The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1932 and at the time, remained on the best-sellers list for almost two years. Ninety years after The Good Earth was published, I couldn't put it down.
The story began on the marriage day of a poor Chinese farmer, Wang Lung. For many years Wang Lung had taken care of his elderly father while farming his small piece of land near a remote village. During this time he had saved enough silver to buy a wife from the House of Hwang, a family of rich land-owners from the nearby town. Wang Lung's new wife, O-Lan had been sold to the House of Hwang during her childhood as a slave.
Both O-Lan and Wang Lung worked hard, and as their family grew, so did their fortunes. As Wang Lung prospered he bought land from the House of Hwang, whose dissolute ways were bringing their greatness to a rapid end.
When a drought caused a terrible famine, Wang Lung, O-Lan and their family left the farm and travelled on a fire-wagon (train) to a city in the south, where between the pittance Wang Lung earned pulling a rickshaw and what O-Lan and the children could make begging, they eked out an existence. Later, when a riot broke out, Wang Lung was swept along with the mob to a rich man's house where he stole money from the owner, who was hiding in fear for his life.
Suddenly rich, the family returned home and with the stolen money Wang Lung bought an ox and farm tools and began farming again. When Wang Lung found a cachet of jewels that O-Lan had stolen during the riots in the city, he used them to buy the remaining House of Hwang's land.
Eventually the family became very rich. Wang Lung hired servants to work in the fields and arranged to have his two elder sons educated. He arranged marriages to suitable parties for his children and set them up in work. Eventually, Wang Lung moved his extended family into the former House of Hwang's residence.
Wang Lung often described O-Lan as being physically ugly, as she was large and ungainly with big feet, but he also acknowledged her worth as a wife and as a worker. I struggled with the concept of marriage as a partnership that didn't include love, and it often seemed to me that Wang Lung felt more affection for his ox than for O-Lan. Despite this (and I acknowledge that my dislike of their marriage comes from my own cultural beliefs) Wang Lung was good to his father, had a strong moral character and was pious, and I felt sorry for him having to kowtow to and take care of his greedy uncle, aunt and cousin. I also felt sorry for Wang Lung when he was himself an old man, knowing that his educated sons did not respect or value the land he and O-Lan had worked so hard to acquire.
Emotionally, I had to remind myself sometimes that this was Wang Lung's story, particularly when my sympathies went out to O-Lan during sections of the story that I won't describe here, as they would be spoilers for readers who have not yet read this extraordinary book.
The Good Earth was an unexpected reading pleasure which I wouldn't have read it at all except that Mum pushed her copy of the book on to me, telling me how marvelous it was. Thanks, Mum.
The Good Earth was book two of my second Classics Club challenge to read 50 classics before my challenge end date of September 08, 2028.
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