A compelling story, but there has been so much hype about it over the years, and I think that was in large part because it was about a part of the world that was unknown to the West. I think it holds up rather better as a sobering and all-too-real look at family dynamics and the potential corrupting power of wealth and status. I was especially impressed with Buck's ability to write the male character of Wang Lung and his internal monologues. SPOILER ALERT I also got a frisson of dramatic irony when the book (published in 1931) closes with the two eldest sons scheming to sell the family lands in spite of the father's insistence that they never sell the good earth that was the foundation of their fortune. As it turned out, of course, the sons chose wisely given the Communist revolution that prevented--to this very day!--the private ownership of land in China.