Title: The Good Earth

Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages

Publisher: Pocket Books (March 29, 2005)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1416500189

ISBN-13: 978-1416500186

The Good Earth is a novel by Pearl S. Buck published in 1931. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1932. The Good Earth is a story I’ve read over and over again.

In my copy of the book, Ms. Buck has written an Introduction. It is dated June 1949 and in part, explains why she wrote the book. It was the time when a new system of government was operational in China. But in the many pages, it is these words which struck me as most poignant:

I read many strange things today, many prophecies and passionate pleadings of what we must do to ‘save Chine’. I cannot be disturbed by those who do not know what Chine is. The Chinese people, too, are not disturbed. They remember the thousands of years.

Who shall say they are wrong? Who can say they are wrong when they understood life before we and our kind were born? If the world goes as it is going, they will continue long after we destroy ourselves to be saved.

Here is the plot of the tale, which I obtained from this website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Earth

The story begins on Wang Lung’s wedding day and follows the rise and fall of his fortunes and his connection with the land. The land is a recurring theme throughout the novel, seemingly accepted and nurtured by the protagonists and rejected and ruined by the antagonists. … Wang Lung, through hard work and labour, slowly gains respect and dignity, while being financially secure. Wang Lung, along with his elderly father and new wife, O-Lan, fare relatively better than other farmers in the village. … However, when a devastating drought affects Wang Lung’s community, Wang Lung and his family flee to the Southern City to find work. When they are there, all of them, save Wang Lung’s father beg for food. … they live in abject poverty. Eventually, a riot occurs, and the mass of people break into the local wealthy family’s palace. Wang Lung encounters an obese … rich man who hasn’t managed to flee. The rich man is frantic, believing Wang Lung will kill him, and offers gold in exchange for his life. Wang Lung … reasons that the man is giving him the money, and that the money would return him to his land. Wang Lung takes all of the man’s gold and escapes the palace, taking the family north once more. … The wealth of the family is tied to the harvests of Wang Lung’s land, “the good earth.” …  As Wang Lung becomes more prosperous and wealthy, the yearly flood covers all of his farm land, halting his and his servant’s farming activity. Wang Lung, finding himself restless and idle every day with no work to do, falls to the vices of the city: rich food and prostitutes.  He buys a concubine named Lotus, who had placed a spell on him, and obsesses over her, forgetting O-Lan, his family, and the land.  O-Lan, who remains humble and subservient to her husband, slowly deteriorates and becomes deathly ill. O-Lan dies, but not before witnessing her first son's wedding. … Wang Lung, now an old man, wants peace in his family, but there are always disputes, especially between his first and second sons. Wang Lung's third son runs away one day and joins the Communist revolution. … At the end of the novel, Wang Lung overhears his sons planning to sell the land he has worked his entire life, and makes a desperate, feeble argument to persuade them otherwise. They humour the old man with reassurances that they will do exactly as he wishes, but the sons seem determined to carry out their plan.

Each time I’ve read this book, I’ve experienced the same thing – it’s not what I experience when reading other books. With other good books, I’m drained of energy after reading the story. With The Good Earth, I’m not overly happy, nor am I overlay sad. I suppose you could say that I always feel in balance; as if, I were falling into the tale and yet, not so. There is a sense that I’m ‘gliding’ when reading this tale. I would certainly offer this book up to anyone who would like to learn the craft of storytelling in earnest. It has all the elements of storytelling and they’re all in the right place. A very good read.

13 February 2008

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