The Good Earth
97. Pearl S. Buck, The Good Earth
Wang Lung is an impoverished farmer living in rural China. He lives in a tiny house with his aged father and must work the fields all day just to survive. However, he is content with his small farm, knowing that the land is his livelihood. The novel opens on Wang Lung’s wedding day to O-lan, a lowly kitchen slave in the great house of the nearby village. O-lan is plain and silent, but she works tirelessly beside Wang Lung, bears him sons, and serves him patiently through the years. The Good Earth follows Wang Lung’s changing fortunes throughout his life, from a famine that nearly kills his family to years of prosperity and riches. Though he often goes astray in his quest for money and respect, he always returns to the land that sustains him.
I very much enjoyed this book. I liked the writing style, which consists of short, straightforward sentences and a simple yet formal tone. I also really enjoyed learning something about China and its culture at the cusp of the revolution; since I know basically nothing about China, I found the world of the novel very interesting. I was a little surprised at the pacing of the novel, which moved incredibly quickly and spanned Wang Lung’s entire adult life. It was effective, though, in showing both his family’s cyclical fortunes and the changing society of China as a whole. I would definitely recommend this book to people who are interested in reading about foreign cultures.