CompleteMartialArts.com - The Good Earth (Oprah's Book Club)
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List Price: $14.00
Our Price: $4.68
Your Save: $ 9.32 ( 67% )
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Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Brand: Remainder
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Amazon Remainders Account
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: 2004-09-15
Publisher: Amazon Remainders Account
Studio: Amazon Remainders Account
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Editorial Reviews:
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Pearl S. Buck's epic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of a China that was -- now in a Contemporary Classics edition. Though more than sixty years have passed since this remarkable novel won the Pulitzer Prize, it has retained its popularity and become one of the great modern classics. "I can only write what I know, and I know nothing but China, having always lived there," wrote Pearl Buck. In The Good Earth she presents a graphic view of a China when the last emperor reigned and the vast political and social upheavals of the twentieth century were but distant rumblings for the ordinary people. This moving, classic story of the honest farmer Wang Lung and his selfless wife O-lan is must reading for those who would fully appreciate the sweeping changes that have occurred in the lives of the Chinese people during this century. Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck traces the whole cycle of life: its terrors, its passions, its ambitions and rewards. Her brilliant novel -- beloved by millions of readers -- is a universal tale of the destiny of man.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Mentally Challenged Character
Comment: Really liked this book, but hated how Wang Lung and his family treated his oldest daughter. She is never given a name. She's only referred to as "The Fool". The family leaves her to play alone, outside, with her piece of cloth. Rarely do they check up on her. And, if nobody thinks about it she is sometimes left outdoors. She's treated this way just because she is mentally challenged. It's bad enough that Wang and the other does this. But, it's really hurtful, that O-lan, the mother, does this. You would think that maternal instinct would cause her to feel differently. However, it doesn't.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It's all here, in The Good Earth
Comment: This is a classic novel about the human condition. The innocence and tentativeness of unproven youth; the rise and fall of an individual's fortunes (monetary and otherwise); the boredom and potential for dissolution that middle age can bring; and finally the nodding, smiling dotage at the end of a life. All the seven deadly sins as well as the seven virtues are illustrated in this novel and it achieves greatness through its beautiful and tragic depiction of each. This book transcends cultures as we can all relate to the feelings these characters experienced.
My book club recently read this and while several members had read it previously, some, including me, had not. It was an absolute delight and I wish I had picked it up sooner.
If I had to make any criticism of the book, it would be that the end was a bit abrupt after all that I felt I had invested in the main character of Wang Lung.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Classic required HS book
Comment: This book is required for freshman in our high school. Easy reading and a classic!
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Good Earth - Compare and Contrast
Comment: I read this book as part of my summer reading for American Literature class (high school). I enjoyed this book and plan to read the remaining two books in the trilogy. I would recommend this book for high school aged students+. This is a book for people that have read and liked works such as Cry, the Beloved Country and When Things Fall Apart. I learned a lot about that time period, Chinese culture and as American's, the basic freedoms we take for granted. Below is the paper I wrote as part of my assignment for the class.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST: THE GOOD EARTH
Pearl S. Buck, author of the Nobel Prize-winning book, The Good Earth, was an American writer born in West Virginia to Southern Presbyterian missionaries to China. She wrote The Good Earth to unveil to Americans pre-revolutionary Chinese culture and religion. The story begins to unfold when Wang Lung, a poor village farmer, goes to purchase his future wife, a slave, from the House of Whang. Through the life of the fictional character Wang Lung, the Earth, women, and wealth are all major themes in his life, being portrayed differently at different times.
For some, the Earth is what makes their life worthwhile, but for others, it's just something they live on and get food from. But for all, it can provide and it can withhold. For Wang Lung, it gave prosperity to him, but it also took away livelihood from him. The Earth can have relationships. Wang Lung knew the Earth. It was what he loved, even after he became wealthy. But for the House of Whang, the rich people of Wang Lung's village, they didn't have a care for it; they only cared about money that came from it.
The treatment of women in pre-revolutionary China is so completely different from how women are treated now, it's shocking that it was roughly a century ago. In the story of Wang Lung's life, it is obvious that women were usually treated more as property instead of a husband/wife relationship. Also, the desire for women was a lust satisfier and a male offspring supplier. Women's beauty and family status were more important than character. If she was not pretty or from a wealthy family, she generally didn't have a promising future in securing a husband.
Wealth was a fate that determined your friends, how you conducted your every day routine, what you would eat, and influenced your desire for more material things. As Wang Lung became more materially wealthy, he began to resemble Old Lord Whang, who used to be the head of the House of Whang. Wealth corrupted his family. First, it caused Wang Lung to become discontented with his first wife. Wealth made his elder son have a sense of arrogance and conceit. Additionally, Wang Lung's wicked uncle tormented his life and also caused Wang Lung's offspring to lose respect for their elders, land, and religious foundation. Wealth can be good, depending on how you use it, but it can always be bad.
The Good Earth, the first in a trilogy, through the characters, the readers will find many similarities between the treatment of women, the influence of wealth, and the view of the Earth. But there are also many differences, such as a the expectation of a wife and the characters view of the Earth and the influence of wealth. There is still much that can be learned by comparing and contrasting the themes found in The Good Earth.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent Prose, Dismal Plot
Comment: I know I read The Good Earth in high school - but I wanted to re-read it as it is on my son's high school reading list. I am struck by the almost poetic nature of Buck's writing, but I must confess that the storyline was of such a nature so as to leave me wanting to take a mental bath. Such hopelessness and helplessness of Wang Lung to overcome the downward spin of his pagan destiny was hard to read.
I recommend this book to mature readers (I am going to select a different book off of my 15 year old's reading list) as there is candid discussion of sexual desire and its fulfillment. If a parent is not sure about whether or not a young person would be ready for a book of this depth, I highly recommend pre-reading it.
I do ultimately recommend this book as I think it can reveal much about human nature.
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