering from when he is young till he dies and keep it short for the purpose of a novel?) There is a nice cast of characters, some you'll hate some you'll like others you won't care...This book won her the Nobel Prize...All of her works deal with China, and she was very prolific, though she really only had this one as a major successful. Some of her stuff is actually her translating other Chinese novels into English - but her output is very high indeed. (She shares her life span with Tolkien. They were both born in 1892 and they both died in 1973, which I found rather interesting being a Tolkien freak). Overall, I would give this a four stars, but I think the overall rating should be higher than three and a half so I will give it a five.
Rating: 
Summary: Read this book so as to understand human beings better...
Review: Nobel prize winner Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth is a great book for centuries! Although it tells a story that takes place in pre-revolutionary China from an American's perspective, there are not clear traces that the author is actually an American throughout the novel. As a young Chinese, I am indeed impressed by Pearl's deep understanding of my culture. She has definitely assimilated well into the Chinese society without losing her Westerner status. She is one of the best bridges that links the east and the west. She also holds an imaginative pen, which portrays three-dimensional characters. The poor have their worries and the rich have their worries too. People are never satisfied with what they have. They want more. People do not realize the importance of things until they lose them. These are the main ideas the author tells us in simple language, with beautiful description and actual facts. The novel is a success because it is a crystal clear mirror of people's selfish minds and instincts. The author praises and criticizes. She shows black and she shows white. The author has used good techniques of showing us how different people's characters are in her novel by writing the small bits of life. It is indeed the small bits of the farmer's (Wang Lung, the main character) life that accumulate to form a clear picture of his character. These help you to think and make educated guess while you are reading! An indeed great story for all!
Rating:
Summary: heartwarming tale of life
Review: I recently read this book over my vacation and couldn't put it down. My grandmother suggested this book to me months ago and I finally read it. I thought that something my grandmother would suggest might be bland, but being 25 and wondering about what my grandmother read when she was my age, got me to buy it. This book is filled with triumph, failure, lessons for the human spirit and a relatively good look at a Chinese farmers way of life. Pearl Buck captures these people and their lives with dignity, compassion, and thought. It made me laugh, cry, and continue reading till the wee hours of the morning. This story of Wang Lung's life and family offers insight into our own souls and family issues. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Immensly gripping
Review: The distinctive feature about the book is its fluid narrative despite the subject wich has certain bearings with social fabric of living in china around begining of century. I must congratulate Ms. Buck for avoiding lyrical drudgery and writing a gripping yet informative account of Chinese farmer Wang Lung and his selfless wife O-lan and their struggle and triumph.
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Summary: Recommended by Dr. Laura
Review: Recommended by Dr. Laura as an illustration of the obligation and commitment of love...good therapy for those with their futures set soley on the feelings of love.
Rating:
Summary: An pretty good story
Review: This is a wonderful book. I loved reading it. You can feel the characters emotions as they go though their trials and tribulations. I would recommend this book to everyone. I can assure you that you'll enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, beautiful book
Review: I first read this book in 6th grade for school and loved it so much I bought myself a copy. Since, I've probably read it over 10 times.... I never grow tired of it. I truly recomend
Rating:
Summary: A Loamy Novel
Review: Panoramic, sweeping, magnificent, Buck's novel has grandeur. Set in rural inland China, she traces the life and death of one man, a farmer, a man rooted in the soil. Through the vicissitudes of seasons, he loses and gains, he suffers and rejoices, he releases and he takes, but there is always the land: rich, permanent, "running through his fingers," life-giving. In the reading, I sensed that Buck was taking me far away into another time and area, a place where individuals are traded as slaves, customs are cemented in rigidity and then cracked when it is expedient, where life is a struggle to those who have no land. She writes with simplicity and solidity. It is a loamy novel. Reading it is feeling the depth of what a novel should be--memorable, filled with different strata, enriching.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: We just read "The Good Earth" in english class, but I read it for the first time a couple years ago. Both time, I absolutely loved it. The book; story, reading level, words; are very simple, which adds to the charm of the book. Wang Lung is a Chinese farmer, a simple man who's happy with a bit of land, food, and a roof over his head. He holds the earth higher than anything else. he is born from it, and he will return to it when he dies. But with his crops and the cunningness of his wife O-Lan, Wang Lung becomes more and more successful, changing Wang Lung. This is one of my favorite books, and it's obvious why it won a Pulitzer.
Rating:
Summary: A Life's Work
Review: "Wang Lung sat smoking, thinking of the silver as it had lain upon the table. It had come out of the earth, this silver - out of his earth that he ploughed and turned and spent himself upon. He took his life from this earth; drop by drop by his sweat he wrung food from it, and from the food silver. Each time before this that he had taken the silver out to give to any one, it had bee like taking a piece of his life and giving it to some one carelessly. But now for the first time such giving was not pain. He saw, not the silver in the alien hand of a merchant in the town; he saw the silver transmuted into something worth even more than itself - clothes upon the body of his son. And this strange woman of his, who worked about, saying nothing, seemed to see nothing, she had first seen the child thus clothed!" p.30 Moving. The novel accomplished exactly what it set out to, and that was to tell the story of a single man whose life's meaning begins and ends with the earth. The man's humanity is the story and the earth is the background. Throughout the story the reader's feelings toward Wang Lung change dramatically, from pity, to encouragement, from distaste and anger to happiness and fulfillment. But through it all, the earth as provider, remains unchanged.
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