Pearl Buck in China: Journey to The Good Earth

This biography of Pearl Buck, whose novels, once wildly popular, are now rarely read, is exemplary. Pearl's childhood in China as the daughter of a missionary father gave her unique insights into the Chinese character and also into colonialism at its most blind. Her formidable intelligence allowed her to use her often terrifying experiences of the Boxer uprising and the battle between Communist and NAtionalist forces to educate Americans about the dubious nature of what the missionaries were doing and the reality of life in China. Her daughter grew up handicapped because of a defect now checked for at birth and easily remedied and her marriage proved a bitter disappointment, but she found great happiness with her American publisher, with whom she adopted a family. Spurling captures Buck's phenomenal energy and, by focussing most closely on the earlier part of her life, produces a compulsively readable narrative which is also educational ( )

Really focuses on the events in her life that popped up in the themes and characters of her writing - The Good Earth Trilogy and to a lesser extent her other works. The tragedy, lonliness/bad marriage and the need to earn money to take care of her daughter with PKU was more than enough motivation and fodder. She really put herself into her books. And everyone read her. I had to read The Good Earth in school, but honestly don't remember much of it, except that I never understood why it was a classic or so widely read. Hilary Spurling's book gave me a much greater appreciation for the magnitude of what Buck achieved with the book - and works in general - in terms of introducing Westerners to rural poor China in early 20th century, really helping to bridge the very real East/West divide. Spurling writes that Buck's articulation was clearer and more on target even than contemporary Chinese scholars/literary circles which rarely came in contact with such folk. And Buck's public denounciation of the (Presbyterian) missionary mission in China and the rest of the world and its cultural/religious imperialism, did much to bring that to the world's attention. Her efforts to do the best for her daughter and others with disabilities, and her scandalous affair with her publisher, but more her frankness in writing about sexuality and marital strife/rape/violence also put her in a class of women breaking the mold and pushing the boundaries of contemporary societal acceptance. Buck was a fascinating woman and this is a fascinating account that renews Buck's relevancy to modern times. Based on reading Spurling's work, I am putting many of Buck's books on my to read list right now, including The Good Earth trilogy (The Good Earth, Sons, and A House Divided) but also Imperial Woman: The Story of the Last Empress of China, Pavilion of Women, and Dragon Seed. ( )

This is an extremely well written and researched book about Pearl Buck, a woman who blazed trails, was a many-layered individual and, I think, born before her time. Her writing did a great deal to raise consciousness about the plight of the millions of Chinese peasants both before and after WWII, among many other causes that she focused on. Hilary Spurling takes advantage of the mounds of letters written by and to Pearl Buck and the host of other materials which encompassed her life and weaves it into a rich, very readable book. ( )

Obviously this is a biography of the author Pearl Buck. Emphasis was on the forces that shaped her as a writer.

I'd never read a biography of Pearl Buck previously. Of course I knew the basics ... that she had lived in China, and that China had formed her as much or more than the West. I assumed she'd grown up there, and further assumed it likely that she was the daughter of missionaries.

The details of her early experiences were fascinating to me.

I knew that she was an advocate for Human Rights, etc., but hadn't known that she was quite such a pioneer. Her anti-colonial views about mission work were ahead of their time as well.

This was an excellent biography and was so absorbing that I read it in just a couple of days. ( )

Before reading this book, the only thing I’d really known about Pearl S. Buck was that she went to the same college as I went to. I’d also read The Good Earth many years ago, but didn’t care for it much (or maybe I didn’t understand it as well as I might otherwise have). Pearl Buck in China isn’t just a biography; it focuses mostly on how Pearl Buck’s childhood and adulthood in China influenced her writing and life.

It’s a very strong, well-organized book that sticks closely to what the author set out to do. The Good Earth is Pearl Buck’s best-known book, but this biography focuses on all of her fiction that deals with China. There are some sketchy places in the book when the author talks about the family dynamic between the Sydenstrickers, and again at the end when describing Pearl Buck’s later life. So many biographies focus on the facts that they forget about the person they’re dealing with; in this book, I really liked how the author managed to convey a sense of Pearl Buck’s personality while at the same time educating her reader on Pearl’s writing. I think Pearl Buck’s story gets overshadowed by the stories of the lives of authors who had more “interesting” lives, so it’s nice to see her getting some attention again. My one irritant about this book is that the author refers to the former Randolph-Macon Woman’s College as Randolph-Macon, when someone more familiar with the school would probably refer to it as R-MWC, for short, to avoid confusion with the college in Ashland, VA. But this is minor.

On a side note that has nothing to do with the author’s theme (but it’s interesting nonetheless): when you take a tour of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College (now Randolph College), virtually one of the first things you’re told is that Pearl Buck went there. They are very proud of having her as an alumna, and rightly so. It’s funny to learn from this book that in reality, because Pearl felt like an outsider there, she didn’t enjoy her college experience, and therefore had selective memory about the whole thing. I found myself sympathizing with her when I read that! Authors often write about what they’re most comfortable with, and that was certainly true for Pearl Buck. ( )