I first read The Good Earth by Pearl Buck when I was in my early teens and
the novel made quite an impression on me. And so when the 2019 Back to the Classics category came along - choose a classic set in Africa, Asia or Oceania, I knew it was time for a reread.
The Good Earth begins around 1880 in the rural farming village of Anhwei, China. At the start of the novel we are introduced to Wang Lung. He is a poor farmer and it is his wedding day. A bride has been chosen for him by the old mistress who rules the House of Hwang, the wealthiest family in the district. Wang Lung's bride, O-lan, works as a kitchen servant for the Hwang family. She was sold to them by her parents when she was ten years old.
Wang Lung is hoping for a pretty wife but O-lan turns out to be rather plain. She is a hard worker, an excellent cook, never complains and Wang Lung is very pleased. Olan doesn't talk much though and certainly not about herself. But early in the novel she does open up to Wang Lung when he suggests that they go back to the House of Hwang to find a midwife since their first child is about to be born:
"None in that house!" she cried out at him ... When I return to that house it will be with my son in my arms. I shall have a red coat on him and red-flowered trousers and on his head a hat with a small gilded Buddha sewn on the front and on his feet tiger-faced shoes. And I will wear new shoes and a new coat of black satin and I will go into the kitchen where I spent my days and I will go into the great hall where the Old One sits with her opium and I will show myself and my son to all of them".
The Good Earth will take us through the next fifty years in the lives of Wang Lung, his family, their children, relatives and neighbors. They endure much hardship. There are births, deaths, marriages, drought, war but always there is the land which Wang Lung and O-lan have a reverence for:
"Moving together in perfect rhythm, without a word, hour after hour, he fell into a union with her which took the pain from his labor. He had no articulate thought of anything; there was only the perfect sympathy of movement , of turning this earth of theirs over and over to the sun, this earth which formed their home and fed their bodies and made their gods".
The Good Earth is the first book in a trilogy, The Sons and A House Divided are books two and three in this series but its the book that Pearl Buck is most known for, a huge bestseller when it was published in 1931 and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. It held up very well upon my rereading it and I would also recommend the movie The Good Earth starring Paul Muni and Luise Rainer and Ms. Rainer is particularly touching as O-lan.
Great review. I never read this but I should. In addition to sounding well worth the read in and of itself, the novel had a big cultural and historical impact. I must at least give the film a try
ReplyDeleteThanks Brian, Pearl Buck was an interesting woman and a great writer. She lived most of her first forty years in China and the novel really shows how well she knew Chinese culture and its people. I suppose today there might be controversy regarding the film because neither Paul Muni or Luise Rainer are Asian and I do understand this argument and yet Paul Muni and particularly Luise Rainer are so good in their roles and so touching that I really do recommend the film.
ReplyDeleteThe only Pearl S. Buck novel I've read is The Living Reed which is about Korea. I don't remember much else about it (because I read it when I was in high school), but I do remember finding it very interesting. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lark, The Good Earth is the novel she is most known for and I think you will like it. Its wonderfully written and presents a very moving potrait of Wang Lung and his family.
DeleteI read this book a number of years ago. I remember thinking that I was really glad that the book did not take place in the 40 or 50s when Wu Lan's precious land would probably have been collectivized by the government.
ReplyDeleteI also felt badly for Olan who ultimately is not treated fairly from a Western perspective at least. I have a cousin who was named for her and I thought after reading the book it was a curious choice.
Hi Ruthiella, agree, had the novel been set in the 1940's and 1950's it would have been a whole different novel and politics would have had to have come into it more. As I understand the novel was banned in China during the Mao years and Communist Party said that Pearl Buck was mocking Chinese peasant farmers. But I understand today the book is read in China and has gotten positive reviews.
ReplyDeleteI think I read this book at the wring time. It hit me like a ton of bricks & I felt sad for days! I’ve often thought I should reread it as it was so beautifully written & it gives such a real pictureof the China that was.
ReplyDeleteHi Carol, I read it when I was a teen and read it again this year and it held up both times. Agree its beautifully written so I would advise giving the book a reread and one thing I want to do is read the next two books in the Good Earth trilogy which I never got around to doing.
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