Paperback, 415 pages
English language
Published Aug. 7, 1958 by Pocket Books.
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I hate to say this as it is a beloved book of a lot of people and won a Pulitzer, but I didn't really enjoy this one. It was boring, to be honest. Meh.
This book was published in 1931 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932, neither of which I knew when I picked it up. It's a sweeping novel spanning the life of peasant farmer Wang Lung from the day of his marriage to the day of his death as an old man in pre-revolution China. I cannot comment on its historical accuracy, but as a story about people and families, it's gripping. I think several re-readings would probably be needed to find all the different themes running through the book, but there are clearly lessons about the value of hard work, the relativity of poverty, the dangers of hubris, and even feminism. Wang Lung feels a part of the land and saved by the land, yet ultimately his success takes him and his family away from that land. He highly values his sons and considers daughters no more valuable than slaves, …
This book was published in 1931 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932, neither of which I knew when I picked it up. It's a sweeping novel spanning the life of peasant farmer Wang Lung from the day of his marriage to the day of his death as an old man in pre-revolution China. I cannot comment on its historical accuracy, but as a story about people and families, it's gripping. I think several re-readings would probably be needed to find all the different themes running through the book, but there are clearly lessons about the value of hard work, the relativity of poverty, the dangers of hubris, and even feminism. Wang Lung feels a part of the land and saved by the land, yet ultimately his success takes him and his family away from that land. He highly values his sons and considers daughters no more valuable than slaves, yet it's the women in his family who consistently bring him happiness and comfort, while his male relatives bring almost nothing but trouble and discord. There are illustrations of the value of wealth and the superficiality of beauty and much more woven throughout also. But overall it's a detailed and surprisingly captivating story of this poor farmer and his family struggling and succeeding, only to ultimately become that which they feared and disliked at the start of the book.
It reads like an extended fairy tale rather than a novel, with stock characters - the simple farmer, the dutiful wife, the spendthrift son. The plot revolves like Fortune's wheel, through good harvests and poor ones, starvation and immeasurable wealth. But always, always returning to the land.
One of the many that was left unread on The Modern Library list. A story of a man and his family, and their village life, in the first part of the 20th century in China. Told in a simple, straight forward, almost biblical sounding way. The characters don't speak much. Story elements address social class and family conflict. Won every award there was in the 1930's. I don't think I've seen the movie.
I'm having a difficult time rating/reviewing this book. I think I'm trying to look past the 'cultural imperialism' argument (though I've not always decided to set that aside) and focus on the novel itself. It has some significant heft, tracking one farmer's rise to wealth and prominence and all that he gives up to obtain this status.
There is such injustice in the Good Earth: male over female, urban over rural, older generation over the younger, wealth over poverty... It's a rough life. And the code of honor/respect that holds all of this imbalance in place makes it almost a tragedy of manners.
Wang Lung has some things right about him, but most of these are internal. The things that are most right and honorable in him, to my modern Western eyes, are those things he must sublimate in order to outwardly project the proper character of the landed gentry. …
I'm having a difficult time rating/reviewing this book. I think I'm trying to look past the 'cultural imperialism' argument (though I've not always decided to set that aside) and focus on the novel itself. It has some significant heft, tracking one farmer's rise to wealth and prominence and all that he gives up to obtain this status.
There is such injustice in the Good Earth: male over female, urban over rural, older generation over the younger, wealth over poverty... It's a rough life. And the code of honor/respect that holds all of this imbalance in place makes it almost a tragedy of manners.
Wang Lung has some things right about him, but most of these are internal. The things that are most right and honorable in him, to my modern Western eyes, are those things he must sublimate in order to outwardly project the proper character of the landed gentry. He suppresses urges to act compassionately so that he may look a proper lord.
He also has a good many things wrong about him and these he can present to the world. He satisfies baser desires at the expense of loved ones in order to appear more lordly and above concern for any emotional distress he may cause. The end result is a picture of a man who is outwardly a ruthless climber. Inwardly, he is a mixed bag, someone for whom I can feel some sympathy - disappointment rather than scorn.
