Just finished "The Good Earth" by Pearl S Buck. A very nice book...I could not put it down. Not because it is a mystery or a thriller... but because of the very nature of the writings. Pearl S Buck writes with such great descriptions.. and with such a clear insight... that I could not help but keep reading. The book just follows the life of a chinese farmer...from the day he marries...till he becomes an old man. It takes him from his days as a poor hard working farmer to becoming a wealthy landowner.
The book has moved me so, I hardly know how and why. Maybe it was because she describes how one's thinking changes with time and one's current position. Maybe because she describes things so realistically that one just lives the life of the man in question. I felt happy and lusty when he took a concubine and I felt his love for her. I felt that very love fade when he saw through the veneer of her false love. I felt his sadness and regret when his wife fell sick and died. And I felt his disinterest when his sons and daughters-in-law squabbled over minor issues. And the book also reminded me of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, in that, one needs to experience something, and then get done with it, to understand it's nature. Having lived the life of Wang Lung through this book, I almost feel as if I have learnt something new. Something that I cannot express... but something that will make me understand a lot more in life.
Read it if you can:)
1 comment:
Yepp Lisa. It's on Oprah's list.:-D
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