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Loading... Come, My Beloved (1953)by Pearl S. Buck
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The New York Times-bestselling, multigenerational family saga that reaches from America to India by the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Good Earth. Beginning in the 1890s, Come, My Beloved describes an American family's involvement with India over four generations. Touched by the poverty he encounters in Bombay, self-made millionaire David MacArd establishes a seminary for Christian missionary workers, and in so doing shapes the fates of his son and grandson. The choices made by each generation parallel one another, distinctly marked by the passage of time--though the patriarch remains in New York, the second David becomes a missionary in India himself, while his own son, Ted, goes even further, opting to live in a remote village--and these choices come with unforeseen sacrifices. Nor does their religious journey necessarily mean any growing harmony with their surroundings--something that is powerfully brought home when Ted refuses to let his daughter marry across racial lines. Featuring an unforgettable rendering of India during Gandhi's rise to power, Come, My Beloved is a family saga of rare power and sensitivity. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Pearl S. Buck including rare images from the author's estate. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.52Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1900-1944LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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In my opinion, Buck is at her best when she's writing about Eastern cultures, she's not so good when writing about Western cultures, and she's somewhere in between when writing about interactions between Eastern and Western cultures. I definitely liked this book, but I think that the four-generation span was too ambitious for a novel of less than 300 pages. I would have liked each generation to have been fleshed out a little more. However, Buck did do a very good job of illustrating the progress each generation made toward the ultimate goal of equality for everyone on earth. I also really liked how in each generation the children defied their fathers in order to fulfill themselves spiritually. I also have to give Buck credit for the way she handled the religious aspects of the story. Religion could very easily have become the focus of the novel, which would have taken away from a lot of other themes, and Buck managed to avoid making the religious aspects unpleasant. All in all, I don't think this is one of her best novels, but it is pretty high on my list. ( )