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5th out of 19 books
—
14 voters
The Exile
The biography of the mother of Pearl S. Buck, a portrait of an American woman in China.
Paperback
Published
February 1st 1976
by Pocket
(first published 1936)
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This biography of Carie Sydenstricker, mother of Pearl S. Buck, reads more like a novel. The product of Dutch and French Huguenot immigrant parents, she was raised in a deeply religious Presbyterian community in West Virginia. From her pioneer parents and grandparents, Carie inherited a strong character, courageous and lively spirit, a love for music and the beauty of nature, and a keen sense of humor. After two years in seminary she married a stiff, rather remote scholarly minister and joined h...more
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Very well written book, I liked it better than the "The Good Earth", though comparison is not justified since this is a biography of her mother and the other is a work of fiction.
She brings home what late 19th and early 20th century China was like. And her mother's anguished despair on losing children, to trying to keep faith in God and how husband and wife, two human beings, so physically close but in reality miles apart..........it is if she paints a collage with words, you feel it all.
And the...more
She brings home what late 19th and early 20th century China was like. And her mother's anguished despair on losing children, to trying to keep faith in God and how husband and wife, two human beings, so physically close but in reality miles apart..........it is if she paints a collage with words, you feel it all.
And the...more
"The Exile" is Pearl Buck's biography of her mother, and it serves as a companion to "Fighting Angel," her biography of her father. "Companion," probably isn't the best word because Pearl Buck's mother and father were anything but companions to one another. Perhaps it would be more accurate to state that their biographies, like themselves, are more like two sides of the same coin.
While "Fighting Angel" focused on Andrew (Absalom) Sydenstricker's pioneering missionary career, it rarely mentioned...more
While "Fighting Angel" focused on Andrew (Absalom) Sydenstricker's pioneering missionary career, it rarely mentioned...more
This is Pearl Buck's biography of her mother. It is a companion book to "Fighting Angel". Can't wait to get started.
I found this book so interesting and such a pleasure to read that I didn't want it to end. I generally read in short spurts anyway, but I found it really necessary with this book because there were parts I found so heavy that I had to take a break just to digest them. Pearl obviously loved her mother intensely and she writes of a woman I would love to have known. This creative, spu...more
I found this book so interesting and such a pleasure to read that I didn't want it to end. I generally read in short spurts anyway, but I found it really necessary with this book because there were parts I found so heavy that I had to take a break just to digest them. Pearl obviously loved her mother intensely and she writes of a woman I would love to have known. This creative, spu...more
This was about her mother's life as the wife of a missionary in China before the revolution, the invasion of the Japanese and the invasion of Russia. It was a hard life for her..she sacrificed much. Pearl Buck was largely raised as a child there. Disease was a major problem.
This is now one of my favorite all time books. Pearl Buck has portrayed her mother in a totally complete way that makes you want her for your best friend and weep for all the heartaches and trials she endured so well. This would be a perfect book club book.
Gripping, heart-rending, extraordinary. This is Pearl Buck's biography of her mother - what an amazing woman, what an amazing book, written with such tenderness, sensitivity and skill.
I loved this book about Pearl Buck's mother who married and then traveled to China where she lived the rest of her life and where she and four of her seven children were buried.
Mar 26, 2010
Drew
added it
The Exile by Pearl S. Buck (1963)
Apr 25, 2011
Mary JL
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Fans of Pearl Buck; biographies or Chinese culture
Shelves:
history-biography
This is Pearl S. Buck's biography of her mother. It shows a lot about life in China before the Second World War and how her missionary parents fit in.
It is not quite as good as the biography she worte of her father--which was "Fighting Angel"--but still a fairly decent book.
Recommended for fans of Pearl s. Buck; fans of biographies or anyone interested in life in China in the 1920s.
f
It is not quite as good as the biography she worte of her father--which was "Fighting Angel"--but still a fairly decent book.
Recommended for fans of Pearl s. Buck; fans of biographies or anyone interested in life in China in the 1920s.
f
Oct 16, 2008
Shawnee Bowlin
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone who likes to read about the life stories and struggles of people from a more repressed era
Recommended to Shawnee by:
Mrs. Lois at Atlanta Public Library
While the book was not riveting, it was interesting to read of Carie's struggles as she grew up before and during the Civil War and went on to marry Andrew and follow him to China to serve her God. The loss of her children and her struggle to believe in a God who seemed reluctant to give her the sign she seeked was very sad. Her strength through her struggles are to be commended and respected.
Always love Pearl Buck's books. Beautifully written.
May 17, 2013
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Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (1892–1973) was a bestselling and Nobel Prize–winning author. Her classic novel The Good Earth (1931) was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and William Dean Howells Medal. Born in Hillsboro, West Virginia, Buck was the daughter of missionaries and spent much of the first half of her life in China, where many of her books are set. In 1934, civil unrest in China forced Buck back to t...more
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