Anna's Write

The Good Earth

I just read The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck…and it only took me about 3 days. I bought it on Friday and finished it tonight during the Super Bowl. The book is rather old—it was originally published 60 years ago— and is set in China during its last emperor. Buck grew up in China with her two Christian missionary parents and actually lived in the rural farming village that is the setting for most of the novel.

Of course, the most astonishing part of the novel—to me—was the way men thought of and treated women. The words “girl” and “slave” were interchanged because all girls became slaves either to their husbands or to the rich. The book is written from the point of view of a poor farmer and it begins on his wedding day to an ugly slave his father bought for him from the only rich family in town. She is O-lan, an amazing woman who births her children (three sons, three daughters) in silence and then immediately returns to the field to work alongside her husband. She actually smothers her second daughter right after she’s born because they are so poor and daughters are no good.

The main character of the book, always referred to in his full name of Wang Lung, goes from being poor to starving and impoverished to wealthy. Aside from the appalling treatment of women in the novel, it reveals a lot about the complicated social traditions of old China. Through dialogue, we learn that the Chinese are superstitious and hesitant to enjoy wealth or good luck of any sort. They do not compliment each other—rather they say something exactly opposite of what they’re thinking. For instance, the first time O-lan cooks for Wang Lung, he tells her she does not cook well even though he was very pleased.

I wasn’t sure I would enjoy a book about China because I was never particularly interested in that country (Hello! I’m American) but this novel is really intriguing and, as you can tell, I couldn’t put it down. I basically ignored Jason for three days while I read this book. I would definitely recommend it! It’s not vulgar or sexually descriptive—it’s just a very educational (yet fictional) look at old China. It begins on the wedding day of the main character and ends as he nears death. This book is in no way overly descriptive—in fact, it’s thin on description so you have to use your imagination a lot. Really, it’s thick on Chinese tradition and characters.

Angels & Demons Review

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

Angels and Demons was disappointing. Predictable. I found myself rolling my eyes at plot turns that I recognized from his other, more popular novel The Da Vinci Code. Brown seems to have found a formula that works for mysteries and he uses it again and again. I did speed through the book because of Brown’s writing style. It’s simple. The chapters are short. And each chapter has a cliffhanger so you have to keep going. Sometimes those cliffhangers are lame. For instance, he dragged out the end of Angels & Demons making the reader wonder what is the Pope’s big secret?

So the story and the characters did not impress me because I felt like I had read it all before. What did impress me, was the depth of research and the detail of artwork and architecture in Rome. The book is about an ancient scientific cult that has re-emerged in present day to take down the Vatican. Although I don’t know if his “facts” are actually factual, I imagine many of them are.

Brown has a habit of writing weak romantic sub-plots into his mysteries. This book was no exception. In fact, I thought the “love story” was weaker than Da Vinci. And yes, I am justified in comparing the two novels because they feature the same main character and they are essentially the same damn story. I found Da Vinci more believable because the main character, a Harvard historian, wasn’t a Bruce Willis-like character. In Angels, he just won’t die! I found it hard to believe that he was so invincible even if he was fighting for the Vatican’s cause.

If I were to recommend a Dan Brown book, I would definitely suggest reading The Da Vinci Code. The books are basically the same but the INFORMATION in Da Vinci is much more powerful. Several times while reading that book I said out loud, “No shit! This guy must be making this stuff up!” Then I’d cross-reference his material on the internet (legitimate websites) and see that yes, what he’s writing about is one school of thought.

I know Lee really enjoyed this book and I think I would have too if I hadn’t already read Da Vinci. I bet Lee wouldn’t like Da Vinci if he read it now. Guess it just depends on which book you read first!