The Good Earth, Discussion the Last

Sadly, we’ve come to the end of The Good Earth, and I’m curious how many of you had your hearts ripped out?! I won’t go into a ton of detail and spoilery fun about the ending, but we’ve essentially witnessed Wang Lung’s demise. I bet some of the questions I’ve asked or hinted at before are beginning to come into focus.

Namely, how did education impact this story? Specifically, how did education impact Wang Lung’s sons and their actions near the end of the book?

What was the land worth to Wang Lung in the end?

What did you think of the ending? Was it a satisfying and rightful conclusion to the book? Sometimes tragedy is poetic, and sometimes individuals feel as if they’ve had their time stolen. Was it a waste of time for you given the ending?

More to come on Pearl S. Buck herself tomorrow!

The Good Earth, Chapters 20-28

Welcome back, y’all! Another week of The Good Earth discussion, and we’re heading into the downward spiral, as it were. Looking back over the chapters, I guess it’s time to bring Wang Lung’s uncle, and his miserable family, center stage! How did you feel when Wang Lung’s uncle showed up at the door in Chapter 20 and the incorporation of his wife and son into the mix of Wang Lung’s house? His wife sure can’t keep her mouth shut, eh? This portion really tugged at my heart-strings for O-Lan:

There came a broken sound from O-Lan, what it was she said he could not hear, but his uncle’s wife said again,

And it is not to be thought, poor fool,that one woman is enough for any man, and if it is a wear hard-working woman who has worn away her flesh working for him, it is less than enough for him. His fancy runs elsewhere the more quickly, and you, poor fool, have never been fit for a man’s fancy and little better than an ox for his labor. And it is not for you to repine when he has money and buys himself another to bring her to his house, for all men are so, and would my old do-nothing also, except the poor wretch has never had enough silver in his life to feed himself even.

Ugg! What a sad, frustrating sort of solidarity. The uncle’s wife knows her husband would’ve done the same, but he’s basically worthless and poor. Yay!

Another character who takes center stage in this novel is Cuckoo–and what a fitting name! How do you feel about her role in the novel along with Lotus? Wang Lung was surprised that O-Lan’s frustrations came out against Cuckoo as opposed to Lotus, though with Cuckoo’s mouth and demeanor, I can’t say I was terribly surprised. With all these dueling personalities in the house, there was likely to be some cattiness and flared tempers.

I was very proud of Wang Lung for standing up for his “fool” daughter in the face of Lotus’s anger. She was offended by the child and Wang Lung said, “Now I will not hear my children cursed, no and not by any one and not even my poor fool, and now by you who have no son in your womb for any man.”

Sadly, in this section of the book, O-Lan , as well as Wang Lung’s father, meet their end. O-Lan remained unsung, and I think it’s obvious that Wang Lung struggled with her death. I was disappointed that he couldn’t seem to figure himself out! He can’t just mourn for her at first. He busies himself with preparations and rents a space for her coffin until the day of burial. When his father passes, though, he finds comfort in being near the coffin. Finally, on the day of burial he does inwardly chide himself for taking O-Lan’s pearls and thinks, “There in that land of mine is buried the first good half of my life and more. It is as though half of me were buried there, and now it is a different life in my house.”

I think it’s obvious from the way this section ends in Chapter 28 that things are on a downward slope. Ching predicts floods and the land literally holds the best parts of Wang Lung’s life. Where do you think we’re going? Will it be a tragedy or will the land save our anti-hero?

The Good Earth, Chapters 10-19

Hello all! Welcome back for our second week of discussion of Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth! This week we’re tackling chapters 10-19.

So, if life in the countryside wasn’t hard enough, now Wang Lung and his family are headed south on the firewagon! This section was a bit like seeing an accident happen right in front of us! While my heart went out to the family as they begged on the street and Wang Lung pulled his riksha, I was also fascinated as the family erected their little tent and lived on their mats on the streets.

Throughout the course of these chapters, Wang Lung really suffers at the hands of the city. He is constantly ridiculed, for the southerners see him as a country bumpkin with his pigtail. He also is faced with the realization of his own illiteracy of the written word.

Finally, once Wang Lung returns to his own lands, we begin to see a shift in his character. To this point he’s been a little disappointing at times–especially in his relationship with O-Lan–but he begins to grow further away from her. His ego expands as his pocketbook grows.

What your thoughts so far? Here are some questions I had for you all…

• What do you think of the means by which Wang Lung got the money to return to his land?
• Why do you think O-Lan wanted to keep the two pearls?
• With Wang Lung realizing his lack of education, what role do you think education will play for his children and in his own future?
• What did you think of Wang Lung’s experiences with the tea houe in Chapters 18 and 19 and the taking of O-Lan’s pearls?

Meet me next Monday for discussion of Chapters 20-28!

The Good Earth, Chapters 1-9

Hello everyone, and a happy Valentine’s Day to you all. It’s time to get started with Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth, and I can’t wait to read what you all have to say about it!

These early chapters were probably my favorite part of the book. They lay the groundwork for this time period in China and the characters Wang Lung and O-lan. I’ve always been fascinated with books that allow me to sink into a time period or specific geographic region, and obviously this book offers both. I like historical fiction that meticulously outlines the daily minutiae of  life.  Thinking back to my childhood, the first book to allow me this opportunity was Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods. I don’t come across them often–maybe I’m just not reading the right historical fiction–but The Good Earth is the first book in a long while that made me feel as if I were living right alongside the characters.

Speaking of the characters, I think they are marvelously fleshed out. Wang Lung’s drive to work the land and succeed, come hell or high water, is intense and wrenching. O-lan’s hard work and endurance is astounding and sort of heartbreaking since she doesn’t get the type of attention we, as readers, probably feel she deserves for her hard work.

In recent weeks, as you all have started reading, I’ve heard from several people that this book could “Rip your heart out!” and I can’t argue with that sentiment. But why and how does it rip our hearts out?

Some questions for you all to think and chat about:

• What expectations did you bring to the book if you’re reading it for the first time?
• What do you think of the characters and their respective plights?
• What details of daily life in China have delighted, sickened, or surprised you?
• What does Wang Lung’s proclamation of “At least I have the land–I have the land” foreshadow and is it a promising mantra?

While you all peruse those questions and toss out your initial thoughts, I hope you’re enjoying the next leg of the book! See you back here for discussion of Chapters 10-19 on the 21st!

The Good Earth Discussion Schedule

Happy New Year classic readers!!! I’m Andi from Estella’s Revenge, and when Heather approached me to lead discussion during a quarter this year, I was surprised and delighted! It took no time at all to decide on Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth. It was, by far, my favorite classic I read in 2010, and I have no hesitation about re-reading it with you all again this year. 

A brief introduction: February will be my 6th year of blogging. There have certainly been lots of ups and downs in that time, but I always come back to books and to my blog friends. In my daily life, I’m the Program Chair for General Education at a career college in Dallas. My department covers language, math, sciences, social sciences, communications, and all the other “basic” college courses. I also teach composition and literature courses. You might think I’d be really well-suited to lead a discussion of classics, but I’m not so sure!!! The classroom discussion is quite different from the online discussion, but I’m really excited to try!

While I’ve read my share of classics in school over the years, I’m constantly struggling to bring more classics into my fun reading, and The Good Earth is a perfect balance of the fulfilling classic with supreme readability. It’s just a great story, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have.

To give everyone time to gather their books, I’ve decided to start discussion in mid-February. Maybe that will give us all enough time to recover from the holiday season and get some books under our belts and ready for some discussion.

The discussion will be split into four parts:

• February 14th, Chapters 1-9 (Happy Valentine’s Day!)
• February 21st, Chapters 10-19
• February 28th, Chapters 20-28
• March 7th, Chapters 29-34

So there we have it! I hope you’ll dig up an old loved copy of The Good Earth, or maybe you’ll go out and buy a brand new one. Either way, it’s worth the journey into China’s past.

2010 Wrap Up, Looking Ahead to 2011

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the inaugural year of the Classic Reads Book Club. Heather and I couldn’t be happier about how everything went this year. This whole thing started because I wanted to reread “East of Eden,” and now we have progressed to having a different blogger facilitating a read-along of a classic they love every quarter. As a reminder, here is what we covered this year:

• Jen from Devourer of Books led “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck
• Heather from Capricious Reader led “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith
• Trish from Hey Lady, Whatcha Readin’? led “A Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood
• Chris from Stuff as Dreams are Made on led “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” by Shirley Jackson

I am really looking forward to what we have coming in 2011, we have some great bloggers lined up to facilitate discussions on great books.

• In the first part of 2011, Andi from Estella’s Revenge will be leading us in discussing “The Good Earth” by Pearl S. Buck. Expect to see a schedule from her posted sometime shortly after the new year, but go ahead and grab your copy now! This is a favorite of mine and I haven’t read it for years.
• Sometime April – June, Nymeth from Things Mean a Lot will facilitating for “A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf. I’ve actually never read any of Woolf’s work, so I can’t wait to have someone who loves her to discuss the book with.
• Later in the summer, Michelle from My Books. My Life. will lead a discussion on “Madame Bovary” by Gustave Flaubert. Michelle and I (at least) will be reading from the new translation by Lydia Davis from Penguin, and we would encourage those interested to pick up that version as well.

If you are interested in possibly leading a discussion in the future, you can indicate your willingness here, or email me at jen(at)devourerofbooks.com.

We Have Always Lived In The Castle Ch’s 9 & 10

I have to apologize to everyone for not having this post up in time!! It totally got away from me. Maybe subconsciously I was trying to avoid it because it’s our last discussion of the book :( I’ve had such a great time talking about this book with everyone and reading everyone’s comments about it! It really has been quite the fun read. But alas, all things must come to an end, and what an interesting end We Have Always Lived in the Castle has come to.

Did anyone find the ending anti-climatic? At first I did. I wanted more answers. Maybe not more answers, maybe that’s not the right term, but I wanted to see things play out more. We never learn much more about Uncle Julian’s death and the girls’ reaction is a bit strange…not much of a reaction at all really. I found it odd that the girls are able to continue to live in the house despite half of it being burnt down. Even with the vines growing over the house it doesn’t seem like it would be very liveable. The girls get checked in on and Helen Clarke makes a statement that the townspeople didn’t mean it the way they took it? Or something like that? That was bizarre to me. How else were the girls to take people destroying their homes.

But after sitting with the book for a couple of days, I began to become ok with the ending because it became almost fairy tale like to me. Where things don’t necessarily have to have a perfect ending and be tied up nicely. In fact, the ending became deliciously creepy to me with people leaving baskets on the front doorstep filled with food as an apology for their past behavior. Children daring each other to go close to the door. Stories forming about the old women who lived in the house still. But we as readers actually get to see what’s BEHIND the door. And I almost felt like the whole book was an homage to these sorts of folktales and legends that live in small towns. That it showed us the humans behind the doors. The real people who take the food that’s left in the basket and how they’re not creepy old witches, but people that we can feel for despite our initial questions about them. But of course these are just my own thoughts on the book. I would LOVE to hear your own thoughts on the ending.

What did you think of these last two chapters and even more, what did you think of the novel as a whole? Did you enjoy it? Were you disappointed by the ending? Are you likely to read more Jackson after reading this novel? I know I am!

Also, I just want to thank everyone for participating in this discussion!! It’s meant so much to me (who was a bundle of nerves to begin with!) and I just had so much fun hosting this. Hope everyone enjoyed it!!

We Have Always Lived In The Castle Ch’s 6, 7 & 8 Discussion

First of all, Happy Halloween Everyone!!! Or I should say a belated happy Halloween to everyone as you’re likely reading this after Halloween. But I hope that everyone had a wonderfully spooky Halloween and that Ms. Shirley Jackson’s wonderfully atmospheric novel could add to your holiday. I have a confession to make….I finished the book! After reading these three chapters I could NOT put the book down. But I promise no spoilers for the last two chapters here :p But we certainly reached a climax with these three chapters and I found it so hard to just put the book down for another week. So let’s chat.

What did we all think of all of this craziness??? All of this unrest? It seems that everyone just exploded in these chapters. Everyone except for Constance who seems to just always stay as level headed as she can. I feel for Constance…I truly do. The more and more we see of her personality, the more we see that in her own little world, she’s the one that has to hold everything together but she feels a constant need to hide from the outside world. Yet everything around her is in unrest. We have Merricat just losing her cool completely with Charles and who can blame her. She tears his room apart which leads Charles to lose it on her which leads Uncle Julian to lose it on him while Constance just tries to act as the moderator. And then there’s the fire….oh the fire :(

What a horrible scene, huh? Did anyone else feel just a huge surge of ANGER reading that scene?? As Charles tried to haul the safe out of the house and the townspeople went about smashing everything they could find in the house and even those in charge lost it. What’s left for Constance and Mary Katherine? Who are they truly safe with?

And then of course there is the big reveal at the end of Chapter 9. The reveal that so many of you had guessed from the beginning! This is a rhetorical question for some of you, but were you surprised by this? I guess even if you had guessed that it was Mary Katherine, what did you think of the way it was revealed?

I’m just head over heels in love with this book and am dying to get my hands on some more Shirley Jackson. What a wonderful writer she was, huh? I love the atmosphere and the emotion that she evokes with her words. Just perfect. And I couldn’t be happier with the discussions we’re having here. Thanks everyone :)

We Have Always Lived In The Castle Ch’s 3, 4 & 5 Discussion

I have to start off by telling everyone that while I was first terrified of leading this group, I am now LOVING it! The discussion for the first two chapters has been wonderful and has me thinking all sorts of possibilities that I haven’t thought of before. So what does everyone think of our next session?

Here we see Mary sort of spinning into almost a psychosis, I would say with the belief that buried objects will keep her safe, a book nailed to a post will keep bad things from happening, a series of three magic words can protect her (anyone have anything to say on those words?), a secret hiding place among trees to protect her and conversations with her pet cat, Jonas.

But it’s not just Mary that’s acting increasingly more bizarre with these next three chapters. As Frankie pointed out in the comments of the discussion of Chapter’s 1&2, the whole family seems to make a mockery out of the murder of the rest of the family, often making harsh jokes about it. And does anyone else get the feeling that Uncle Julian knows much more about what happened than what he leads on…that he has some sort of dementia and occasionally sees through to the past. It almost seems to me that Constance tries to shut him up at time. I almost wonder if SHE’S putting something in HIS food at times and telling him “now now, just go outside and look at the pretty birds.”

And then there’s Cousin Charles who I honestly don’t know what to make of. I find it highly suspicious that he’s there just to reunite and look after everyone. Highly suspicious. Though he seems to  find Uncle Julian’s talk of the murders disturbing at times, there’s also something about him that just isn’t right. But let’s be honest…is there anyone in this bloodline that we’ve met so far that has their head screwed on straight?

A lot of people mentioned in the comments last week that they had a strong feeling Mary Katherine was the one who put the arsenic in the sugar. Is everyone still feeling that way? Just curious to know. I honestly don’t know what to think at this point. I really don’t! But I have a feeling I’ll be flying through our next section tonight :p

We Have Always Lived In The Castle CH. 1&2 Discussion

It’s time to get this party started!! And by party, I mean this super creepy book. Well Ms. Mary Katherine sounds pleasant, doesn’t she? She opens the book telling us that she wishes she would’ve been born a werewolf, she dislikes washing herself and that everyone in her family aside from her and her sister are dead. I’m guessing we’re not considering Uncle Julian family since it’s by marriage or is he going to be some kind of ghost or something? And then things just  get more and more bizarre as we learn that the whole town dislikes her and her sister. Or is it mostly in her head? Or is it a combination of the two? We certainly see Mary Katherine’s own imagination get carried away as she imagines the deaths of those that give her grief.

But it’s in the second chapter that the meat of the story seems to be revealed. A murder…a poisoning with arsenic. Is it just me or did it sound like Constance and Uncle Julian were putting on a show almost for Helen Clarke and Mrs. Wright? I mean, this is a messed up family. That’s my first impression. And who is Helen? I mean yes, we know she’s one of the few townspeople that are “good enough” to come and visit the girls, but why? What’s her interest in them? And why bring Mrs. Wright?

Wow…there’s just so much to talk about here. I was hooked by this book right from the beginning!! I’m so glad to be reading this one!! And I really can’t wait to see where it goes. So here are a few questions to discuss: What were your thoughts going into this novel? Is it anything like what you expected? Do you think that Constance put the arsenic in the sugar as of right now? Any hunch on what’s up with the family? There’s just something really off about them. Why is Helen so interested in the girls? What about the title of the book? And most importantly…are you hooked?!

Can’t wait to meet everyone here next week!! Same time, same place ;)