The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
357 pages
Published 1931
Read from March 11 to March 19
Rating: ★★★★ out of 5
Buck
makes the evocation of an unfamiliar culture -- its ideas, its
assumptions, its rhythms -- seem almost effortless. Reading her simple,
almost biblical prose, I felt absorbed by the daily life of her version
of pre-revolutionary China, as well as the tastes and smells and
intimate little details of the land. Personally, I found the depicted
culture loathsome in every respect, but that doesn't blunt my
appreciation for Buck's descriptive accomplishment, nor did it prevent
me from being moved by the small tragedies of Wang Lung's life, selfish
idiot I may have found him to be. I wish I could articulate a culture
(and a life foreign to my own) so clearly as this. Seriously, I'm
impressed.
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