The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck.
Buck’s The Good Earth” is a saga about the life and death of Wang Lung. The story starts on his wedding day as he prepares to get married. He has a traditional farmer wedding, in which his father chooses his wife with whom he is to have many children. Later, in the midst of a famine, they are forced to move south, which is not much better than the north.
A revolution broke out, during which O-lan and Wang Lung rummaged through the great house. O-lan stumbled upon a pouch of jewels. After being released by the soldiers, they returned to the land where there was now rain. Being the loyal wife, O-lan gave Wang Lung the pouch of jewels, except for two pearls that she kept for herself. Later, in his greed, Wang Lung took the pearls from her to give to his concubine. When the locusts came, he struggled to save the land and reunited himself with it. O-lan died quickly after their son’s wedding, and Wang Lung followed soon after.
Wang Lung, on his deathbed in a house that is not even his, requests that his sons never sell the land. His sons agree to it, with their fingers crossed behind their backs, in high hopes of becoming rich quick. No matter who you are and how much you think you can control it, money will corrupt most people in this so-called world. The main character in this book is Wang Lung. In the beginning, he is a common farmer who works in the fields all day next to his ox. He has a braid and no reason to clean himself. His father, who he supports, is old and cannot help himself.
When the money comes rolling in, he hires people to do the work in the fields for him. He now wears silken robes and is clean every day. During this time, he cuts off his braid and brings a concubine to the great house of Whang, which he bought. Most of the workers on his fields think he is a fool because he cannot see the things that are going on behind his back. In the book, some spots were difficult to read because of the vocabulary, which made me go back and reread those trouble parts. The length of the sentences didn’t affect me, but when a word that I didn’t know appeared, it made it harder to backtrack.
I would not read another book by Pearl S. Buck because I think it dragged on too long and didn’t hold my interest long enough to be really interesting. I experienced that her books are boring and drag on for hundreds of pages. It had no meaning, except for the torture I went through while I was reading it.
