The Good Earth (edition 2005)

3.25 stars

The Good Earth follows Wang Lung, a farmer in China during the early 20th century, from his wedding day till the day he dies. He mostly follows what I assume is a fairly ordinary life of a Chinese farmer of his time, with ups and downs as he goes.

It was a simple story, and I have to admit to getting annoyed plenty of times with some of the attitudes, due to the culture and time frame that the book encompasses. I listened to the audio. It fluctuated back and forth between simply ok or good, for me. ( )

I loved the first 3/4 of this novel. The struggle of an incredibly poor Chinese family during ancient times. The father loved to farm and di what he needed to do to see his family survive. The last of the novel seem to slow and wasn't as fun to read. A sad ending that took a long time to get to. ( )

I probably would never have picked this book up had it not been chosen by a friend for a group read. Honestly, I don't go for Chinese lit very much, but I agreed to read this one, even though I was prepared to be bored at least. But I downloaded the audio version, read by Anthony Heald, and listened to the book while doing some much needed organizational stuff, and it was surprisingly good. I enjoyed the reading so much that I would sometimes stop doing stuff to just listen.

I think that had I read this on my own though, I don't think I'd have enjoyed it as much. There are times when a reader can add a whole lot to the story, and this was one of them. I actually do have an e-copy of the book, and I read along at some parts, and I think that listening to it was a fuller experience for me. Heald just seemed to GET these characters in a way I probably wouldn't have. He almost seemed to channel them so that his reading was borderline dramatization. It wasn't over the top - it was just perfect.

I don't know how much of this accurately represents Chinese culture. I don't know much about it myself, and so I took it all with a grain of salt. I don't particularly care for the attitudes towards women that are generally depicted in Chinese lit, so I don't read very much of it. But even if none of the cultural references are accurate, this was still an engaging and interesting story full of very human characters. At times, I didn't know whether to root for or against the main character, Wang Lung. I initially loved his character, and then as he progressed through life and different situational hardships and prosperity, I found myself mentally crossing my fingers while watching him with a wary eye. I wanted to like him, but sometimes the things he chose to do made that very, very hard. At one point, I was so disappointed in him, that I was shaking with anger at the sheer gall the man had, especially after everything, everything that had happened. That man had some cojones on him, I'll give him that.

I think that my favorite character in the story was O-lan. My heart broke for her. We never really get to know her fully, seeing things through Wang Lung's eyes, and he's not particularly perceptive when it comes to O-lan, or kind when he is, but I loved her. She never gave an inch of her dignity, no matter what her hardship, and she had so many. I was in awe of her, all while my heart hurt for the lack of gratitude she received for everything she gave. She deserved much better.

I found this to be an interesting story about a man's life and the things that he was able to achieve with that life, at the cost of so much, and the fleetingness of it all. I think that's what saddens me the most thinking about this book: we can't take any of it with us. I did enjoy this one, and I think the story will stay with me for a while, if nothing else. ( )

3 1/2 ( )

I've been debating between 1 and 2 stars, so I guess I should pick the half-star rating system this time around and go with a solid 1 1/2 star.

To be honest, I think that switching to the audio about a third of the way in is what saved it at all. [a:George Guidall|19365|George Guidall|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg] gives anything he reads a calm presence. I can do other mundane things and just listen and let it sink in.

So kudos to Mr. Guidall for reading this without falling asleep. I don't think I can boast the same. ( )