Reflections: The Good Earth

This is yet another classic book that, for some reason, despite being a fan of Pearl Buck,  I was never motivated to read until last month. And I didn’t exactly read the book, because I listened to the audiobook. A few words on the audio-format. This was the first fiction audiobook I tried. Despite being extremely skeptical of one voice representing several characters, I decided to try it anyway. And I was blown away by Anthony Heald’s expert narration. It was fantabulously marvelous! The experience of going through this epic book was so much more enhanced, thanks to the brilliant narration. He captured every character, every emotion, every setting, every subtlety so masterfully. He should be given some award for this work. It was really really hard to turn off the book. I could just listen to the beauty of his narration all day.

Now, after that bit of raving, I will now begin raving about the book. This is indeed Pearl Buck’s best that I have read so far. It’s a hauntingly beautiful and sensitive book that truthfully encapsulates life in China during early-mid twentieth century. You might scoff at me for inserting the word “truthfully” in the last sentence, because you may know that I have never ever lived in China nor studied its culture/history to make that claim. So, let me rephrase that a little. I think most people from the East share a common overarching socio-cultural philosophy, regardless of our country of origin, religion, or backgrounds. We understand that cultural thread. We can intuitively recognize and strongly relate to the underlying ideology behind certain values, views, and traditions, even if the external representation of those traditions are different. Pearl Buck beautifully entwines these socio-cultural values and traditions in every sentence of the book. The ideologies are expressed in the most subtle yet powerful ways. For example, the embarrassment, fear, lack of confidence, and anxiety that Wang Lung goes through when he encounters the watchman at the gates of the House of Hwang, and the interaction the two of them have is an incredibly sensitive and right-on-the-dot illustration of specific attitudes and sociocultural norms that’s hard to express. It’s something so subtle, so trivial, and almost too relatable for those of us from the East, but it takes a keen eye (and mind) to absorb, understand, and integrate these common occurrences in beautiful prose that neither overwhelms nor bores the reader. It fleshes out the intricacies of a complex culture in a convincingly coherent and objective manner that’s easy for the reader to assimilate and digest. It is true that when someone truly understands the breadth and depth of something, they use the simplest, most easily comprehensible examples to convey their meaning. Pearl Buck is one of them.

The characters are flawed and human. Just like all of us. Each character evolves and grows with the story of their lives. Their personal growth and failings are sometimes understandable, sometimes worthy of sympathy, and sometimes disappointing and worthy of disapproval; just like the characters in our life. But, even with all the changes and transformations, Pearl Buck reatins the core and the essence of the characters all through their journey; just like how all of us have a core of constancy in us that's untouched no matter how much we do change. This is why I used the term “truthful”. The book is truthful in all aspects, but most particularly, it is truthful in its portrayal of human nature. Pearl Buck excels in the nuances of human nature and psychology. She paints all her characters with the varied, realistic hues of human nature - black, white, and everything in between.

The irate reader might now demand - ok, what of the story itself? Well, it’s the story of Life. The epic life story of Wang Lung and his descendants. The story of a poor Chinese farmer who dares to be ambitious, hardworking, and honest in his unforgivingly cutthroat society that scrambles to survive. The story of fierce ambition in the face of social insecurities, of trials and tribulations, misery and contentment, a power struggle between man and woman, poor and rich, old and young, beautiful and plain, corruption and innocence.

The book is a rich experience of a farmer’s life in China, almost a hundred years ago. It deserves all the praise and laurels. A highly recommended read for those that enjoy character driven books soaked in culture and history. 

 

Reflections: Letter From Peking

It's a pity to realize that there are hardly any copies of this book left. Most of Pearl Buck's books are, much to my surprise and bewilderment, lost inside a literary tombstone. But I was glad that I could find a very befitting picture of the book's cover - this is exactly how I would have wished the cover to be on my borrowed copy.

The book's core doesn't stray much from Pearl Buck's much beloved theme - the east and west reaching out to love and accept each other. Elizabeth is an American ardently in love with her half-Chinese husband, Gerald. Her fervent love for Gerald made her a strong woman who was ready to rebel , leave her country and make a home in China. Following the Communist's upheaval within China, Elizabeth and her son are forced to leave Gerald and move to America. Gerald's patriotism and loyalty towards China forbids him to abandon his country - and so he remains, torn with guilt and longing for his family, and a fierce sense of duty towards his country. His occasional letters sent surreptitiously every few months remained the only vestige of hope for the family to unite, until the letters dwindled and a final one came along. The tale is about a heartrending love between two people, separated by the world, because of the races that profiled their faces and genes.

Being half-Chinese and half-American was so pitiful a state when the world tore apart and the oceans distinctly marked the two continents as different and distant. Those like Gerald and his son were stranded, befuddled on where to turn and which country to hold close to them, while both countries silently rejected and never completely accepted them. But both father and son struggle to make home in the country they choose, yielding to sacrifices they couldn't escape from. Meanwhile Elizabeth lives on hope, and nourishes her life through the deep and unending love for Gerald. The book reads on as Elizabeth's journal. It records events that are simple and plain, emotions that are deep and pure.

Pearl Buck's tales have so much realism in them that within a few pages they cease to be a story, a novel - they transform to images of real people living their realities, without embellishments, fancy twists or miracles. Elizabeth's journal captures the pain, the love, the maturity and growing wisdom of a woman cruelly separated from her husband and is left to cope with loneliness. Pearl Buck's characters always come alive from her stories and it's difficult to shake them off as fictitious. Elizabeth comes to life representing many separated and lonely women - victims of the world breaking apart.

The writing in this book is one of Pearl Buck's best. Words rustle and trickle so beautifully, capturing and reflecting on every little emotion and feeling. A simple description of the sunlight out the window, or the spring in the air... seemingly minor in detail, but so immaculately wonderful in their expression. To me, this book symbolizes Pearl Buck's literary spirit.

Reflections: All Under Heaven

In addition to bombarding this space with my sudden splurge of thoughts on books, what's with this marathon on Coelho's and Buck's? Lets just call it Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and going by esteemed recommendations :)

All Under Heaven is a book that deals with the acceptance of human beings as belonging to just one kind - Humankind, under the all encompassing and loving heavens. A distinguished American diplomat, having served in China for twenty five years, returns home to America with his loving Russian wife and two children. The family's sudden return was due to the imminent Communist Revolution that threatened to destroy many such foreign and noble families, merely because of their social standing. The McNeil family loved China and was integrated in it's rich culture. Except for Mr. McNeil, the rest of the family were as much Chinese as they were not Americans. Even Mr. McNeil, despite his American descent, felt more of a stranger after all his years away from the country. Added to this, was Mrs. McNeil's Russian heritage, intermingling a culture into the family that was founded out of love and the energy to bring forth peace and harmony. The book is a realistic recount of this "mixed" family's struggles and challenges to integrate into America, and their lessons on what it takes to be accepted as true Americans.

Our identities have their roots in the land in which we are nurtured. Our ways of thinking, cultural orientations, and ways of living get tainted by the experiences of the people and traditions of the land. When we enter a new land, our identities are forced to be reformed, to desperately fit in. There ensues a very familiar conflict between our torn personalities - one apprehensive of losing our essence and roots, and the other eager to fit in, to be accepted. In the process, some parts of us get subdued, dormant, fading away into a corner of the soul; some we integrate to form a clarified version of east and west, as a consolation of the best of two worlds, while some parts of our identities grow afresh, sprouting entirely as children of the new land and culture. Pearl Buck brings out these aspects in the book, as the diverse family struggles to be part of America, while fearful of not losing their true self. The adolescent children of the family find it more easier to grow into Americans and are eager to shed away their prejudiced associations, while the parents fear the integrity of such a growth.

Most of us have faced the challenges of entering a new country, a new culture and way of living. America as it is today, is seen as reasonably welcoming, speckled with diverse culture, cuisines and acceptance of liberal and independent ways of living. The transition has been made almost seamless. But more than five decades before, when revolutions were at their hilt and the world kept breaking and patching up, entering a new country that was wary of foreigners from Communist countries, did not promise such a welcoming experience. The book introduces the America of the yesteryear's - conservative and closed. Pearl Buck delicately brings out the prejudices towards communists, and ignorant beliefs towards them. She openly laments on how America shielded itself from world affairs and history, and people led their quick judgments to isolate anyone with a remote association with China or Russia. Warm hearted young men wanted to bomb, without wanting to think, reason, or find a harmonious solution, while the white peasants were complacent to not worry about what was happening across the oceans.

The book touches upon Communism's impact on those intellectuals like the McNeil's family who desired harmonious existence, but were branded and discriminated due to their social class and heritage. In addition to the misunderstood concepts on Communism, the family's struggle to culturally fit in, forms a realistic and insightful tale.

Reflections: Portrait of a Marriage

The title and the book's cover leave little to the imagination in terms of the theme and the storyline. A wealthy and refined young artist wanders the lands of rustic and rich Philadelphia pastures to find inspiration for his paintings. He does find his inspiration, by mere accident, through a lovely and beautiful farm girl. Inevitably, the two people who couldn't be more different, fall in love. The young artist soon realizes that this angelic farm girl was more than just an inspiration to his art - she seemed to be the nourishment for his happiness, and the soul food for his very spirit. The book unfolds their tale.

Pearl Buck captures the reality of such a relationship, formed out of the communion of two people from entirely different worlds. Most movies and romance tales vehemently portray the power of love to transcend differences in social class, caste, religion and race. While they end with the man and the woman tying the knot, and with a cheery statement on "happily ever after", this book deals with what happens after the successful union. The book openly brings out the conflicts, and the harsh realities of being nurtured differently, and of being painfully aware of the differences in social class, no matter how hard it is tried to be erased. Nurture forms an integral part of a person's identity. Pearl Buck very sensitively brings out the internal conflicts of the couple, each of whom struggle so ardently to fit into the other person's way of life and expectations and find themselves failing, and slipping away to their roots. The tale brings out how they settle into a middle ground and work through the relationship.

The story spans across three generations, highlighting the ups, downs, tragedies and challenges of the marriage and how the couple sustain their commitment to each other. The timeline of the tale spins from the Pre-First World era, and moves into the First and Second World Wars. Pearl Buck subtly brings out the immense impact that the war had on diverse families and countries.

As a family saga of sorts, the tale is not entirely fascinating, or gripping. It plays on like a biographical video of one of our ancestors. But Pearl Buck's writing gives a lot of substance and life to the characters, that they come alive as real personalities we can associate with. She also delicately probes the types of doubts, regrets and compromises that are often taken for granted in a successful relationship. She zooms into the realities of such a seemingly perfect and happy couple, who have their own faults, their own disappointments. I particularly liked how Buck integrated the challenges of having children, watching them grow, and leave the nest - her writing captured the essence of what it means to grow in a relationship and transform into companions. She also brought across the message that, love alone doesn't transcend anything - it is an empty shell and a plant without roots, soon to die. Enduring love is one that is derived out of the realization that each spouse completes the other person - this symbiotic relationship, wherein each one needs to feed from some aspect of the other to be the person they truly are, is the yin-yang of a successful marriage.

Pearl Buck's writing wields an emotional and sensitive tale, without whose expert writing, I'm sure the storyline would have fallen flat and banal, and I wouldn't have appreciated it :)