# Reading > Write a Book Review >  The Good Earth By Pearl S. Buck

## Virgil

_The Good Earth_ by Pearl S. Buck

I just finished reading _The Good Earth_ by Pearl S. Buck this week. I read the entire novel in six days, which is very fast for me. It helped that I was on a business trip this week with a five hour flight each way and that I could not get onto the internet.  :Wink: It is a great read and I highly recommend it. 

The book is about the life of Wang Lung, a peasant farmer in China, from the day he takes a bride to his imminent death. It is epic in scope. It is Tolstoyan in nature. The time setting is not mentioned, but there is talk of revolution which seems to go on in the background. We are never told what revolution. We are made feel Wang Lung’s ties to his land and see his economic turns, from struggling to prosperous to starvation and finally to wealth, and exceeding wealth. We see the growth of his family, his father to whom he is dutiful to his wife, the plain slave woman O-lan, to his many children, and then the extended family and women he brings in. The novel is about the cycle of life and how money affects it and how the earth is the foundation of life. And despite the novel being written from the point of view of Wang Lung, it is also about the various types of lives of women. We see the strong devoted wife, the slavery of women, the concubines that please the men, and the daughters who are property. 

The writer is Pearl S. Buck, an American who spent a good deal of her life in China as a daughter of missionaries, returned to the United States to go to University, and then went back to China as the wife of another missionary. She taught there, raised a family, and after several tragedies she returned to the United States, became a writer, and set up humanitarian services, including the pioneering of adoption services. She won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1932 for _The Good Earth_, which was published the year before. She went on to write many works, but none, I believed, reached the status of _The Good Earth_.

I was very surprised at the high level of craft in this work. The scope of the work is both large and small, capturing the broad sweep of the cycles of life but also capturing the inner passions of the characters. For instance, the excitement of Wang Lung on his marriage, the birth of his first born, the temptation to sell a daughter into slavery from dire poverty, the injustice to the dutiful wife by taking in a concubine, and the sadness of his wife’s death. These were all very touching and Buck made the reader feel the emotions. If there are any imperfections in the work, I would only say that several times the situations seemed like stock situations, but the characters always felt real. 

Here is a sample of her writing.




> But there is not that about three rooms and two meals a day to keep a woman busy who has been a slave in a great house and who has worked from dawn until midnight. One day when Wang Lung was hard pressed with the swelling wheat and was cultivating it with his hoe, day after day, until his back throbbed with weariness, her shadow fell across the furrow over which he bent himself, and there she stood, with a hoe across her shoulder.
> 
> “There is nothing in the house until nightfall,” she said briefly, and without speech she took the furrow to the left of him and fell into steady hoeing.
> 
> The sun beat upon them, for it was early summer, and her face was soon dripping with her sweat. Wang Lung had his coat off and his back bare, but she worked with her thin garment covering her shoulders and it grew wet and clung to her like skin. 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 no articulate thought of anything; there was only this perfect sympathy of movement, of turning the earth of theirs over and over to the sun, this earth which formed their home and fed their bodies and made their gods. The earth lay rich and dark, and fell apart lightly under the points of their hoes. Sometimes they turned up a bit of brick, a splinter of wood. It was nothing. Some time, in some age, bodies of men and women had been buried there, houses had stood there, had fallen, and gone back into the earth. So would also their house, some time, return into the earth, their bodies also. Each had his turn at this earth. They worked on, moving together—together—producing the fruit of this earth—speechless in their movement together.
> 
> When the sun had set he straightened his back slowly and looked at the woman. Her face was wet and streaked with the earth. She was as brown as the very soil itself. Her wet, dark garments clung to her square body. She smoothed a last furrow slowly. Then in her usual plain way she said, straight out, her voice flat and more usually plain in the silent evening air, “I am with child.”
> 
> Wang Lung stood still. What was there to say to this thing, then! She stooped to pick up a bit of broken brick and threw it out of the furrow. It was as though she had said, “I have brought you tea,” or as though she had said, “We can eat.” It seemed as ordinary as that to her! But to him—he could not say what it was to him. His heart swelled and stopped as though it met sudden confines. Well, it was their turn at this earth!
> ...


_The Good Earth_ just exudes life! 9/10 Kit Kats.  :Smile:

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## Janine

> _The Good Earth_ by Pearl S. Buck
> 
> I just finished reading _The Good Earth_ by Pearl S. Buck this week. I read the entire novel in six days, which is very fast for me. It helped that I was on a business trip this week with a five hour flight each way and that I could not get onto the internet. It is a great read and I highly recommend it. 
> 
> The book is about the life of Wang Lung, a peasant farmer in China, from the day he takes a bride to his imminent death. It is epic in scope. It is Tolstoyan in nature. The time setting is not mentioned, but there is talk of revolution which seems to go on in the background. We are never told what revolution. We are made feel Wang Lung’s ties to his land and see his economic turns, from struggling to prosperous to starvation and finally to wealth, and exceeding wealth. We see the growth of his family, his father to whom he is dutiful to his wife, the plain slave woman O-lan, to his many children, and then the extended family and women he brings in. The novel is about the cycle of life and how money affects it and how the earth is the foundation of life. And despite the novel being written from the point of view of Wang Lung, it is also about the various types of lives of women. We see the strong devoted wife, the slavery of women, the concubines that please the men, and the daughters who are property. 
> 
> The writer is Pearl S. Buck, an American who spent a good deal of her life in China as a daughter of missionaries, returned to the United States to go to University, and then went back to China as the wife of another missionary. She taught there, raised a family, and after several tragedies she returned to the United States, became a writer, and set up humanitarian services, including the pioneering of adoption services. She won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1932 for _The Good Earth_, which was published the year before. She went on to write many works, but none, I believed, reached the status of _The Good Earth_.
> 
> I was very surprised at the high level of craft in this work. The scope of the work is both large and small, capturing the broad sweep of the cycles of life but also capturing the inner passions of the characters. For instance, the excitement of Wang Lung on his marriage, the birth of his first born, the temptation to sell a daughter into slavery from dire poverty, the injustice to the dutiful wife by taking in a concubine, and the sadness of his wife’s death. These were all very touching and Buck made the reader feel the emotions. If there are any imperfections in the work, I would only say that several times the situations seemed like stock situations, but the characters always felt real. 
> ...


*Virgil,* I did not read all of your comments here yet, but I will when I check out all of the new entries today on the forum. I have to tell you right away, that I love Pearl S. Buck's novels! I loved "The Good Earth". I believe, that was the first of her books that I read, way back in high school, and I can say, I still remember being highly impressed by it; thinking about it long after I closed the book. Since that time, I went on a sort of campaign to dig up whatever novels I could find of her work; so I have read and own countless other novels of hers; I just love her writing and style; she paints such an invaluable and realistic vision of the people set in that times in history and cultures; many of the regions she lived in with her missionary parents. I actually found a hardbound edition free at my library recently on her life but have not gotten around to reading it yet. 

I can recommend a few of my favorite novels of hers that I think you also will love. I think the "Good Earth" is a great read, but some of the others actually surpassed even my fondness to this particular that book. 

Recently, I have been thinking of buying the older film adaptation of TGE and will probably do so soon. It seems to have favorable reviews for an older film on Amazon; so I placed it in my Wishlist long ago.

By the way, I just voted and even higher than you. I might actually be considering all of the work I have read by Pearl - someone I greatly admire.

I did read all of your post now and will comment later on the points you brought up. I guess also it is time I reread "The Good Earth" - eh? I like the way your did draw a parallel to Tolstoy - I had not thought of that before but it is an interesting comparison and I always did appreciate Tolstoy - mostly in short story form when I was younger.

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## Virgil

> By the way, I just voted and even higher than you. I might actually be considering all of the work I have read by Pearl - someone I greatly admire.


You know, I now regret not voting for the highest score. I held back only because the book does not seem to have made college classrooms. I don't know why. It is a great novel. I guess you will have to recommend another of her novels to me if you say they are that good.

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## Janine

> You know, I now regret not voting for the highest score. I held back only because the book does not seem to have made college classrooms. I don't know why. It is a great novel. I guess you will have to recommend another of her novels to me if you say they are that good.


To me they all are good - at least the ones I have read; mind you, it has been years. I truly want to re-read them all; I enjoyed them that much. I recall reading "Imperial Woman" and I liked it. I recall reading "The Exile" and loved that book, if it is the one I am thinking of. I also liked one about Korea and will look the name of that book up. I will look them up later today. I own a few of these books I mentioned, but may have packed them away, in the basement. I have "The Exile" right here, was still in my bookcase. I know I never give books I love away. 

I think I hear thunder and it is getting dark so I should unplug to be on the safe side. I had better go and rest also; still not up to par. But I will think on it and make you a list. 

I kind of impulsively voted the best score but I do think this book is exceptional.

Edit: wow, I just went tracking down her work - not an easy task. I may have read some of the more obscure ones. I just found this site: 
https://www.alibris.com/search/books/author/Buck
It lists many; the woman was a prolithic author. I did read "The Living Reed" - that I think was one of my favorites. I may have read "Sons" - the plot sounds vaguely familar. I was not aware that "The Exile" was biographical. I am trying to think of the novel with a son from China, who is sent by his father, to Japan to stay with a good friend's family. That may or may not be "The Exile"....I will read a little of the book to see, if that is the plot. I think I recall this one; early work: 




> Patriot
> by Pearl S Buck 
> 
> About this title: Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

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## kasie

This was one of the books that I read way back when that made me want to visit China. At the time it was a closed country and the chances of visiting it, beyond the major cities, were slim. When visitors were once again welcomed, it seemed a possibilty and last year I was fortunate enough to spend a month travelling in this vast and intriguing land. The tour I chose was selected on the grounds that it included a visit to a 'family house' in Dali in the western province of Yunnan - I wanted to see the kind of house that Wang Lung lived in during his more prosperous time. Hardly anyone I was travelling with had heard of 'The Good Earth' - I hope my enthusiasm encouraged some of them to read it on their return. It has recently been reissued in paperback in UK, so maybe some of them will have come across it.

I have not come across any other titles by Pearl Buck but will try to find some, as you recommend them, Janine.

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## Janine

Another of Pearl S. Buck's novels I loved was "The Patriot". The title of one of the books I mentioned may actually be called "The Empress" and not "Imperial Woman"...below I looked that up for your, *Virgil*. It may be that they are separate novels, too(?). I think now I did see "Imperial Woman" listed in the site (the link I provided). I guess one has to track down these older editions; maybe try your library. I know I was lucky and found several older editions at various places - yardsales, thriftstore, outside markets, and the freebie shelf of my library. Whenever I would see one of her books, I would pick it for my collection.

Here is an essay a student wrote on "Imperial Woman"; you might get some insight into the story.

This is one I read and particularly liked a lot.

http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/237/

Edit:
This is one of the novels I know I read and loved.

AMAZON DESCRIPTION:




> With *The Living Reed,* Ms. Buck has created a story of Korea in transition to the modern world through her characters. The sweep of history and the excitement of great events provide only part of the book's power:
> 
> The story is of a closely knit family dedicated to the salvation of their homeland, the preservation of their culture, and a move into the modern world from the archaic ways of the past. Korea, the golden pawn in the midst of the past. Korea, the golden pawn in the midst of centuries of struggle between China, Russia, and Japan, is finally on the brink of becoming independent.
> 
> All major public events and characters are authentic--from the assassination plots early in the book to the landing of American troops at the end. The Living Reed is compelled by the vivid detail of a remarkable people and culture, the unveiling of three love stories, and Buck's affinity for her subject.



Here is a page where you can find a ton of her books listed on AMAZON:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...10346/bookrags

Just scroll down a little to see a whole lot more of her novels listed and you can use the arrow on the right to find even more. If you read the individual descriptions you can check out the basic plots of the books. 

I was just browsing around for these and found out that Buck lived for many years in Pennslyvania before moving to Vt. Gee, I would love to go and see her house. I think it is in Montgomery County, not that far from me.

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## Nossa

I've never read any of her books before, but the part you posted, Virgil, it's really good. I'm gonna try and find it in bookstores here.

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## Janine

*Virgil,* I just discovered that one can download the audio book from my library regional center for free. I just may do that, if I can locate my library card. It would be great to have and probably I can burn it in MP3 format.

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## motherhubbard

Pearl S. Buck is one of my favorite authors and The Good Earth is the book that started my love of reading. I don’t know how many times I’ve come back to it and re-read it. I’m always trying to get Bailey to read it so we can talk about how wonderful it is. I cry every time I read it. 

You wrote a great review.

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## Virgil

Thank you. I enjoyed it. Perhaps it could be on Bailey's summer reading list.  :Wink:

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## eyemaker

This book was out-of-stock yesterday when I visited the bookstore. I hope they will soon have copies.... :Wink:

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## Janine

*eyemaker,* hope you can get a copy soon; just the fact it was out of stock shows how popular and good the book is. I love Pearl S. Bucks works. I read "The Good Earth" as a teenager, but then picked up the author later on and loved all the novels I read - so interesting the way she incorporated true facts of history with her stories/plots. 

*motherhubbard,* which other novels of hers have your read?

*Nossa,* do try one of her books - I am sure you will like it. She writes beautifully and she depicts the times and the history of those times so vividly. It is like a window back into that part of the world during those crucial years.

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## Scheherazade

Just finished reading _Good Earth_. I have little to add to Virgil's detailed summary and review but I have to admit that I am glad that I have read this book as it was one of the books I thought I should read but never made time to.

One of the aspects that I liked most is how Buck depicted Chinese way of life and culture without turning it into a tourist show. I find cultural differences a fascinating subject and Buck's depiction is marvellous (even though I cannot tell how reliable she is in this book). Having said that, it is also fascinating that despite cultural differences, we can still see that humanbeings are the same in core across place and time. We all suffer from the same ills (jealousy, greed, lust, selfishness etc) and we all redeem ourselves with the same qualities (loyalty, love, respect, duty etc).

It was a pleasant read:

*8/10 Kitkats!*

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## Virgil

Yes, I can't tell how accurate she is either, but she did live in China for a long time. It feels like it's being written from the inside. If I didn't know any different it feels like it could have been written by a chinese author.

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## Jet

Yes, "The Good Earth" is a great read. At first I also thought it was written by a chinese author. Another good read that sets in old country China is "To Live" by Yu Hua.

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## erin montemurro

if you read any of her books this one is a must - head and shoulders above all of her other works

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## SleepyWitch

sounds interesting, Virge. I'll put it on my books-to-read list

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## bookmaniac

Pearl Buck's The Good Earth is one of the greatest books that I have ever read. I would encourage all who haven't yet read it to experience one of this century's true classics.

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## Oniw17

This has been one of my favorite books since I first read it in fifth grade, though I've only owned it since earlier this year.

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## Chloe M

I listened to the audio book for the first time when I was in junior high. I think hearing the words read aloud adds an extra element to the experience. It sounds beautiful because of the writing style. 

I found out recently that The Good Earth is the first book of a *trilogy*! Has anyone read the others? I'm always hopeful but wary of sequels so I'd appreciate opinions of what to expect quality-wise.

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## sofia82

I've just seen the movie and it was really great, I loved it so much.

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## Janine

> I listened to the audio book for the first time when I was in junior high. I think hearing the words read aloud adds an extra element to the experience. It sounds beautiful because of the writing style. 
> 
> I found out recently that The Good Earth is the first book of a *trilogy*! Has anyone read the others? I'm always hopeful but wary of sequels so I'd appreciate opinions of what to expect quality-wise.


*Chloe,* do you know which other books are in that trilogy? I read a great many books by Pearl S. Buck when I was younger and I can't say I read a bad one. To me they all were interesting and wonderfully vivid, beautifully written. Now I am curious to know which of the books I read are considered part of that trilogy. I will try looking on Wikipedia to see if they mention it. Glad you brought it up; that is interesting. I think a trilogy is a little different than a mere sequel to the book.




> I've just seen the movie and it was really great, I loved it so much.


*Sophia,* is this the older film? I have seen it advertised on Amazon and have considered buying it. I may have seen it years ago and just have forgotten it by now.

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## Chloe M

The second one is _Sons_ and the third one is _A House Divided._ Below are summaries from Amazon. 




> Second in the trilogy that began with The Good Earth, Buck's classic and starkly real tale of sons rising against their honored fathers tells of the bitter struggle to the death between the old and the new in China. Revolutions sweep the vast nation, leaving destruction and death in their wake, yet also promising emancipation to China's oppressed millions who are groping for a way to survive in a modern age.





> A House Divided, the third volume of the trilogy that began with The Good Earth and Sons, is a powerful portrayal of China in the midst of revolution. Wang Yuan is caught between the opposing ideas of different generations. After 6 years abroad, Yuan returns to China in the middle of a peasant uprising. His cousin is a captain in the revolutionary army, his sister has scandalized the family by her premarital pregnancy, and his warlord father continues to cling to his traditional ideals. It is through Yuan's efforts that a kind of peace is restored to the family.

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## Janine

> The second one is _Sons_ and the third one is _A House Divided._ Below are summaries from Amazon.


I think I read the second one "A House Divided" but not sure. Did the son go away to Japan to stay with a family that his father knew; then return home later on to find his country waring with Japan and within it's own borders? If so, that is the one I read. Many of her plots are similar in content, so I am not entirely sure these are the ones I read - it was so many years ago. I can tell you one thing; I went on a binge of reading all the books of hers, I could get my hands on at that time, and not one was a disappointment. I always recall closing the last page and saying 'wow'. They were all dynamic and they took one away to another time period in that part of the world. Someday, I should re-read them all and the ones that I missed. I don't think you could go wrong with any of her novels, if you liked "The Good Earth". I was required to read that novel for high school, but when I later read others, I actually preferred them to that novel, as far as thinking they were more envolved and intricate in plot and political atmosphere and intrigue. She was a marvelous author.

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## blazeofglory

I have read this book long ago and I like the end of the book, the way the main character of the book takes a handful of soil and put on his head, or something like that. There was a time drought and the way farmers looked to a rainy day

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