Author: Pearl S. Buck
Title: The Good Earth
Publication Date: 1934
Number of Pages: 357 (Hardcover)
Audiobook: Unabridged 9 discs=10.5 hours
Geographical Setting: Northern China
Time Period: 1912-1949
Series: 1st in the series, Sons (2nd), A House Divided (3rd)
Plot Summary: This story begins on the young farmer, Wang Lung's wedding day to the slave girl O-lan. He is determined to care for his land and raise a family that he can be proud of. Beginning in the early 1900s the two begin a life hardly knowing each other but both committed to hard work and duty. Over the years, the two build a family and fortune to be proud of with sons and daughters and land that is fertile and plentiful in good years, and sustaining for the most part in lean ones. Narrated in third person limited point of view, readers travel through the years of the story from Wang Lung's perspective. Everyone else's portion of the story is told based on how Wang Lung perceives them.
Appeal: I read The Good Earth many years ago as a teenager. I really enjoyed the story, but I couldn't remember why. When I decided to revisit it, I decided to listen to the audiobook instead. What a treat that has been! Listening with keen interest, I am re-learning about some 19th century traditional Chinese culture for poor/middle class people. It only takes one disaster to make a rich man a poor man, and one well placed opportunity and some wit to make a poor determined honest man a rich one. The portion of the story that struck me most is the regard or lack there of for women. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but I found it fascinating how the women of this story, particularly the main character O-lan, had a silent determination to thrive in the midst of knowing that she wasn't truly valued. Not until her untimely terminal illness and ultimate death does everyone realize her significance to everyone's well being and comfort. It was she who quietly side ways convinces Wang Lung to buy more land. It is she who knows how to survive on little of nothing during famine. It is she who sacrifices her infant so there is one less mouth to feed during famine. It is she who knows the secrets of the great houses having been a slave there thus knowing how to collect left over jewels when the great house is overtaken. Her words are few but measured and when she speaks, Wang Lung finds that he learns and prospers. However, it's not until her dying days, does he realize she is the reason he has prospered in all that he has.
I suppose another reason this book appealed to me was to listen to the thoughts of Wang Lung as shared by the all-knowing narrator. Hearing his joy, anger, pride, humility, intelligence, and ignorance showed a humanity that I hadn't read in a while. It was particularly interesting with the back drop of 19th century Chinese culture as the main driver.
There were a couple of movies made of this Pulitzer prize winner, but it would be nice to see it redone with today's creativity in cinematography and technological advancement.
Subject Terms: Family sagas, Chinese--Fiction, Farmers-- Married women, Historical Fiction
Have you read The Good Earth? What did you think?