Trisha D. (lectio) reviewed on 1/24/2011 + 88 more book reviews

This 1935 Pulitzer Prize winner is a good example of why we miss out on some fantastic reading if the only books we read are those that have been published recently!Written over 70 years ago, this novel begins a generation before the Chinese revolution and centers around the life of an impoverished peasant, Wang Lung and his attempts to rise above poverty and live a respectable life as a land-owner. As his story unfolds we feel like were invisible observers peeking over his shoulder as he goes about doing the things that people like him had been doing for centuries. We first meet him as he prepares to go into the village and bring home the slave woman who his father has arranged for him to marry. Were also shown what life was like for Chinese peasant women at that time a time when women were not allowed to walk alongside their husbands, and mothers were congratulated for bearing sons but criticized if the baby happened to be a girl in which case she was frequently killed, sold into slavery, or subjected to the painful prospect of having her feet bound which was still being done at that time (because tiny little feet were considered to be an asset especially when men were looking for concubines.) I found it interesting that while the major characters in this novel were vividly portrayed especially Wang Lung, O-Lan his wife, Lotus his Concubine and her slave Cuckoo, many of the others were very rarely even referred to by name even though they were equally important to the narrative and just as well developed. Children were spoken of as first son and second son, siblings were older brother and younger brother and characters often referred to each other as that one or the son of your fathers brother, rather than by name. In fact, several important characters in the novel remained nameless to the reader all the way through. It seemed to underscore the importance of kinship relationships and the strict social norms that revolved around them. And so we watch the events and circumstances of Wang-Lungs life unfold within the cultural context of the late 19th century, but at the same time we are being reminded that the major themes of the book courage and conviction, the will to survive, family responsibilities and conflicts, hard work and the love of the land are universal.

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