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Read Aloud Virginia - Book Store - Good Earth (Progress English)
![Good Earth (Progress English)]()
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List Price: $5.25
Our Price: $4.99
Your Save: $ 0.26 ( 5% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Oxford Univ Pr (Sd)
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780195810356
ISBN: 019581035X
Label: Oxford Univ Pr (Sd)
Manufacturer: Oxford Univ Pr (Sd)
Number Of Items: 1
Publication Date: 1980-06
Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr (Sd)
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Studio: Oxford Univ Pr (Sd)
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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: a look at the rich and the poor..
Comment: The story starts off with Wang Lung as a humble, honest, and in this case, a humiliated farmer when he goes into a the House of Hwang to look for a wife. His wife, O Lan is not only faithful, hardworking although her life is plagued with misfortunes due to her plain looks. Through poverty, begging, droughts...through thick and thin...O Lan remains by her husband and has never complained, compliant with all his demands. However, when their fortunes turn out for the better and Wang Lung becomes a rich man, he changes and loses the love of his life- THE LAND for all he ever wanted was to work on this land of his...feel the soil beneath his feet, feel the callous on his hands, bask in the sunshine as his father and his grandfather had...however, all is lost with his increasing pride as a rich man. Is this new wealth that Wang Lung has obtained a curse or a blessing?
What strikes this book as compelling to me is the selfless character of O Lan who gives all and yet in the end what was it worth?...one cannot help but to sympathize with this woman who has endured so much hardships even smothering her daughter so that the family can survive, but due to her plain looks has not received much in return. Some of her words (when she does speak) are the most heartbreaking speeches in the book for it gives us an insight into her pain, struggles, and her thoughts. One of the most memorable quotes was when Wang Lung daughter says, "and my mother said I was not to weep aloud because you are too kind and weak for pain and you might say to leave me as I am, and then my husband would not love me even as you do not love her."
Customer Rating:
Summary: This was my first FAVORITE book. It taught me perspective.
Comment: This book was my first FAVORITE book as a young adult. It taught me perspective.
As I read this book, I lived the life of a person in China. The family was rich and poor, and they celebrated with their favorite foods (which I had never heard of ) and spent time hungry.
Their perspective was so different from my own. I learned and grew as a person as I enjoyed reading it.
It is a true classic.
It is one of those books you love to re-read every few years throughout your life.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Why Did I Wait So Long?
Comment: Since my early teens, I've been drawn by this book. A quick read of the first page drew me into the deceptively simple style of Pearl S. Buck and her protagonist. Why did I wait so long to actually pick it up again?
A few weeks ago, I bought up an old paperback copy for a plane trip and started reading before the pilot had said to buckle our seats. I was already buckled in, though, enraptured by the profound and moving story of Wang Lung, his wife O-lan, and the ups and downs that life takes them through. With sparse prose, the novel moves from poverty and gratitude to starvation and greed to riches and apathy. I loved the slow-budding relationship between Wang Lung and his wife, then ground my teeth in frustration at choices later made. O-lan will long stand in my mind as one of the most deftly drawn characters in modern fiction.
And yes, this is modern fiction. Despite the setting in the early 1900s of China, this touches on so many aspects of humanity that ring true to this day. In the wrong hands it could've become a soap opera, but in Buck's hands, it becomes a sweeping saga of one man and his famiy--and the good earth that sustains them despite their own fickle natures. This is a classic in every since of the word.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable classic
Comment: I read this book years ago and it has stayed with me ever since.
Originally published in 1931, it won the Pulitzer prize the following year.
The setting is in China, right before the revolution. Wang Lung is a poor farmer in a village and the book starts with his wedding to plain O-lan. They have four children together, three boys and one girl. He is a very hard working farmer and bit by bit, thanks also to O-lan's skills, he builds a fortune by buying land from the House of Hwangs's family, landowners in a nearest village whose wealth declines dramatically due to their relentless spending.
We are dipped into Chinese culture, taken from the seemingly bottomless poverty of the early days throughout the rise to wealth, only to be propelled downwards again due to a terrible draught and subsequent famine, when everything seems lost and the family has to move to the city, starting all over again.
We are reading spectators of the rise and fall and twists & turns of Wang Lung's family. Many touching episodes have moved me throughout the book, especially the ones connected with hard-working, silent, subservient O-lan and later on, the ones related to their mentally retarded baby girl.
The story is absorbing and mesmerizing, exquisitely written. Page after page, truly unforgettable. A must-read classic.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Pearl S. Buck's masterpiece...'The Good Earth'
Comment: This is Pearl S. Buck's stunning Pulitzer prize winning novel, 'The Good Earth'; it was written in 1931.
The book itself is easy to read, written in plain language using simple words to describe people, places and things. No dictionary or thesaurus needed here.
This is not only the story of Wang Lung and his wife O-lan (by arranged marriage), but also in a sense, a historical novel that gives the reader a glimpse of early 20th century, rural China. The tale follows Wang Lung life that starts from the humblest of beginnings; to later, when the winds of revolution started to bring a subtle but steady changes to his way of life as he knew it, with some unexpected effects.
While reading this book, I could not help but feel that this story could be transposed to any poor rural area almost anywhere in the world; its theme has a universal chord to it.
Conclusion:
A beautiful story of a changing China and its people.
Highly recommended.
5 Stars
R.Nicholson
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