Wang Lung, could see the importance of land and how he could bring in good crops, he only achieved this dream after he married O-Lan a servant girl. As he acquired more and more land and money,
there was a breakdown in the family. His sons never shared their fathers love for the land....only wanted to sell after he died.
A cycle of life.

What a strange a beautiful little book this is. From the day Wang Lung goes to claim a servant girl as his wife, to help him toil away in his small parcel of land, all the way to his death as a prosperous land-owner, we follow him in the tradition of the greatest classics that make the ordinary life sound extraordinary.

The tone of the prose, while beautiful, is also a strong clue that Buck’s parents worked as missionaries, because it reads almost like the Bible. Characters are hardly ever referred to by name, their function and place in Wang’s life are more important than their identity, so there are the wife, the eldest son, and so on. It’s fine for a while, but it can get a little irritating, and there’s something very ominous about it, which always hints of the next disaster Wang and his family will have to face. Reading a few reviews, I see that I am not the only one who was strongly reminded of Steinbeck while reading “The Good Earth”, especially “The Grapes of Wrath” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), as a lot of themes and events overlap: drought, starvation, forced migration, the necessity of family bonds to survive. Unlike in Steinbeck's famous book, Wang’s luck eventually turns, but not necessarily for the right reasons, and it does not bring him the peace he so desires.

While I did not like Wang’s character much, I appreciated that he is far from unidimensional: he is a human full of contradictions, pulled between his traditional values and feelings that do not always follow those traditions. Of course his sexism is egregious, and the fact that he turns precisely into the kind of rich old man he despised on the first page is a cruel irony of fate – but it is also completely believable.

I would be curious to read more of Buck’s work; she was a very talented writer with a keen eye for human nature, and an ability to capture the simple fact that people are essentially the same, no matter how far you go.

2 1/2

I bounced between 2 and 3 stars, finally deciding to just meet it half-way.

As I said in the comments of one of my statuses, I found parts of the book interesting, but I didn't really enjoy it, per se. It wasn't as boring as I thought it might be, and that was good, but I also had a hard time connecting with the characters, especially because Wang Lung isn't particularly likable half the time, even if what he does is realistic and understandable from a 'human nature' perspective.

I did feel for the characters sometimes, though, especially O-lan, and I wonder if I would've liked it more if it was from more than just Wang Lung's perspective.

I also wasn't entirely sure what the story is aiming for. Is it meant to be a snapshot of a particular time and place, or is it meant to be a more universal story? It felt more universal, to me, but I also didn't feel like I really learned anything about human nature that I didn't already know - though I can imagine it would be more enlightening to someone a bit younger and less cynical.

As a snapshot of pre-Revolution China I'm not sure what I think of it. While there were some parts which seemed very specific to the culture and time period, it also seemed more like a fable - i.e. the aforementioned universality - and I think I was hoping for something more culturally specific.

Anyway - as I said before, while I find the portrayal of Wang Lung to be believable, althought not always very likable. Even with that, I found myself being generally sympathetic to him and, especially, to his family. But there are certain things that happen which make me lose a lot of this sympathy, and I had a hard time caring after that point, though there were still some moments of poignancy.

At the end of the day I guess I should say it's not a bad book, but I guess it partially depends on what you read for. Perhaps, once upon a time, when I actively studied philosophy and psychology, I would've enjoyed it for being an interesting and accurate glimpse into some of the highs and lows of human nature - which, as I said, it is.

But this book is a downer, and I don't read to be depressed by the faults of human nature - faults I'm already all too aquainted with from the day-to-day reckonings of life. And yet that's what the book left me with - a vague sort of depression and malaise. Yay?

خواندن كتاب عيشِ مدام بود . توصيفات فوق العاده از زندگي روزمره
اينكه ما فكر ميكنيم اين مرحله از زندگي رو بگذرونيم به آسايش خواهيم رسيد ولي در ادامه ميبينيم كه آسايش ابدي اي وجود نداره و زندگي يه مشكل جديد جلو پامون ميذاره رو به خوبي در طول داستان توصيف ميكرد

It had come out of the earth, this silver, out of his earth that he ploughed and turned and spent himself upon. He took his life from the earth; drop by drop by his sweat he wrung food from it and from the food, silver.

The Good Earth is known for telling the story of a poor, hard-working farmer, Wang Lung, who slowly and steadily gains more land and wealth for himself than he has ever imagined owning. Forced to marry a slave from the House of Hwang, the wealthy and rich family of his province, O-lan becomes his loyal but unappreciated wife, subservient to her husband’s needs and desires. Wang’s connection to the earth is central to his life. He is a good man underneath and it is his love of the land that provides him with the moral and traditional values that he finds important- love of his family, work ethic, religious piety. However, Wang Lung’s desire for wealth and riches contradicts his goodness and eventually causes him to lose his connection with the land. Wealth alone is not enough to sustain Wang Lung as he rises and gains more and more. Now, his social status becomes influential to him with a need for silk clothes, concubines and better houses. He lets the gain influence his actions and he begins to head down a darker moral path. The once important traditional values now begin to erode with the corruption of wealth. Thus it is too late when Wang Lung realizes that his sons are destined to repeat the same negative path that the sons of the House of Hwang made by severing their ties with all their father has created.


The plot is minimal focusing on the daily duties and rituals of a rural Chinese life at a time when famine, flood and poverty can upend a plentiful harvest time causing death and ruin. Many rural people were forced to flee south to the city for survival. Wang Lung’s family finds themselves in this situation, away from their livelihood of farming because there was nothing to produce. City life proved abominable for Wang’s family. O-lan sets to begging with their children while Wang barely earns enough to feed them daily while pulling a rickshaw. Here is when Wang discovers just how much of an alien he is because the culture of the city is nothing like his own home in the rural province.

He lived in the rich city as an alien as a rat in a rich man’s house that is fed on scraps thrown away, and hides here and there and is never a part of the real life of the house.

The Good Earth highlights many Chinese practices such as foot binding, opium-smoking, female infanticide, and concubines. O-lan’s strong female character shows some of the the hardships and limitations women endured. Her own daughter was called a poor fool and many families sold their girls into slavery in order to survive.

Pearl S. Buck won the Pulitzer Prize for this novel in 1932 and 6 years later she won the Nobel Prize.

Dopo la piacevolissima sorpresa di "Vento dell' est, vento dell' Ovest", che mi aveva fatto conoscere per puro caso la Buck su una bancarella di libri usati, con questo "la buona terra" affronto quello che viene da tutto considerato come il classico indiscusso della premio Nobel americana.

Libro eccellente intendiamoci, pensavo meglio. Nel senso che il libro è scritto comunque in modo spettacolare (esattamente come Vento dell' est, vento dell' Ovest) soprattutto se si pensa che siamo nel 1931, ma questa volta non sono riuscito ad avere quel senso di scoperta che ogni occidentale dovrebbe avere quando si accosta al lontano oriente ed alla sua storia. Facendo la conoscenza pgina dopo pagina di Wang Lung e della sua famiglia, ho avuto più di una volta la sensazione di trovarmi davanti molto più ad una Cina americanizzata e non reale che non al dramma ma anche ai forti legami valoriali della campagna di quel paese grande e misterioso.

Non mi ha stupito per niente la scoperta che la Buck ha conosciuto il continente che è poi diventato la sua sorgente di ispirazione in quanto moglie di un missionario presbiteriano. La morale del duro lavoro, ils ignificato morale dato al patrimonio ed alla ricchezza, la celebrazone di una vita povera e semplice, sono caratteristiche troppo fortemente caratterizzanti dei pilgrim fathers per non destare sospetti.

Manc qui quella cognizione del dolore che si trovano in opere egualmente biografiche di autori cinesi, come Jung Chang o Mo Yan.
Conseguentemente pur restando un grande libro, credo che "La buona terra" non riesca a rendere completamente invisibile quel velo interpretativo occidentalizzante del quale, forse, uno scrittore dell' ovest che parli dell'est non può fare a meno.

E' una difficoltà che "vento dell' est, vento dell' ovest" non deve affrontare, perchè dichiaratamente parla di un incontro. Ed è per questo che è proprio quest' ultimo romanzo quello che mi permetto di consigliare per cominciare a leggere una scrittrice tanto di valore quanto poco conosciuta.

O-lan (Luise Rainer) e Wang Lung (Paul Muni) - "The Good Earth/Terra Bendita" (1937) - realizador Sidney Franklin

”Terra Abençoada” originalmente publicado em 1931, vencedor do Prémio Pulitzer de Ficção em 1932 é o primeiro romance que leio da escritora norte-americana Pearl S. Buck (1892 – 1973) galardoada com o Prémio Nobel da Literatura em 1938.
”Terra Abençoada” é um verdadeiro clássico da literatura mundial, numa narrativa que decorre no reinado do último Imperador da China, tem como protagonista o jovem agricultor Wang Lung que casa com O-lan; um casamento que o seu pai, o velho, arranjou ao procurar na Casa Grande, a Casa de Hwang, se não havia por lá nenhuma escrava disponível - ”- Uma que não seja demasiado jovem e nem muito bonita (…)” (Pág. 15).
No dia do casamento a Venerável Senhora da Casa de Hwang disse a Wang Lung ”- Esta mulher tinha apenas dez anos quando veio para a nossa casa e aqui viveu até agora, até à idade de vinte anos. Comprei-a num ano de escassez, (…). Como podes ver, ela tem um corpo forte (…). Ela saberá trabalhar nos campos, tirar água e fazer tudo o mais que desejares. Não é bonita, mas disso tu não necessitas. Só os homens ociosos precisam de mulheres bonitas que os distraiam. Também não é esperta. Mas faz o que lhe mandam e tem boa índole. Tanto quanto sei ainda é virgem. (…) Leva-a e trata-a bem. É uma boa escrava, embora um pouco lenta e néscia (…). (Pág. 24 – 25)
Wang Lung e O-lan casam e começam em conjunto a trabalhar arduamente nos campos. As colheitas são produtivas, permitindo a Wang Lung e à sua mulher amealhar as “moedas” de prata que invariavelmente poupam e “escondem”.
A família aumenta e O-lan cumpre a promessa de mostrar o seu primeiro filho à Venerável Senhora; Wang Lung suspeita que a Casa de Hwang está em dificuldades económicas, propondo-se mais tarde - juntando as suas economias – comprar as terras da Casa Grande de Hwang.
Wang Lung é um verdadeiro e genuíno agricultor, apesar de analfabeto é um inquestionável empreendedor que vai prosperando, trabalhando e poupando de modo a não se preocupar com os períodos em que devido a condições climatéricas desfavoráveis a culturas se perdiam.
Pearl S. Buck constrói a narrativa de uma forma deslumbrante, centrando-se, essencialmente, em Wang Lung, na sua família, nos seus familiares e nos seus vizinhos, traçando um retrato excepcional sobre uma saga familiar e sobre uma China no início do século XX, dominada por tradições ancestrais, as relações entre pais e filhos, sobre o amor e a paixão, sobre a prosperidade e a decadência, sobre a sobrevivência e a fome, sobre a inveja e a ociosidade, sobre a opressão a que as mulheres chinesas estavam sujeitas, enfrentando o abuso e a arbitrariedade na infância feminina, muitas vezes determinadas pela sua beleza ou pela ausência dessa beleza, circunstâncias decisivas que condicionam a sua vida futura; mas igualmente, sobre a escravatura e as concubinas.
”Terra Abençoada” é um excelente romance, um obra imperdível, com inúmeras temáticas, mas onde o fascínio que a terra exerce, a ligação à natureza e à ética no trabalho são determinantes para a bondade e para a prosperidade humana.

Published in 1931 and made into an Oscar winning movie in 1937, The Good Earth owes much of its popularity to the Depression. There were two options for Americans who didn't leap from a building or leave the country. You could sit in the dark of a cinema and watch rich people in gowns and tuxedos drink champagne and enter into comic/romantic situations OR you could watch the tearjerkers and other tales of even harder lives than your own. The Good Earth falls into the latter category on the screen as well as the page.

Whatever is happening to your bank balance or in your romantic life, this book will touch you.It's a very human story of good and bad fortune and the curve balls you don't see coming. If you want to visit China, go. I did when it first opened up. But don't confuse this novel with a copy of Fodor's or a Lonely Planet guide. Buck lived in China and knew it at a particular time. For something more up to date read Timothy Mo's Sour Sweet about Chinese immigrants in London. You may still order sweet and sour sauce, but won't look at it the same way again.

این کتاب خیلی به دلم نشست. داستان ساده بدون اضافه گویی بدون کلمات قلمبه سلمبه بدون قضاوت بدون شعارزدگی و در عین حال به بهترین شکل ممکن حس و حال و فضای چین در اوایل قرن بیستم و التهابات اون دوره و سنت‌ها و رنج های مردم رو می‌رسونه و داستان یک خانواده روستایی و تلاش هاشون رو بیان می‌کنه.
باوجود اینکه نویسنده از یه خانواده مسیحی و مبلغ میاد اما هیچ کجای داستان حس نمی‌کنیم که داره تبلیغ دینی مسیحیت رو می‌کنه، از استعاره های دینی استفاده میکنه یا براساس چارچوب های دین مسیحیت، شخصیت ها رو قضاوت میکنه. نویسنده صرفاً یه روایه و روایت این داستان رو به بهترین شکل انجام میده.
داستان فراز و فرود زیاد و صحنه های دراماتیک نداره اما سرعتش اصلا کند نیست و خسته کننده نمیشه. ترجمه کتاب هم خیلی خوب بود.

I found this to be an incredibly moving and humanistic story, full of anger, tragedy, joy, and the elements that make for a great novel. It's a story any person in any country can relate to. The writing is beautiful and reads like a parable more than straight documentation or history, which was her intent, and a tribute to many of the old Chinese tales I've read (now reading it at an older age, I see a lot of references and tributes to other Chinese works I had not known of before). That is also part of its allure and I don't know if I could have appreciated it as much if I had not read it when I was younger first. =)

Book club read #24, August 2019.

What's left to say about a classic, a Pulitzer Prize winner, that hasn't already been said? Maybe nothing, but it is probably worth repeating just how wonderfully special it is. Had not read this before but saw the movie years ago, then about 10 years ago I picked up a paperback copy at a used book sale and didn't get around to reading it until a GR friend mentioned it recently as a book club option. So my book club agreed to try it when no one else had any suggestions.

This is about a farmer who loves what he does, feeling a connection to the land, feeling it in his bones, owning that land, providing for his family and the community through that land. Even though it's in a remote area of China, the messages are universal. Buck doesn't give us any specific years in which this takes place, so it remains timeless. She gives us characters who some may not care much for, but whose interactions give us a full idea of life and living, struggling and thriving in early twentieth century China. The lives of women, class differences, traditional vs modern ways, the rich and the poor man. The story seems simple on surface, but the more I think about it the more I see.

The first book in a trilogy that I do hope to continue on with.

4.5
Usually, before starting any book I make sure to read the blurb or at least a few reviews. But for ‘The Good Earth’ i didn’t even try to read either, which actually turned out to be a plus point for me because if I had read I wouldn’t have picked it up for sure. I picked it on a friend’s recommendation, I wanted to read a good book with good writing and she promised me it was one of those and she was absolutely right. Now I am glad for having read this.

This is a simple book on a simple man, but what makes it special is the way the story has been told, which instantly connects and binds the readers to the story and all the characters.
The story is about a poor farmer Wang Lung who marries a slave from the big house, O-lan. Wang’s love for his land was pure. All he ever wished was to work on it, earn money, buy more land and stay happy. But life was not as simple as he thought it would be. He had his share of difficulties which he overcame with the help of his wife. As time passed with his efforts he became rich his family grew, he had more mouths to feed including his father’s brother’s family.
But as he grew richer the problems in his life became bigger and more complicated. When he was poor he was satisfied with food and shelter but his richness bought him unnecessary wants in his life and different kinds of problems that only people with money could have.
Personally, I loved Wang’s character until he became rich, not that I hated him afterwards but I did not like the way he treated his obedient wife as nothing more than a servant in his life. Suddenly he started ignoring her, married someone much prettier than her, without even knowing how she felt. But finally, when he realised her value in his life it was too late.
Also, this book brings out the generation gap between Wang and his sons, wherein the good earth (his land) plays a prominent role. While he respected his land never even thought of selling it even when he was poor but whereas his sons never bother about it at all because they were well educated and their mind worked differently. They also thought about selling the land even though they had enough money, forgetting all the richness that they enjoyed throughout their life came from this good earth. Likewise, there are few situations in this book that makes one think about what money can do to a human being if it is in abundance and not spent meaningfully.

On the whole, I loved this book. The beauty of this book more than in the story or characters lies in the way it has been conveyed by author Pearl S Buck.

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