3.5 stars

It was nostalgic reading this book. I felt like I was transported back to my college days when my professor would require us to read a classic novel and I would oblige begrudgingly not knowing that I would end up appreciating the novel. Nobody required me to read The Good Earth though but it was strongly recommended by a newfound friend and I wanted to challenge my reads so I decided to go for it.

The book was written like a tale, and as most tales, it is a moral story and has a very universal appeal. Much of the events are highly symbolic. It wouldn't matter what your race is, I think anyone who reads this will be able to relate with the characters, their beginnings, their small and huge achievements, acquiring land they never dared dream of, their struggles, and eventually of their end and how much of Wang Lung and O-lan's life revolved around their much coveted land, 'the good earth.'

The book also touched a lot of issues like gender inequality, oppression, slavery, most of which have been suffered and experienced by O-lan who is a figure of great strength and resilience even till her death and I couldn't help but appreciate the lives of the many women who suffered a great deal when women didn't have much rights. O-lan is mostly the reason why I liked the book and why I decided to persevere despite the writing even though beautifully descriptive and also hilarious at certain places...

“And what will we do with a pretty woman? We must have a woman who will tend the house and bear children as she works in the fields, and will a pretty woman do these things? She will be forever thinking about clothes to go with her face!”

“Now will you be so polite as to fall on your face like this before the Old Mistress?”

...is also a little verbose and bordering into apathetic. I also felt really bad that Wang Lung’s emotional capacity has degraded over the years. I thought from their vast experience, he would have learned to really love O-lan. So sad. The author is trying to make it real though, I understand that.

But overall, I would still see this book as a literary masterpiece reminiscent of two of my favorite classics, 'The Pearl' by John Steinbeck and the short story, 'Wedding Dance' written by Amador Daguio, a Filipino author.

أحد أمتع الكتب التي قرأتها في حياتي، قصة تدور أحداثها في الصين، وتروي صعود رجل صيني وتحوله من الفقر إلى الغنى وعلاقته بزوجته المسكينة، قرأت الكتاب مراراً

Wang Lung on his wedding day gets up at dawn as usual, a poor Chinese farmer's son, who lives with his widowed old father, but is a very hardworking, strong, and ambitious young man, they occupy, a three room house made of dirt bricks, with a straw thatched roof. After getting his ill father hot water, feeding the ox and doing the rest of the chores, Wang for the second time in the year, takes a bath secretly, with the precious water , ashamed to waste it, for such an unnecessary thing, hiding from his father this dishonorable deed. Putting on his best clothes, going for a long walk later, to the Great House of Hwang, the guard at the gate mocks him, demands a bribe for entrance, everywhere laughs are heard, as the farmer travels through the large luxurious estate, with so many beautiful houses. Amazingly looking objects, the bridegroom sees, never knowing of their existence, meeting O-Lan, his bride, for the first time, she is a tall plain looking woman, an unwanted slave, in the great house, beaten everyday, for no apparent reason, maybe to keep strict discipline there. O-Lan was sold by her poor family at ten, and has worked as a slave ever since, she is about twenty years old... Talking to the Old Mistress of the house, scared of her Eminence, is the awed farmer, all had been arranged by his father, bringing the bride back home, no real wedding ceremony, the old one is happy that he will be a grandfather, hopefully soon, grandsons, the only ones that count in China, in the late 19th Century. The small wedding feast, just five guests, including his lazy uncle, younger brother of his father, his son (the cousin also indolent) and three neighbors, Wang and his woman are both virgins on their wedding night. O-Lan is also hard working, a fine cook, always taking care of the house, the old man , in the fields with her husband, giving birth alone, to many sons (daughters also), and then the same day going back to help with the plowing. Silently, without complaints, a perfect wife, if only she wasn't so bad looking Wang thinks... After good harvests, buying land from the faltering House of Hwang, a famine occurs, people are starving to death, the uncle , his wife and son, are always asking for food and money, from Wang, when there is none, Wang has to decide stay and maybe die or go south , with his family, to a city where food is in abundance and abandon his land , that he loves, maybe forever, his modest dreams crushed, the desperate struggles, the backbreaking work, the scorching Sun beating down, the freezing mornings, cold to the bone, done for nothing ? Spellbinding story of a destitute peasant family, climbing literally from rags to riches and encountering difficulties as the new Twentieth Century arrives. Can they survive the changing, callous world?

هذا كتاب لن يحبه الصينيون المعاصرون في ما أعتقد.

يتبع قصة عائلة وانغ لانغ في الصين الزراعية قبل الحرب العالمية الثانية.
وانغ لانغ فلاح صيني، أرضه أعز ما في دنياه. هو نموذج للفلاح الساذج- شديد السذاجة.
عالم وانغ لانغ ضيق، الزراعة اليدوية تستهلك كل وقته، لم يتعلم القراءة قط، لم يعرف حياة المدن إلا لما فر إليها حين كاد يموت جوعا.
فقره وفقر والده منعه من الزواج إلا بجارية من جواري البيت الكبير تصدقوا بها عليه، أو-لاي، المرأة المكافحة الصابرة المدبرة الطيبة، المكسورة كسرا لا يجبر، فقد باعها أهلها للبيت الكبير وهي بعد طفلة. نراها دائما خاضعة مكسورة لايسمع لها صوت. هي أكثر شخصية تعلقت بها. تنجب الطفل تلو الطفل لتضمن المكانة لنفسها بإنجاب الأولاد الذكور لزوجها. لكنها زوجة صيني قبل الثورة الشيوعية، يهينها زوجها ويعاملها بفظاظة وعدم تقدير حتى آخر أيامها حين يشتد عليها المرض.
شيئا فشيئا، بالعمل الدؤوب المكلل بحب الأرض الطيبة، يبدأ وانغ لانغ في الإثراء واستحصال أجر كده. وهو كلما جمع شيئا من المال اشترى أرضا وضمها لأرضه.

وانغ لانغ لديه عقدة نقص شديدة، هدفه- اللاشعوري ربما- هو أن يصير السيد هوانغ الكبير، العين الثري الذي وهبه جاريته زوجة. فهو يبتاع أراضي السيد هوانغ مرة بعد مرة، ثم يستقبل مدبرة منزله في بيته، ثم في النهاية يشتري البيت الكبير وينتقل للإقامة فيه. وانغ لانغ في محاولته الخروج من سلم الفقر الاجتماعي، يقلد الأثرياء بطريقة خرقاء، يتردد على صالات الشاي ودور البغاء، ولا يلبث أن يقع في غرام مومس، تستهلك الكثير من ماله، يسيء بفظاظة لزوجته أو-لان، يتزوج المومس ويبني لها جناحا في بيته هو أرقى جناح، لكنه كما هو متوقع، بعد فترة قصيرة يمل منها. يشتري الجواري كما يفعل الأثرياء، ينتقل للبيت الكبير، ثم وهو شيخ في الثمانين، يغرم بطفلة من جواريه. محاولات واضحة لتقليد النبلاء،

لكنه يظل في داخله ذلك الفلاح المحب للأرض الطيبة، حتى بعد أن يصبح صاحب أملاك وجوار وأراض.

لم أحب هذه الصورة المثيرة للشفقة. كنت آمل أن يخرج أحد من أبناء وانغ لانغ عن هذه الصورة النمطية المثيرة للشفقة للفلاح،؛ لكن لا أحد منهم كان شخصية راديكالية أو غير نمطية على الأقل، فاهتماماتهم لا تتعدى التجارة بخيرات الأرض أو اكتراء الأراضي أو حل خصام الزوجات، وحتى في المشهد الأخير يتفق اثنان من أبنائه على بيع الأرض الطيبة لكن لا يغير ذلك في الأمر شيئا، تفكيرهما يظل قرويا رجعيا خجولا. ربما الابن الثالث الذي انضم للثورة في نهاية الرواية سيكون المحرك للأحداث في الأجزاء القادمة من الثلاثية.

جهل الفلاح وسذاجته، احتقار النساء، تعدد الزوجات، زواج القاصرات، بيع البنات، العنف المنزلي، عبادة الأوثان، هذه عادات صينية أضحت غير متقبلة لا في الصين ولا خارجها. بيرل باك تحتفل بها. لا أحد ينكر أنها وجدت لقرون في ثقافة الصين، لكن هناك خلل في عرض بيرل باك، تجعلها تبدو جيدة ربما بشكل منفر، لذلك أقول تحتفل بها. لكن مع ذلك، "احتفلت" بيرل باك بعادات صينية جميلة؛ كالعلاقات الأسرية واحترام الكبار.

أصرت بيرل باك على تذكير وانغ لانغ بأفعال الأغنياء قبله- وهو أصلا اكتسب ثروته من سرقة أحد الأغنياء في غوغاء اقتحم المتسولون خلالها بيته.
إذن، ما رسالة الرواية؟
بالعمل الجاد والتدبير الجيد، يصير الفقير غنيا، على شاكلة الأغنياء الذين أذلوه واضطهدوه في فقره؟! وكأنها حلقة مفرغة في دورة أبدية

اللغة عادية، الترجمة جيدة جدا، لكن الاستعارات القرآنية ليست مناسبة لرواية صينية.

What to make of so famous a book; Pulitzer Prize winner and Buck went on to win the Nobel Prize, the first American woman to do so. There are study guides galore and Oprah revived interest in the book when she selected it for one of her book club reads. The plot is well known and is set in the early part of the twentieth century in agrarian China. It is a family saga and is the first of a trilogy. It tells the story of peasant farmer Wang Lung from day until his death, covering about 50 years. It tells of famine and hardship and of the rise of Wang Lung to be a wealthy man, all his wealth springing from the land and the soil. The plotlines encompasses many of the evils/problems in Chinese society: famine/plenty, opium, foot binding, the taking of concubines, infanticide (of daughters), but also the daily routines of agrarian life with its ups and downs. Buck was the daughter of missionaries and spent many years in China and was a keen observer of life.
For many readers this was/has been an introduction to China, its people and culture and the endless notes provided by study guides illustrate this well. Celeste Ng makes a very good point about this:
“I hate The Good Earth because, all too often, it’s presented not as a work of fiction but as a lesson on Chinese culture. Too many people read it and sincerely believe they gain some special insight into being Chinese. In one quick step, they know China, like Neo in The Matrix knows Kung Fu. Since its publication, the book has regularly been assigned in high schools as much for its alleged window into Chinese culture as for its literary value.”
This raises the issue of whether a novel or work of fiction can ever be a guide or compendium of a country’s culture. Would we go to Zola to find out about nineteenth century France, Dickens for England, Faulkner for the modern US; I could go on. They might be illustrative, but not comprehensive or a cultural guide, a quite narrow perspective even for perceptive observers like Dickens or Zola. So why would Buck’s novel be treated like that? Even Buck points out there is much more to China than she portrays:
“And when on another day he heard a young man speaking — for this city was full of young men speaking — and he said at his street corner that the people of China must unite and must educate themselves in these times, it did not occur to Wang Lung that anyone was speaking to him.”
No book encapsulates an entire culture and it is typical of a western imperialist (or even post imperialist) mentality to begin to consider it can. The novel does clearly illuminate the position of women in Chinese society at that time. The focus on land and soil and personal progress tapped into middle class American values at the time it was written, helping to make it very popular and there is an interesting contrast with the role of Chinese immigrants in America at the time. There is, of course much more to be said, but reading Buck does necessitate an awareness of the society around her at the time. I did enjoy the novel and the character building is very good. It did remind me a little of Gone with the Wind (is that heresy?)

“Meat is meat.”

That’s what Olan says, in a scene I loved when Wang Lung takes a moral/prideful stance about where the meat came from and Olan stoops down to the ground where he’s thrown it, dusts it off, and feeds it to her starving children.

The spare, matter-of fact writing that makes the hard work of the beginning of the novel so enjoyable makes the middle section, when the character of Wang Lung develops into something vile, hard to take. I felt an overwhelming disgust for him, and wanted to stop reading.

But I kept on, and later went off on a tangent when a particular scene reminded me of Godfather III. It seemed Wang Lung was the Michael Corleone of early 1900’s China, that this book does for peasant farmers what The Godfather does for crime families—gives them a human face. Like Michael, at first you feel for Wang Lung. He’s determined and hard-working. But when he starts making some bad moves, takes up with another woman, treats his wife like a slave and his children like vehicles of getting what he wants, the charm is gone. He has some moments of realization, but not enough. “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”

Fortunately, I shook that off and finished the book. Although I didn’t always like it, I can’t deny meat is meat, and this is a meaty story—well put together, and in the end, strangely satisfying.

رمانى از خانم پرل باك كه با قصه هايي كه در گذشته مادربزرگ ها وپدر بزرگ ها براى نوه ها و بچه ها تعريف مى كردند هم رديف ويكسان است.شيرين،جذاب وكمى پند آموز وديگر هيچ..!
خاك خوب داستان وفادارى وپناه جستن انسان وآدمى است به زمين،به كوشش و تلاش در خاكى كه حاصل آن اميد است.به عشق ومهرى كه از خاك جان مى گيرد وجان مى بخشد.
گويا نويسنده آمريكايي با تجربه زيستن طولانى مدت در كشور چين و جهت شناساندن ومعرفى فرهنگ و ضعيت زندگى آن سرزمين،به نگارش اين رمان همت ورزيد.
رمانى كه اولين نوبل ادبيات براى خانمى از كشور آمريكا را به ازمغان آورد.
كتاب نقل زندگى مردى است از چين در زمانه قبل از انقلاب وبحبوحه سالهاى جنگ داخلى كه با شروع كتاب خانواده اى تشكيل مى دهد و با مشقت وتلاش بر روى خاك وكشاورزى،از فقر وتهيدستى به ثروت ورفاه مى رسد و در اوج رفاه وثروت مغلوب آرزوها و حسرت ها و لذت جوانى نكرده خود مى شود.وسپس همين حسرت ها وعقده هاى دوران ندارى مصائب ومشكلاتى در ميانسالى براي اين كشاورز زحمت كش به بار مى آورد.هرچند
اين رسيدن به رفاه و ثروت و شوكت؛ علاوه بر بخت و اقبال روزگار و كوشش وتلاش مرد كشاورز،بيشتر مديون فداكارى وگذشت همسر اين كشاورز است.همسرى كه با توجه به فرهنگ وقت كشور چين كنيز نام مى گيرد و همچون يك كنيز كار مى كند وجان مى دهد و از خود و زندگى دست مى شورد و براى رشد خانواده ومرد خود حتى دم هم نمى زند. تاجايي كه خواننده فكر مى كند شايد آرزو كردن وحتى فكر كردن به خيالى خوش هم در توان او نيست.زنى و كنيزى كه در اين شكل ونوع انتخاب براى زيستن و زندگى مشترك،علاوه بر تاثير گرفتن از شرايط و جبر روزگار،نقش فرهنگ وآداب وقت كشور چين در نگاه به زن وجنس مونث در آن ديده مى شود.فرهنگ و سننى از كشورى در خاور دور شبيه به ايران ما در همان بازه زمانى،كشورى در ميانه خاورميانه.
و سپس نسلى كه فرزندان اين خانواده هستند و بر حسب شرايط وتغير زمانه وباورها از خاكى كه آنان را برافلاك رساند دورى مى كنند و به عيش ولذت بردن دسترنج پدر مشغول مى شوند.
ترجمه رمان با اينكه مربوط به دهه٤٠شمسى است روان وخوشخوان است ولى ناشرين كتاب مى توانستند براى بعضى از اتفاقات و مسائل با افزودن اندكى توضيحات و اشاره به وقايع و رويدادها در قالب پى نوشت جذابيت بهتر و تصوير روشن ترى براى خواننده كتاب ابجاد نمايند.

this book Followed the life of Wang Lung, a Farmer in China. the story ordinary as it is is so touching and a lot of people can relate to it.
I loved it and I think this book is one everyone must read.

The Good Earth the first of the House of Earth Trilogy was an amazing and beautiful book by Pearl S. Buck and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 1932. This was followed by the next two books in the trilogy, Sons and A House Divided. The daughter of American Christian missionaries in China, Buck was able to beautifully translate to the written word her observations of the vast cultural differences of peasants in China at the turn of the century through the events of the end of World War I. But yet, the overarching theme was the importance and reverence for the land. Wang Lung is the product of generations of peasant farmers tirelessly working the soil yielding bountiful harvests. And now with his excess harvests, he is able to purchase a slave from the great house to be his wife. O-lan quickly proves herself invaluable with her strong disposition and numerous skill sets gained from her service as a slave, including her ability to sew fine clothing for the family as well as the preparation of the fancy meals she once served to the local lord and lady. O-lan works tirelessly alongside her husband Wang only stopping to bear their children and returning to the fields with the babies. When possible, Wang Lung purchases more land from the great house slowly increasing their wealth. But when famine drives them south to the big city where they live as beggars to survive, O-Lan manages to multiply their fortune when tensions spill over into a riot. This is a time not only of great political and social turmoil in China, but a novel about the hard-working farmer class and their fierce connection to the land. And this is a multigenerational novel. Although an antiquated and, for the most part, an agrarian society depicting a world where women are slaves, Pearl Buck beautifully conveys a rich moral complexity and universal concerns. It is easy to see why this book remains one of the great modern classics.

n  

”Moving together in perfect rhythm, without 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 this 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.”

“Then the good land did again its healing work and the sun shone on him and healed him and the warm winds of summer wrapped him about with peace.”

n

I probably would never have picked this book up had it not been chosen by a friend for a group read. Honestly, I don't go for Chinese lit very much, but I agreed to read this one, even though I was prepared to be bored at least. But I downloaded the audio version, read by Anthony Heald, and listened to the book while doing some much needed organizational stuff, and it was surprisingly good. I enjoyed the reading so much that I would sometimes stop doing stuff to just listen.

I think that had I read this on my own though, I don't think I'd have enjoyed it as much. There are times when a reader can add a whole lot to the story, and this was one of them. I actually do have an e-copy of the book, and I read along at some parts, and I think that listening to it was a fuller experience for me. Heald just seemed to GET these characters in a way I probably wouldn't have. He almost seemed to channel them so that his reading was borderline dramatization. It wasn't over the top - it was just perfect.

I don't know how much of this accurately represents Chinese culture. I don't know much about it myself, and so I took it all with a grain of salt. I don't particularly care for the attitudes towards women that are generally depicted in Chinese lit, so I don't read very much of it. But even if none of the cultural references are accurate, this was still an engaging and interesting story full of very human characters. At times, I didn't know whether to root for or against the main character, Wang Lung. I initially loved his character, and then as he progressed through life and different situational hardships and prosperity, I found myself mentally crossing my fingers while watching him with a wary eye. I wanted to like him, but sometimes the things he chose to do made that very, very hard. At one point, I was so disappointed in him, that I was shaking with anger at the sheer gall the man had, especially after everything, everything that had happened. That man had some cojones on him, I'll give him that.

I think that my favorite character in the story was O-lan. My heart broke for her. We never really get to know her fully, seeing things through Wang Lung's eyes, and he's not particularly perceptive when it comes to O-lan, or kind when he is, but I loved her. She never gave an inch of her dignity, no matter what her hardship, and she had so many. I was in awe of her, all while my heart hurt for the lack of gratitude she received for everything she gave. She deserved much better.

I found this to be an interesting story about a man's life and the things that he was able to achieve with that life, at the cost of so much, and the fleetingness of it all. I think that's what saddens me the most thinking about this book: we can't take any of it with us. I did enjoy this one, and I think the story will stay with me for a while, if nothing else.

Published in 1931, The Good Earth was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. Author Pearl S. Buck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. She was the first American woman to win both the Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes. Pearl spent her life working continuously on behalf of underprivileged children.

Although Pearl Buck was born in West Virginia in 1892, she grew up in rural China where her parents were missionaries. The Good Earth is based on her own observations of rural village life in China in the early 20th century.

As I was reading this classic, I had the feeling I was reading a parable, a reminder of important life lessons.

The story is a cycle of life, rags to riches saga of one peasant farmer and his family. We are reminded that our sustenance comes from the earth. There is a deep connection between man and the land. Working hard to acquire wealth is not necessarily a bad thing, but too often the rise to wealth and status can result in the breakdown of traditional values. Obsession with land and wealth can lead to moral corruption.

Pearl focuses also on the role of woman in rural China during this period. The farmer’s wife, O-Lan, is one of the most sympathetic female characters I have come across. With humble beginnings as a slave in the home of a rich family, she is long-suffering and loyal. She works hard. She works in the field, goes inside to give birth, cleans the birthing area, and returns to the field to work some more. Even after the family has acquired some land and wealth, it doesn’t change her. She is strong and clever. However, I kept hoping she would speak up and become a better self-advocate. That was not her way. Her internal dialogue is not revealed, and it would be incredible if an author used this character and wrote a spin narrative for O-Lan the way Percival Everett did for James.

Overall, this was an enjoyable reading experience of an enduring classic.

This is the story of Wang Lung, a Chinese farmer who makes his way from a simple agrarian life to a life of wealth and the warnings about what such a life can mean. We see Wang's life in contrast to that of the House of Hwang, the wealthy, but worthless, rich men of his town. Wang begins, a moral man who is tied to his land and appreciates the life he makes through his labors. He marries a good, but simple, woman O-Lan, who helps him work the fields and produces his children. He begins with an appreciation for this woman and values her contributions to his life. Then a turn of events leave him with money and as "the love of money is the root of all evil", Wang begins to change, until he morphs into the same corrupt man as the Hwang's whose place he assumes.

As a daughter of missionaries, I think Buck was intentionally writing a cautionary moral tale. She means us to see that Wang's wealth, which he comes to by stealing it from another person, removes him from what is important and good in his life. He loses his connection to the land, and in doing so loses all his happiness, peace and purpose. O-Lan, who might serve as a moral compass for Wang, is tossed aside for someone prettier, but whose outer beauty masks nothing but greed and indifference to Wang's welfare. In Wang's children we can see how deep the deterioration has gone and in the last pages of the book they are already looking toward selling the land, an act which will plant the seeds for their own downfall.

I cannot profess to like Buck's characters, with the exception of O-Lan, who is so unjustly mistreated and unloved that one feels despair for her sake. I do not see this, as some do, as a portrait of China. Even in this time, China and the Chinese may well have varied greatly from Buck's view of them. She was an outsider looking in, and from a view she would have held to be superior, I suppose. What I do see here is a very accurate portrait of what unearned wealth can produce in a man, what separation from nature and the natural order can do to man, and a rule that still holds true so much of the time...greed and corruption ultimately destroy. The happier man is the Wang who goes to take O-Lan for his bride and toils in the earth during the day and revels in the birth of his sons and the taking care of his elderly father. The man in the end is just a shell. He has no peace from his greedy children, his wealth is squandered on superficial material things, and he wants desperately to go plant his feet in the rich soil but cannot because it would be "unseemly" for a rich man to do so.