Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Pearl of China

3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 · rating details · 3,106 ratings · 640 reviews

It is the end of the nineteenth century and China is riding on the crest of great change, but for nine-year-old Willow, the only child of a destitute family in the small southern town of Chin-kiang, nothing ever seems to change. Until the day she meets Pearl, the eldest daughter of a zealous American missionary.Pearl is head-strong, independent and fiercely intelligent, an...more

Hardcover, 278 pages

Published March 30th 2010 by Bloomsbury USA (first published 2009)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Beautiful Book Covers

38th out of 283 books — 224 voters

Best China Expat Books

3rd out of 59 books — 37 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Mar 01, 2012 Kathryn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

I really enjoyed this book and would not hesitate to recommend it to others. The relationship between Willow and Pearl was special indeed and the glimpse into Pearl S. Buck's life in China was a treasure.

4 likes · like · see review

Oct 13, 2012 P.V. LeForge rated it 2 of 5 stars

As a teenager in China during the Cultural Revolution, author Anchee Min was asked to denounce the so-called "American cultural imperialist" Pearl Buck. Years later, in the U. S., she had the opportunity of reading Buck's work and was ashamed that she had been forced to write against someone who obviously knew China and its people so well. Pearl of China is her paean to Buck, and as such is a touching reminder of a writer who, despite winning the Nobel Prize in 1938, is mostly dismissed by this...more

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 21, 2010 Chrissie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Chrissie by: Tara

Shelves: china, bio, usa

Only three stars, and I will try and explain why. First of all the title tells you the book is about Pearl S. Buck, but much of what you learn about her is summarized in short sentences. So much is missing. Pearl is described throough the eyes of her friend Willow Yee. The book is in fact more about Willow's life than Pearl's! Furthermore, a very large portion of the book concerns Christianity in China. I think the title is deceptive and falsely attracts readers by flagging with Pearl's name.

We...more Only three stars, and I will try and explain why. First of all the title tells you the book is about Pearl S. Buck, but much of what you learn about her is summarized in short sentences. So much is missing. Pearl is described throough the eyes of her friend Willow Yee. The book is in fact more about Willow's life than Pearl's! Furthermore, a very large portion of the book concerns Christianity in China. I think the title is deceptive and falsely attracts readers by flagging with Pearl's name.

We all know a good author should show rather thean tell us what happens and how people feel. I continually felt that I was being told a story. She thought this and then he did that. This was very, very disturbing. As you get further into the book you feel this less, but the first 1/3 of the book was very hard for me. It was all a rather distant story with lots of talk about Christianity. Furthermore, how Christianity was portrayed in the beginning was very disturbing. Absalom, Pearl's father, could only think of converting the Chinese. NOTHING else was important to this guy!. He totally neglected his family. You cannot help but think - is HE a good person? At the same time the Chinese were only interested in a religion that would benefit them materially. Willow's father thought he could benefit by aiding Absalom so he "sold" Chrisianity, convincing the Chinese villagers that their old gods had failed. Look how miserable their lives were. The whole thing, although perhaps realistic, was like a PR gimmick and it was disgusting. By the end of the book, the Chinese Christian converts really DID believe in the principles of Christianity, and I felt more comfortable. Absalom established the largest Christina community in southern China. Still, I am not religious and I always felt a distance between their beliefs and my own. I continually was fighting the thought - how can they feel that? How can they believe that?

So why not just one star? Well, the latter half of the book covers more history - the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in the 30s, the Boxer Rebellion, Madame Mao personality traits, how dissident prisoners were treated and the procession of power from Dr. Sun Yat-sen to Chiang Kai-shek and later to Mao to Madame Mao to Chou En-lai to Deng Xiaoping. I found this a good SUMMARY of what happened. I think life during the Cultural Revolution was well portrayed. At this point Pearl has left China! You see what I mean, the book really isn't about Pearl! Yes, what she was writing and how she almost came to visit China with Nixon are carefully described. (Note - I use the word described again!) However you DO get to know Pearl. You understand what moved her. You understand how she truly felt more Chinese than American. I very much liked how the book ended. In talking about the garden in Pearl's American home and Willow's visit to Pearl's grave you grasp the beauty of different cultures. Ultimately I think the book does a good job of portraying how a Chinese thinks. To survive you must hide what your really think. History has taught them to grab at straws and think of ingenuous ways to get by. Look at the recent history of invasion by Japan, then civil war and then Mao....... I also enjoyed learning about the poet Hsu Chih-mo, the musician Ah-Bing and several Chinese traditions, particularly the "tofu banquet". I am definitely glad I read the book, but I don't like that the author sold it under a false name (ie the title)!

I received this book in the mail as a present from Tara. THANK YOU TARA.

BOY oh boy does Belgium mail suck!!! I mailed Year of Wonders to Tara a few days before she mailed hers, and still mine hasn't reached her...... Now more than a month has gone by and my book has not been delivered!!!!!! Am I mad? No, I am furious! I have been having huge angry "discussions" with the postal services here. I have to admit defeat. I can do nothing........ Well at least I got a chance to express my anger in French! I am sure they got my point, no matter how badly I expressed it! And Tara was sent a box of Belgian chocolates instead! They are probably better than the lost book! This second package I mailed "insured". If they loose this one they can follow it step by step to see whio ate the chocolate. I hope they arrive, un-nibbled on!

(((HUGS))) to Tara!

P.S. the book I sent Tara DID eventually arrive - after a delay of 40 days. I wonder if someone read it along the way?! Now hopefully Tara acan read and nibble chocolates at the same time. :0)(less)

10 likes · like · see review

May 07, 2010 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, favorite-reads

Pearl of China was an interesting but kind of disappointing book. I appreciated knowing more about Pearl Buck and her life in China, but the book left me wanting. Where were the great descriptions of life - good or bad - in China? There is such a wealth of material that could have been used to fill out the predictable story. I did learn a few new things, but at times, realizing it was a fictionalized account, wondered about the veracity.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the book. I was just wishin...more

5 likes · like · see review

Apr 27, 2013 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pearl of China is a tricky novel. Min set out to tell the story of Pearl S. Buck, perhaps the most famous and influential writer on China in the 20th century. But Min wanted to tell the story from a Chinese perspective, which becomes difficult after Buck was forced to leave China in 1934. The book continues on until after Buck's death in 1973, so a large portion of Buck's life is left out and the book instead follows the life of the narrator, the fictional Willow.

Even without Buck's presence, t...more

like · see review

May 29, 2013 Sarah Nichols rated it 3 of 5 stars

As a fan of Anchee Min I nabbed this book from a friend's stack of library books she had just checked out.

As the Mexican's say even a great cook can create a flop.

This is a contrived historic novel featuring Pearl S. Buck filled with:

Quaint Colloquialisms:
"Be careful when you think that you have gotten a good deal. Check on you handsome rooster. Don't be surprised if he grows a set of teeth one day!"

Dynamic Descriptions:
"When she emerged from the farmhouse, she looked like an Oriental, her eyes...more

like · see review

May 27, 2013 Laurie Tomchak rated it 3 of 5 stars

Pearl Buck has never been a favorite writer of mine, despite her financial success, her Nobel and her Pulitzer, and her special place in Chinese culture. Perhaps it is because, as a nonbeliever, I have trouble empathizing with the missionary mindset. I haven't read any of her works except The Good Earth, which I remember from long ago as compulsively readable. I am more familiar with Anchee Min's work, starting with the justly famous Red Azalea. She gives us a portrait of Pearl verging on the ha...more

like · see review

Apr 29, 2013 Louise rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, china-fic-lit

This novel envisions Pearl Buck's life in China. The story is told by a fictional childhood friend, Willow. The narrative somewhat parallels the Sydenstricker family's life in China as presented in Pearl Buck in China: Journey to The Good Earth through Pearl's young adulthood. Poetic license is taken with events following Nanking, for instance Absalom and Pearl go to Japan before Absalom returns to China.

The rigid missionary father Absalom, while headstrong and difficult, is somewhat air brushed...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 13, 2013 Devika Koppikar rated it 5 of 5 stars

I listened to the audio version to fill up my long 50-mile commutes to my job. I was hesitant at first because it contained nine CDs and I didn't want to spend my drive hearing about details of the color of the wall. But, I was wrong!

This was an excellent book. The friendship between Willow and Pearl was well-developed - so much so, that I started missing a close friend of mine from college. More specifically, the book told of how Willow and Pearl stood together through so many milestones and tr...more

like · see review

Jan 27, 2013 Sue rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

One of the few in my generation who has never read "The Good Earth," I leapt at a new book club's opportunity to read "Pearl of China" hoping to learn more about Pearl Buck. I was disappointed. A better title would have been "Willow of China" because it focuses on a fictional friend of Pearl Buck rather than on the famous author. Although thus forewarned that this is a work of fiction, it is hardly even good fiction. The style is elementary, even when the characters have grown to adulthood and b...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 30, 2012 Peg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Although this story of Pearl Buck's life is actually a novel, the author captures the uniqueness of her life. Telling the story of Pearl's life, from her early childhood in China where she was raised in the Chinese culture, to her being deemed an enemy of China by the Mao regime, this story gives a revealing look at the life of one of our most famous writers. Author Mon's personal journey is also interesting, in that as a young Chinese girl raised during the devastating Cultural Revolution, she...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 22, 2012 Julie rated it 2 of 5 stars

"Willow of China" would have been more appropriate
Just used Pearl to make a buck

This piece of historical fiction supposedly "brings new color to the remarkable life of Pearl S. Buck, illuminated by the sweep of history and an intimate, unforgettable friendship". But that was NOT the case. There was a sweep of history that was revealed through Pearl's "friend" Willow but the friendship was a mere contrivance to provide this sweep of history.

There was little in-depth revelation of Pearl S Buck; s...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 17, 2012 Gloria rated it 3 of 5 stars

Very readable and engaging, but like most books set in China aimed at Westerners I didn't love it. Something about the style of prose used in these novels - very simple, straightforward, non-descriptive - doesn't work for me. My uninformed guess is that authors are trying to emulate a more Chinese style; the way the language would play out if translated well. I don't even realize how much I miss affected adjectives and convoluted sentence structure until I read something so pared down. Just my p...more

like · see review

Jun 15, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

In the small southern China town of Chin-kiang, in the last days of the nineteenth century, two young girls meet who are destined to become life-long friends. Willow is a thief, the only child of a destitute family. Pearl is the daughter of a zealous Christian missionary and his compassionate wife. Both grow up to live eventful lives often disrupted by tumultuous events in early 20th century China. Pearl becomes a Nobel Prize winning novelist. Willow, educated by Pearl’s mother, becomes a newspa...more

1 like · like · see review

May 28, 2012 Yudhi Herwibowo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

dan di antara tumpukan buku-buku,yang jumlahnya ratusan lebih itu

aku merasa sangat beruntung, otak ini menggerakkan tanganku memilih buku ini untuk kubaca…

Aku bagai ingin menjadi bocah kecil yang bersembunyi di balik rerumputan lebat dan melihat dua orang perempuan itu, seorang China dan seorang berambut pirang, yang sedang berpandangan dalam suasana hiruk pikuk di dekat sebuah desa bernama Ciang-kiang.

“Aku akan membawakan bunga-bunga segar ke makam Carrie di musim semi.” Suara perempuan China i...more

1 like · like · see review

May 06, 2012 Sara rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Willow Lee is a girl growing up in a small Chinese village in the late 1800′s. Her family, consisting of her father and his mother, becomes increasingly poor as she grows older, and soon she is helping her father steal things to sell. Then she meets Pearl, the daughter of the white missionaries Absalom and Carie, and they soon become good friends. Pearl, who has lived in China since she was a baby, feels culturally Chinese but is set apart by her blonde hair and blue eyes. Willow’s father attach...more

like · see review

Oct 20, 2011 Carrie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Historical Fiction. Written from the perspective of Pearl's childhood friend Willow, a Chinese beggar girl, as the two grow up during the upheavals of Christian missionaries, Mao, and the Cultural Revolution.

Pearl was born to missionary parents, who visited America simply so their child would be born there and a US citizen. They immediately returned to China to continue their Christian work, and Pearl learned to speak Chinese before she learned English. Pearl attended college in the US, but alwa...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 12, 2011 Lorraine rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked what Anchee Min did with this fictionalized account of Pearl Buck's life. I know the book did not get real good reviews--as good as some of the author's other books, but I liked her perspective. I think she captured the Chinese-ness of Pearl and how she never thought of herself as an American, since she was an American but raised in China. Sadly, Pearl Buck never had a chance to return to China, and sadly, even though she won the Nobel Prize for THE GOOD EARTH, she was never really appre...more

like · see review

Sep 13, 2011 Helen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: china, pearl-s-buck, americans, books, female-friendship

I discovered Pearl Buck in my teens and devoured her books. Over the years I have them time and again never tiring of her stories of China and vivid descriptions of the people and the places they lived. I think it is due to her writing that I have always been fascinated with China.

This book is a very well done blend of fiction and true history. It tells the story of Pearl's young life among the chinese and her friendship with Willow. Willow is probably a composite of many friends Pearl actually...more I discovered Pearl Buck in my teens and devoured her books. Over the years I have them time and again never tiring of her stories of China and vivid descriptions of the people and the places they lived. I think it is due to her writing that I have always been fascinated with China.

This book is a very well done blend of fiction and true history. It tells the story of Pearl's young life among the chinese and her friendship with Willow. Willow is probably a composite of many friends Pearl actually had.

Pearl's father went to China as a missionary with her mother, her younger sister Grace and herself. They lived in a small village, Chin-kiang. Pearl meets Willow when they are both very young. Willow, a few years older, steals to help her family survive. In trying to steal from Pearl a friendship is forged that cover many decades and history.

The book tells a good deal of Pearl Buck's own struggle with her life and her desire to become a writer. But this book is much more about the struggles of the people that Pearl Buck loved and championed.

The two women seem to live mirrored lives. An American who wanted all things Chinese and a Chinese who wanted all things American. Not because they thought the politics was better but because they had come to love someone so much they wanted to emulate them. Willow felt loved and cared for by Carie, Pearl's mother, who taught her sing and stood up for her. Pearl's father, though emotionally distanced from his own family, came to be Willow's family's savior. He gave a job to her father that allowed them to lead more honest lives and therefore have self-respect that was so important in their culture.

At the end of the book the mirrored image becomes distinct in a letter Willow writes to her oldest friend she has not seen in many, many years. She has gone to America to see Pearl's grave. She is astonished to find that in America Pearl has recreated China in her own home and property. Even her grave, remote and discreet, bears only a small marker with three Chinese symbols depicting her name. It is surrounded by bamboo. She plans on taking back seeds from trees in the countryside Pearl lived in to have planted on her grave when she dies. In the letter she has written she tells of her three granddaughters all named after Pearl (Pearl who had only one natural daughter, had adopted other Asian children)They both had written, loved the same people, loved the same men. Two women whose friendship was so strong they endured years of absolute silence and miles of distance and still felt strong ties to the other.

(less)

like · see review

Aug 08, 2011 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

This is a fictionalized account of the life of Pearl Buck, as seen through the story of her (fictional) best friend Willow. I have read other books by Anchee Min, and I was really looking forward to this one. I have loved Pearl Buck's "China" books since I can remember. I was terribly disappointed in Pearl of China. The author took some pretty serious liberties with Pearl Buck's story, and while I thought Willow's story and perspective was interesting, to a point, I also felt the writing was cho...more

like · see review

Jul 25, 2011 Juliana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ulasan Pearl of China, karya Anchee Min, memoar seorang penulisAmerika, pemenang Nobel dan Pulitzer, oleh seorang sahabat masa kecilnya di Tiongkok.
Aku tidak sabar segera menuliskan ulasanku setelah membaca Pearl of China. Aku sendiri hampir tak percaya bisa menyelesaikan separuh lebih novel itu hanya dalam satu hari, karena membaca awalnya pun aku ngeri karena tokoh-tokohnya yang begitu mengerikan, papa Willow Yee, seorang buruh kasar yang menjual istrinya untuk menjadi gundik dan meracuni istr...more Ulasan Pearl of China, karya Anchee Min, memoar seorang penulisAmerika, pemenang Nobel dan Pulitzer, oleh seorang sahabat masa kecilnya di Tiongkok.
Aku tidak sabar segera menuliskan ulasanku setelah membaca Pearl of China. Aku sendiri hampir tak percaya bisa menyelesaikan separuh lebih novel itu hanya dalam satu hari, karena membaca awalnya pun aku ngeri karena tokoh-tokohnya yang begitu mengerikan, papa Willow Yee, seorang buruh kasar yang menjual istrinya untuk menjadi gundik dan meracuni istrinya sendiri, Nainai, yang bekas penghuni rumah bordil, dan masih meneruskan pekerjaannya dengan menerima tamu, meskipun telah memiliki cucu.
Willow kecil yang suka mencuri dan mencopet demi sesuap dasi dan segenggam kedelai panggang. Aku menjadi malas membacanya, dan memutuskan untuk membaca novel lain dengan cerita indah untuk mengusir segala kegusaranku. Bukan aku mengingkari realita bahwa Tiongkok di zaman itu begitu kotor dan kejam, tapi memang aku sendiri merasa jijik bila melihat bayangan karakter seperti itu. Tapi ternyata aku berhasil menyelesaikannya, suatu kenyataan yang membuat aku sendiri heran, aku merasa aku tidak akan bisa selesai membaca novel itu, selain karena aku sangat lambat dalam membaca novel(karena itu aku membelinya daripada menyewa di pusat peminjaman buku, yang hanya boleh dipinjam maksimal 3 hari, karena aku tidak yakin bisa menyelesaikan sebuah novel tebal dalam waktu 3 hari, waktu yang terlampau singkat bagiku untuk membaca novel). Ternyata novel itu pun mampu mengusikku untuk membacanya di suatu hari Minggu yang tenang,keindahan persahabatan Willow Yee dan Pearl S. Buck, ketegaran ayah Pearl, Absalom, keanggunan Carie, semangat hidup papa Willow, membuatku kagum dan ingin membacanya. Semakin membacanya semakin pula pengetahuanku bertambah tentang sejarah Tiongkok masa itu, yang tidak kuketahui detilnya.
Aku ingin sekali membaca novel Pearl S. Buck sejak SMU, ketika kakak kelasku yang pendiam dan gemar membaca novel itu membacanya, tapi selalu tidak punya waktu. Ketika guru bahasa Jermanku menyodorkan buku karangan Pearl S. Buck kepadaku, aku teringat kembali. Aku ke Gramedia mencari buku-buku karangan Pearl S. Buck, ketika aku memutuskan untuk mengisi waktu senggangku dengan membaca novel. Aku malahan mendapatkan buku ini, memoar kehidupan Pearl dan Willow, kuputuskan untuk membelinya. Karena buku-buku Pearl S. Buck mungkin sudah habis masa cetaknya.Selanjutnya aku ingin sekali membeli novel-novel Pearl S. Buck yang lain melalui internet.

(less)

like · see review

Jul 01, 2011 Bailey rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This book would have gotten more stars from me if it wasn't for the last 50 pages or so. I knew nothing of Pearl Buck (except that she was a writer) before reading this book. I felt like it gave enough info on Pearl that it did make me very interested to go research her independently to find out more. I enjoyed seeing her life through the eyes of a (fictional) friend...but that's also my big problem with it.

I feel like Anchee Min didn't want to make the tough choice with her characters. Because...more

like · see review

Jun 26, 2011 Kathleen Hagen added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-audio-books, 2011-general-fiction

Pearl of China, by Anchee Min, narrated by Angela Lin, produced by Recorded Books, downloaded from audible.com.

A historical novel recounting the life of Pearl Buck in China through the eyes of a Chinese best friend named Willow, with whom she was raised. Both of their fathers, in this novel, were missionaries, Willow’s father converted by Absalom, Pearl’s father. They grew up together, followed their own careers, made bad marriages, and then, when Pearl was 40, the Chinese Communists, now in pow...more

like · see review

May 22, 2011 Lori rated it 3 of 5 stars

Author Anchee Min has fictionalized author Pearl Buck's life. She tells it through the life of Willow, who is a composite of several persons Pearl knew in China over the years. I enjoyed the story, but I knew that it differed from accounts of Pearl's life that I had read years ago. Pearl was the daughter of a Presbyterian missionary. In the story, Willow is the daughter of one of Pearl's father's first converts who eventually becomes a leader in the church although his initial motive for joining...more

like · see review

Apr 29, 2011 Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Willow Yee lived in Chin-kiang, a small town far away from the city of Peking, on the south side of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu province. She lived there with her father and grandmother, Nai Nai. Her mother had died after her father rented her out to pay his debts and she became pregnant. He had given her “magic root powder” from the local herbalist. It was meant to expel the fetus but also killed her!

Willow was seven-years-old in 1897 and she was terribly afraid she was going to lose her Nai N...more Willow Yee lived in Chin-kiang, a small town far away from the city of Peking, on the south side of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu province. She lived there with her father and grandmother, Nai Nai. Her mother had died after her father rented her out to pay his debts and she became pregnant. He had given her “magic root powder” from the local herbalist. It was meant to expel the fetus but also killed her!

Willow was seven-years-old in 1897 and she was terribly afraid she was going to lose her Nai Nai like she lost her mother. Grandma was receiving men in the back of the bungalow they lived in. While Nai Nai was busy entertaining her men, Willow and her father worked as seasonal farm hands, he planting rice, wheat and cotton and Willow planting soybeans. In the off season her father stole and Willow, now 8-years-old, was herself a seasoned thief. Hunger does terrible things to people.

One day they met a missionary named Absalom Sydenstricker who walked the streets holding a Bible and proclaiming God was people’s best friend. He held his church services in an old store. Willow’s father befriended him for the sole purpose of stealing from him. Absalom’s wife, Carie, was beside herself and in tears when he even stole the churches doormat. After stealing his wallet, Willow hurried down a side street and out of town. She felt as though someone was watching and following her so she took off running as fast as she could toward the hills, after a couple of miles she stopped and sat down. As Willow began to open the wallet she heard a noise and knew someone was approaching her. Suddenly she heard: “...you stole my father’s wallet”! It turned out to be Absalom and Carie’s daughter, Pearl. Pearl would eventually become known as none other than Pearl S. Buck!

I have read all of Pearl’s books but had never really read too much about her personal life. I assumed she was a happy, contented, well-educated woman and author all her life, but I was terribly mistaken. What I learned in this book about Pearl’s “personal” life was truly sad and literally devastating. The book is rich in history, wars and revolutions, love of family and the importance of friendship. The friendship between Willow and Pearl is all consuming and will touch the very deepest parts of your heart. The scene near the end of the novel at the grave will have you weeping from the beautiful one woman service.

This was an extremely well-written novel. I was so taken in that I kept turning the pages faster and faster. It was one of those books you didn’t want to put down. If you haven’t read any of Pearl S. Buck’s books, I highly recommend “The Good Earth”, along with this one, of course.

(less)

like · see review

Mar 26, 2011 winda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to winda by: Truly

Shelves: owned-books

Aku paham Pearl ingin menulis novel untuk melepaskan diri dari hidupnya. Namun, siapa yang ingin membaca cerita-ceritanya? Orang China tidak perlu perempuan pirang menuturkan kisah mereka, sementara orang Barat tidak tertarik pada China. Apa yang membuat Pearl mengira dia mempunyai peluang sukses?

Begitulah perkataan Loosing Buck kepada Willow, sahabat Pearl. Nyata benar bahwa suami Pearl sama sekali tidak mendukung Pearl untuk menulis. Awalnya Pearl menikahi Loosing karena kecintaan mereka aka...more Aku paham Pearl ingin menulis novel untuk melepaskan diri dari hidupnya. Namun, siapa yang ingin membaca cerita-ceritanya? Orang China tidak perlu perempuan pirang menuturkan kisah mereka, sementara orang Barat tidak tertarik pada China. Apa yang membuat Pearl mengira dia mempunyai peluang sukses?

Begitulah perkataan Loosing Buck kepada Willow, sahabat Pearl. Nyata benar bahwa suami Pearl sama sekali tidak mendukung Pearl untuk menulis. Awalnya Pearl menikahi Loosing karena kecintaan mereka akan China. Namun, ternyata Pearl lebih China daripada Loosing sehingga perbedaan di antara mereka semakin nyata. Memang dari segala sisi Pearl adalah orang China, selain dari ciri fisik dan warna rambutnya. Hal Itu pulalah yang membuat Hsu Chih-mo sang pujangga baru China tertarik padanya. Berbeda dengan Loosing yang selalu tak pernah memberinya dukungan untuk menulis, Hsu Chih-mo merupakan pengagum tulisan-tulisan Pearl dan selalu memuji hasil karyanya. Sang sahabat Pearl, Willow yang merupakan pemuja Hsu Chi-mo harus menelan kekecewaan ketika Pearl dan Hsu Chih-mo saling mencintai. Namun kisah percintaaan antara Pearl dengan Hsu Chih-mo tak bertahan lama karena kecelakaan pesawat yang menimpa Hsu Chih-mo berujung pada kematiannya. Bertahun-tahun setelah Hsu-Chih-mo meninggal dan Pearl menjadi novelis Amerika serta memenangkan Penghargaan Nobel serta Pulitzer dia menulis tentang Hsu Chih-mo

“Dia merebut perhatianku dengan cintanya, dan kemudian dia biarkan aku pulang. Sesampai ku di Amerika, kusadari bahwa cintanya ada dalam diriku, dan akan tetap di situ selamanya.” .

Ya, buku ini menceritakan tentang kisah cinta Pearl Buck. Yang sangat menarik buku ini tak hanya melulu berkisah tentang cerita cintanya dengan para lelaki, namun juga kisah cintanya kepada China tanah dimana dia tumbuh, kisah cintanya terhadap aktivitas menulis, dan yang terutama kisah cintanya dengan sahabat Chinanya Willow. Seluruh kisah cintanya Pearl Buck ini digambarkan oleh sahabatnya Willow.

Ternyata kenyakinan Pearl akan kisah Chinanya menjadikan dia meraih penghargaan Nobel dan Pulitzer. Akan tetapi, karena tulisannya pula, sampai akhir hayatnya dia tidak diperbolehkan oleh pemerintah Komunis untuk menjejakkan kaki di China, tanah yang dianggap tanah airnya. Selama hidup di Amerika Pearl tinggak di rumah yang penuh dengan ornamen China dan meninggal dengan tulisan nisan berhurufkan China, menunjukkan bahwa Pearl tetap merasakan bahwa dirinya orang China.

Denagan membaca buku ini, saya menjadi bertanya-tanya apakah artinya tanah air, apalagi dikala dunia semakin datar saat ini. Apakah tanah dimana kita lahir atau tanah dimana kita tumbuh dan merasakan cinta kita begitu besar ketika berada di sana. Di buku ini, kita juga bisa tahu sejarah China: Pemberontakan Boxer, Sun-Yat Sen, Pemerintahan Nasionalis, Pemerintahan Komunis, sampai pembentukan Republik Rakyat China. Juga perkembangan sastra China digambarkan dengan diskusi berbagai karya sastra antara Willow dengan Pearl tentang karya-karya China juga Diskusi antara Pearl dengan Hsu Chin-mo.

Kisah yang mengharukan dan memukau ini, memang menceritakan kehidupan Pearl Buck dari kacamata Willow sahabatnya. Namun, saya tetap merasa jika di buku ini kurang menceritakan kisah hidup Pearl Buck sesampainya di Amerika, begitupula dengan surat-surat yang dikirim oleh Willow, tidak disebutkan balasan dari Pearl. Padahal dari surat-surat yang dikirimkan oleh Pearl saya bisa banyak belajar tentang pemikirannya dan bisa mengenalnya lebih dalam.

Secara keselluruhan buku ini sangat menginspirasi, untuk menjalin persahabatan dengan berbagai bangsa di seluruh belahan dunia :)
(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 22, 2011 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have just read this and another historical fiction and really liked both. However, I think how well I like books many times depends on how I am feeling personally while reading a book.
This is in truth a book that covers the history of Communism in China told around the life of Pearl S. Buck. It was a great book. I checked on the dates, events, and historical figures covered in the book and all were correct. Reading this book (and the next book I will review) made me begin to understand why s...more

like · see review

Feb 22, 2011 Jerjonji rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: asian-american-author, asian-studies, chinese-lit

I suspect that Pearl Buck was my first exposure to Chinese culture back when I was twelve or thirteen. Since adulthood, I've reread very little of Pearl Buck's books (I'm in the middle of one right now), but when I heard the story of how the author was made to renounce Pearl Buck as an enemy of the state when a student in school in China and then sob when she read "The Good Earth", I knew her book was a must-read. A novelization of Buck's life from a Chinese friend's point of view, it ends up be...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 05, 2010 Ritu rated it 4 of 5 stars

Interesting book for anyone who is a Pearl S Buck fan. We get sufficient facts intermixed with some fiction to get a good idea about Pearl's upbringing in China with her parents Absolum and Carrie who came as missionaries to China to spread Christianity. The book is written through the eyes of Willow, Pearl's best friend in China. As young girls, Pearl and Willow enjoyed China and came to each other's rescue through thick and thin. The story goes through Pearl's return to US to attend College an...more

like · see review

Oct 06, 2010 Traci rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-club, historical-fiction

An interesting look at the life of author Pearl S. Buck as told by her fictional best friend, a Chinese peasant girl named Willow. Willow and Pearl are both young girls living in a small village in China. Pearl's parents are there as missionaries- at first the girls are not friends, in fact, Willow is caught by Pearl trying to steal from her mother. But, in time, the girls become inseparable. As they get older, the political climate in China makes it necessary for Pearls family to relocate, some...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Pearl S. Buck	2	27	Sep 16, 2011 03:47pm

combine
Other Editions (19)

More editions...

Videos About This Book

2 comments

Genres

Historical Fiction

158 users

Cultural > China

83 users

Cultural > Asia

22 users

Book Club

16 users

Literature > Asian Literature

16 users

Novels

10 users

Womens

7 users

Adult

6 users

Adult Fiction

5 users

Inspirational

4 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Anchee Min

Anchee Min was born in Shanghai in 1957. At seventeen she was sent to a labor collective, where a talent scout for Madame Mao's Shanghai Film Studio recruited her to work as a movie actress. She moved to the United States in 1984. Her first memoir, Red Azalea, was an international bestseller, published in twenty countries. She has since published six novels, including Pearl of China and the forthc...more

More about Anchee Min...

Books by Anchee Min

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Pearl of China

2 trivia questions
1 quiz

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Pearl of China

“Do you know who Karl Marx is? He is this strange little man, long dead, who lived his narrow little life, and somehow managed by the power of his wayward brain to lay hold upon millions of human lives!” — 4 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Pearl of China
avg rating	preview: Pearl of China Goodreads rating: 3.73 (3106 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6951073-pearl-of-china?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312044125l/6951073.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6951073-pearl-of-china?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Pearl of China by Anchee Min[/url]

Pearl of China

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website