Sunday, June 3, 2007

Book Review: The Good Earth By Pearl S. Buck

Side Note: I partially wrote this a few months back, so I am just blogging whatever I had and therefore this review isn't so great and doesn't do justice to this amazing book. I apologize in advance!

Rating: 5 stars
Genre: Historical Fiction


I recently read the book The Good Earth by accident, because it happened to be one of the ones in my room that I had mentally labeled classic and therefore didn't touch. However, it turned out to be better than most of my mentally "non-classic" labeled books.

The Good Earth, is a story about the life of a farmer named Wang-Lung. The story starts on his wedding day, when as a poor farmer, he goes to the house of Hwang to pick up his wife to-be. Together, with struggle and luck they make a life, and whenever Wang- Lung had enough money to buy land he did. As his family grows, Wang-Lung goes through a tough period of his life, where as a farmer, the crops fail him and cause the whole village to starve. Due to much luck and fortune, eventually Wang Lung starts making money, but he puts all his savings into buying land. The Good Earth, is about Wang Lung's life, and how when all else failed he always counted on the land.

Pearl S. Buck's story of one man's life and struggle, is very realistic and extremely good. I highly recommend it.