January 1 2007: Review: The Good Earth – Pearl S. Buck
Filed under Reviews
‘The Classic Novel of Pre-revolutionary China by the Nobel Prize-winning Author’. This is what the subtitle on the front cover of my version of The Good Earth says. Incorrect capitalisation aside, it is an outstanding novel, spinning a tale of the rise and fall in fortunes of a Chinese family with peasant roots in a way that captivates me entirely. Truth be told, it’s written so skillfully that had I not known that Pearl Buck was a white American woman (who, admittedly, had been brought up in China by her missionary parents), I would have sworn that this was a memoir written by an actual Chinese.
The novel begins on Wang Lung’s wedding day. A poor farmer, the poorest a man can be, collects his wife (O-Lan, a slave in a rich man’s house who he had never seen before) in the morning, and the two fall immediately into a routine with him working in the fields, and her doing chores around the house before joining him in the fields. They soon reap the fruits of their labours, gaining wealth and prosperity as well as bearing several male children and one girl child, ignominiously referred to only as the ’slave child’ throughout the whole novel.
Before long however, they are beset by natural disasters, as floods ruin their harvests and they are eventually driven into the south of China to eke out survival by begging on the streets. With a bit of luck and cunning however, they manage to find themselves the possessors of a large fortune, which they promptly take back to the home land and sink their fortunes into land, and become wealthy and respected land owners.
Before long however, Wang Lung tires of O-Lan, and like all other fabulously wealthy men depicted in the novel, takes a mistress and installs her in his home. This is a slap in the face to O-Lan, who has suffered through several decades with Wang Lung, bearing him several healthy man children, as well as working tirelessly beside him to scratch out a living. O-Lan soon dies of disease, and their children all grow to forget their peasant roots in an attempt to be seem more modern and cultured.
The novel sadly ends with Wang Lung’s gradual descent into old age. One of the last things he says to his sons best describes the main theme of the novel – ‘It is the end of a family – when they begin to sell the land. Out of the land we came and into it we must go – and if you hold your land you can live – no one can rob you of land – If you sell the land, it is the end’. In the end, land is what gives men security.
One Response to “Review: The Good Earth – Pearl S. Buck”
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The Good Earth was loaded to me when I was 19 years old. I read it, loved it and haven’t stopped reading since and I am in my 60’s now. I have asked “Santa” for the trilogy for Christmas so that I can read The Good Earth again and the other two that follow it. I’ve enjoyed so many of her books!!
I found your blog while researching for a page on Pearl S Buck for http://www.mahalo.com. Check us out. We have a page on Ms Buck as well as Good Earth.
Regards,
Mary
Mary on December 4 2007 #