The Good Earth

I have to start by saying that I'm glad that I didn't know anything about this book or read any of the reviews first. It's nice not to be influenced sometimes, especially as some of what I see as worthwhile qualities other people don't. For instance, I appreciated the pace of the book. I wouldn't have said that it was "too long and wordy" as I've read in other reviews, but then I know that literary styles and tastes change and this book was written nearly 100 years ago.

I also had no problem with the main character, Wang Lung, who had flaws but who seemed to be decent and good-hearted even though not particularly self aware or curious. While he didn't recognize his feelings for his wife, O-lan, as love, that made sense given who he was and what culture he lived within.

I loved the irony of the arc of the main character's life: from poor farmer who feels so small and unworthy to wealthy landowner who gained his land through jewels stolen from another wealthy family and finally, to a legacy of loss when his own sons forget their roots (as farmers).

I also feel compelled to comment on the "controversial" fact that a Western woman wrote the story of a Chinese farmer (not in first-person as the study guide for this edition claims, but in limited third-person). In this case, this fact isn't as negative as some people make it. Pearl Buck grew up in China and spoke Chinese. Perhaps she never lost her outsider status, but I'd bet that as an astute observer of the people around her she got a lot right in her story. If Farmer Wang is at all representative of the Chinese of his generation, then it makes sense that an outsider saw his situation clearly. Certainly, it was the ideas of an outsider (Karl Marx) that finally transformed the many wars and revolutions between the poor and wealthy in China into a permanent change.

رغم الطول النسبي للرواية، لكني لم أستطع أن أتركها إلا بعد الأنتهاء منها
رائعة و تستحق الخمس نجوم

When the earth suffers, women suffer-- when women suffer the earth suffers. I think this is what Buck captured so beautifully in her book. She is a brilliant feminist writer!

Through her character O-lan, Buck makes the argument that all of man's (in the story Wang-lung)increase and prosperity comes because of his reliance on the "good earth", which refers not only to his land but also to his good woman. Without his woman he would have had none of the prosperity he enjoys! The tragedy is that he doesn't appreciate what he has and the woman suffers. My heart just ached for O-lan and she reminded me that so many woman in the world live similar lives. So many women bring forth fruit, raise it and cultivate it, in silence. They are trampled on, destroyed and unappreciated.
Life would cease to exist without the earth, just as life would cease to exist without women.

It's difficult for me to explain how much I hate this book, and even harder to explain why. I don't think it's just because I hated the main character so much, and in this case at least, I don't think it's because of the weirdness that arises from a Westerner writing about a colonized country.

I do know that *part* of my intense dislike for this book comes from how it is viewed by other people (usually non-Chinese). Read the reviews and you'll see one word come up over and over again: "portrait." Says one reviewer, "In addition to lovely, rich writing, the novel provided much-needed Chinese history, class and culture lessons." Am I the only person whose hackles go up when someone refers refers to a novel like a textbook? Of course there is some historical fact in The Good Earth, and in other novels, but I have a serious problem with people conflating (and equating) fiction and history. While there's some truth in the book's portrayal, it perpetuates a lot of stereotypes about the Chinese. What's more, this book has shaped a lot of people's perceptions of China and the Chinese, not necessarily for the better. I know this happens with other cultures--but often to a greater extent with The Good Earth. Do we read Anna Karenina and feel that we now know everything about Russia? Does anyone read Midnight's Children as a straight-up account of Indian history? Yet for some reason, for a lot of people The Good Earth is *it*, the one lesson in Chinese culture and history that they will read in their lives. They end up thinking, "This is how China IS," not "This is a portrayal of how one part of China was at one point in time."

Of course, most of the above complaint about this book has to do with the reactions of the people reading it, not with the book itself. But I think there's something in how the book is pitched, and in the narrative itself, that invites that. As a story of love, partnership, and sacrifice in a marriage and family--this book does well. But it's not THE portrait of China that many readers unfortunately make it out to be.



For more thoughts on this, see my post at the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/celeste...

Treasure of the Rubbermaids 6: Made in China

The on-going discoveries of priceless books and comics found in a stack of Rubbermaid containers previously stored and forgotten at my parent’s house and untouched for almost 20 years. Thanks to my father dumping them back on me, I now spend my spare time unearthing lost treasures from their plastic depths.

I bitch about having to mow my lawn, but when I’m done, I usually sit on my deck and have a few ice cold beers. Then I take a hot shower and get in my car to go to the grocery store where I buy a cart full of food without giving it a second thought.

Chinese farmer Wang Lung (I wanted to type Wang Chung there. Damn you ‘80s!) spends all day doing back breaking labor in his own fields and there’s still barely enough food to keep from starving. His big reward is a cup of hot water in the morning with maybe a few tea leaves in it on special occasions, and he sponges himself off with hot water every couple of months whether he needs it or not.

So maybe I shouldn’t complain about walking around behind a power mower for an hour or two a week during the summer?

The book begins on Wang Lung’s wedding day. His bride, O-Lan, is a slave in the great house of his town, and they’ve never met. He splurges by taking a bath, buying her a couple of peaches, and getting a little pork and meat for their wedding feast which O-Lan prepares. For a honeymoon, they go work in the fields together. This whole section made me laugh thinking about the women on those reality wedding shows like Bridezillas.

Wang Lung and O-Lan make a good couple. They’re both hard working and she soon bears him sons which is kind of important to the Chinese. (And she returns to the fields right after giving birth with no assistance. O-Lan is a dream client for an HMO.) Together their family will go through bad times including droughts and famine, but O-Lan’s steady nature and Wang Lung’s farming skills eventually bring them prosperity.

The one thing that sets Wang Lung apart from other farmers is his constant desire to acquire new land. Part of this is pride, but Wang Lung realizes that owning good farm land is the key to providing the necessary cushion to keep from starving during bad years. Plus, he genuinely loves working his crops and bringing them to harvest. His fierce love of the land is the one constant in his life, but he obviously never went through a real estate crash. (Diversify, Wang Lung! Diversify!)

This book works on a lot of levels. As a depiction of a culture that little was known about when it was published, it’s fantastic. I liked how Buck never comments or judges on things that are kind of horrifying like selling girls for slaves or binding their feet, but treats them as just the way things are to all the characters. She just let the facts speak for themselves. It’s also works as a family drama with trials and tribulations worthy of a soap opera. You could also read it as a plain old rags-to-riches success story.

Despite being set in a time and place so alien to me, the characters still seem very real and relatable despite the cultural differences. Wang Lung doesn’t seem that different from any modern American farmer I’ve known. I think it must be universal that farmers everywhere like to gather and shoot the shit whether it’s at a Chinese tea house or a diner in Kansas.

And when a successful Wang Lung experiences a mid-life crisis and falls for a younger woman, you realize that it’s no different from any modern guy divorcing the wife who stood by him for years. It’s just that the sports car hasn’t been invented yet so Wang Lung can’t go buy one.

This is one of those classics that has an easily readable style and a compelling story that still seems fresh even though it was published over 70 years ago.

A wonderful book. I read this when I was younger and didn't like it. But I loved it this time around.

A moving, engrossing tale of a farmer in China. Written by the child of US missionaries, you can really feel the authenticism. I was even brought to tears at points.

It is hard to hear girls referred to as slaves, but I did love the book.

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.

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.