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Le ragazze di Madame Liang
After her husband takes a concubine, Madame Liang sets out on her own, starting an upscale restaurant and sending her daughters to America to be educated. At the restaurant, the leaders of the People's Republic wine and dine and Madame Liang must keep a low profile for her daughters' sake. Soon her two eldest daughters are called back to serve the People's Republic. Her oldest daughter, Grace, now a doctor, finds meaning through her work. Things are not as easy for her daughter Mercy, a musician who is not in demand in the People's Republic, nor for her new husband who she has brought back to China with her. Watching her two daughters grow apart and knowing that her youngest daughter will never return, Madame Liang must also face the challenges The Cultural Revolution, and how to keep herself and the restaurant, alive.
251 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
41 people are currently reading
1830 people want to read
About the author
Pearl S. Buck
789 books3,048 followersPearl Comfort Sydenstricker Buck was an American writer and novelist. She is best known for The Good Earth, the best-selling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and which won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, Buck became the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China" and for her "masterpieces", two memoir-biographies of her missionary parents.
Buck was born in West Virginia, but in October 1892, her parents took their 4-month-old baby to China. As the daughter of missionaries and later as a missionary herself, Buck spent most of her life before 1934 in Zhenjiang, with her parents, and in Nanjing, with her first husband. She and her parents spent their summers in a villa in Kuling, Mount Lu, Jiujiang, and it was during this annual pilgrimage that the young girl decided to become a writer. She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, then returned to China. From 1914 to 1932, after marrying John Lossing Buck she served as a Presbyterian missionary, but she came to doubt the need for foreign missions. Her views became controversial during the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy, leading to her resignation. After returning to the United States in 1935, she married the publisher Richard J. Walsh and continued writing prolifically. She became an activist and prominent advocate of the rights of women and racial equality, and wrote widely on Chinese and Asian cultures, becoming particularly well known for her efforts on behalf of Asian and mixed-race adoption.
Buck was born in West Virginia, but in October 1892, her parents took their 4-month-old baby to China. As the daughter of missionaries and later as a missionary herself, Buck spent most of her life before 1934 in Zhenjiang, with her parents, and in Nanjing, with her first husband. She and her parents spent their summers in a villa in Kuling, Mount Lu, Jiujiang, and it was during this annual pilgrimage that the young girl decided to become a writer. She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, then returned to China. From 1914 to 1932, after marrying John Lossing Buck she served as a Presbyterian missionary, but she came to doubt the need for foreign missions. Her views became controversial during the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy, leading to her resignation. After returning to the United States in 1935, she married the publisher Richard J. Walsh and continued writing prolifically. She became an activist and prominent advocate of the rights of women and racial equality, and wrote widely on Chinese and Asian cultures, becoming particularly well known for her efforts on behalf of Asian and mixed-race adoption.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 169 reviews
June 8, 2024
I picked this up for a light read. How wrong I was!
The pace is like that of a Russian orchestra. Slow, precise, then pounding. I gasped aloud more than once while reading it. I also found myself taking notes. Buck's political insights - as voiced by Madame Liang - provide much food for thought.
At first, Buck lulled me with the fine details of Madame Liang's home and dress. She appears to be a relic of an older China, one with silk dresses and delicacies. In fact, she turns out to be a former revolutionary who is disillusioned with how her country is turning out.
As I am one of four daughters, I was drawn by the title. And it is about Madame Liang's daughters, their hopes, dreams, and loves. But the overriding force of the novel is the Cultural Revolution. What seems to be only hinted at in the start becomes its real matter.
Quoting Confucius, Madame Liang says:
The people must be cherished,
The people must not be oppressed,
The people are the root of the country
If the root is firm, the country is tranquil.
She goes on to warn her American educated daughter that "the state itself would be destroyed if the people had no confidence in it."
Because everyone is being watched, listened to, and at risk of being denounced, these utterances and even the most ordinary moments in the novel are taut with tension. Highly recommend it.
The pace is like that of a Russian orchestra. Slow, precise, then pounding. I gasped aloud more than once while reading it. I also found myself taking notes. Buck's political insights - as voiced by Madame Liang - provide much food for thought.
At first, Buck lulled me with the fine details of Madame Liang's home and dress. She appears to be a relic of an older China, one with silk dresses and delicacies. In fact, she turns out to be a former revolutionary who is disillusioned with how her country is turning out.
As I am one of four daughters, I was drawn by the title. And it is about Madame Liang's daughters, their hopes, dreams, and loves. But the overriding force of the novel is the Cultural Revolution. What seems to be only hinted at in the start becomes its real matter.
Quoting Confucius, Madame Liang says:
The people must be cherished,
The people must not be oppressed,
The people are the root of the country
If the root is firm, the country is tranquil.
She goes on to warn her American educated daughter that "the state itself would be destroyed if the people had no confidence in it."
Because everyone is being watched, listened to, and at risk of being denounced, these utterances and even the most ordinary moments in the novel are taut with tension. Highly recommend it.
November 10, 2021
Novela que con una prosa elegante y a través de unos personajes bien construidos, narra de forma detallada e interesante la vida en China durante los años de la Revolución Cultural.
Aunque he disfrutado con su lectura, de alguna manera este libro, que expresa cosas tan trágicas, me ha parecido desangelado.
Aunque he disfrutado con su lectura, de alguna manera este libro, que expresa cosas tan trágicas, me ha parecido desangelado.
September 4, 2016
I so enjoy the writing of Pearl S. Buck. Never a word too many, never a wasted description or unnecessary detail. All of this author's considerable powers as a writer are at work in this novel, making it a pleasure to read even as the events in the story unfold in ways that are ominous. I won't even address her insights into the Chinese mind and manners, elements that are crucial to the success of the book--because she aces them, as always. The way she reveals the horror of how revolution infects the young and misleads their efforts (bringing about Communism) via STORY is the beauty of this book, and what I most want to mention. In this day and age, where millenials are propagandized in colleges to despise capitalism and embrace socialism, this book is an all too real testament to what horrors and injustices can result. It's all been done before, the takeover of universities by "progressives" who want to buck the so-called injustices of free market capitalism, promising equality and improvement to all--and the cost is clearly shown in the lives of these women and their families--that cost being freedom, and personal rights. Not to mention beauty and the right to " the pursuit of happiness."
In the three daughters of Madame Liang, as well as in MadameLiang herself, we get four considerations of what it looks like to love one's country--even when government is not honorable or trustworthy. Patriotism, honor, personal safety, and duty--all of these themes are thrown into action and upheld via the individual story lines of each of the daughters and the mother, and the reader goes along for the ride, hoping with their hopes, fearing their fears--and sometimes fearing where they have not yet seen the need to fear. Inexorably, the reality of Communism creeps ever more into their lives, casting its lethal shadow; Buck has no need to say, "Look how awful a totalitarian state is," because the reader has already seen and known it in the lives of Madame Liang and her daughters.
Got a college-age kid who is being taught to hate America? Have them read this book.
In the three daughters of Madame Liang, as well as in MadameLiang herself, we get four considerations of what it looks like to love one's country--even when government is not honorable or trustworthy. Patriotism, honor, personal safety, and duty--all of these themes are thrown into action and upheld via the individual story lines of each of the daughters and the mother, and the reader goes along for the ride, hoping with their hopes, fearing their fears--and sometimes fearing where they have not yet seen the need to fear. Inexorably, the reality of Communism creeps ever more into their lives, casting its lethal shadow; Buck has no need to say, "Look how awful a totalitarian state is," because the reader has already seen and known it in the lives of Madame Liang and her daughters.
Got a college-age kid who is being taught to hate America? Have them read this book.
July 12, 2022
3.5 rtc
August 17, 2014
Estou rendida a Pearl S. Buck. Completamente.
Confesso que por vezes (muitas vezes), sou impulsiva nas minhas compras de livros quando são pechinchas. Quando fui à feira do livro de Cascais este foi um dos quantos que veio comigo, sendo que deste nunca tinha ouvido falar da autora, logo, muito menos do livro. Conforme constatei, após alguma pesquisa, este nem é o livro mais conhecido de Pearl, e ainda assim, uau!, fiquei rendida.
Adoro a história da China, já pude ler alguns livros que retratam alguns dos piores eventos históricos da época de Mao Tsé-Tung, e este livro assenta na Revolução Cultural, já Mao tem o seu poder bastante consolidado e deificado por esta altura, e é das últimas campanhas político-ideológicas, se não me engano, levadas a cabo, uma vez que Mao vem a morrer anos depois.
Após o falhanço do "Grande Salto em Frente” e da fome generalizada que dizimou a população em milhões como consequência, Mao, receoso da oposição crescente de alguns sectores menos radicais do partido, implementou esta ‘Revolução Cultural’ que, muito sinteticamente, consistia numa violência generalizada, especialmente por parte dos mais novos (que já tinham nascido com a figura de Mao/Deus) atacavam tudo e todos que se achassem contra o partido, contra a figura, contra o pensamento de Mao.
Madame Liang enviou as suas três filhas para a América e espera que estas lá estejam em segurança, afastadas desta revolução. No entanto, as circunstâncias alteram-se quando estas começam a ponderar o regresso ao país, que precisa delas, e que não querem abandonar nesta altura. A falta de informação, o medo crescente, achei muito bem escrito e sentia-me impelida a ler tudo de uma assentada, mesmo suspeitando o que já me esperava.
Este livro só peca pela suavidade, como referi, alguns dos livros que já li anteriormente eram muito chocantes em termos de descrições e de situações, que realmente aconteceram, de tortura e violência, este não é tão explícito nesse sentido, mas não é menos bom por isso. E fiquei a ponderar se alguém que pegasse neste livro mas não soubesse o que aconteceu antes, a razão que despoletou esta campanha, perceberia realmente este livro, pelo que aconselharia uma pesquisa de forma a situar o livro na época descrita.
Só sei que agora vou andar à procura com afinco de outros livros de Pearl S. Buck, adorei, adorei!
Agora não tinha outros deuses para adorar, visto eles serem proibidos, e como não os tinha criara um deus muito seu, na sua adoração do Presidente. Quando o povo não tem deuses cria a imagem de um deus. Era assim e assim fora sempre. Pág. 216
Confesso que por vezes (muitas vezes), sou impulsiva nas minhas compras de livros quando são pechinchas. Quando fui à feira do livro de Cascais este foi um dos quantos que veio comigo, sendo que deste nunca tinha ouvido falar da autora, logo, muito menos do livro. Conforme constatei, após alguma pesquisa, este nem é o livro mais conhecido de Pearl, e ainda assim, uau!, fiquei rendida.
Adoro a história da China, já pude ler alguns livros que retratam alguns dos piores eventos históricos da época de Mao Tsé-Tung, e este livro assenta na Revolução Cultural, já Mao tem o seu poder bastante consolidado e deificado por esta altura, e é das últimas campanhas político-ideológicas, se não me engano, levadas a cabo, uma vez que Mao vem a morrer anos depois.
Após o falhanço do "Grande Salto em Frente” e da fome generalizada que dizimou a população em milhões como consequência, Mao, receoso da oposição crescente de alguns sectores menos radicais do partido, implementou esta ‘Revolução Cultural’ que, muito sinteticamente, consistia numa violência generalizada, especialmente por parte dos mais novos (que já tinham nascido com a figura de Mao/Deus) atacavam tudo e todos que se achassem contra o partido, contra a figura, contra o pensamento de Mao.
Madame Liang enviou as suas três filhas para a América e espera que estas lá estejam em segurança, afastadas desta revolução. No entanto, as circunstâncias alteram-se quando estas começam a ponderar o regresso ao país, que precisa delas, e que não querem abandonar nesta altura. A falta de informação, o medo crescente, achei muito bem escrito e sentia-me impelida a ler tudo de uma assentada, mesmo suspeitando o que já me esperava.
Este livro só peca pela suavidade, como referi, alguns dos livros que já li anteriormente eram muito chocantes em termos de descrições e de situações, que realmente aconteceram, de tortura e violência, este não é tão explícito nesse sentido, mas não é menos bom por isso. E fiquei a ponderar se alguém que pegasse neste livro mas não soubesse o que aconteceu antes, a razão que despoletou esta campanha, perceberia realmente este livro, pelo que aconselharia uma pesquisa de forma a situar o livro na época descrita.
Só sei que agora vou andar à procura com afinco de outros livros de Pearl S. Buck, adorei, adorei!
Agora não tinha outros deuses para adorar, visto eles serem proibidos, e como não os tinha criara um deus muito seu, na sua adoração do Presidente. Quando o povo não tem deuses cria a imagem de um deus. Era assim e assim fora sempre. Pág. 216
May 18, 2024
“El Presidente no es tanto un comunista, cree en el comunismo pero como instrumento, no como credo. Por medio de este instrumento, China se convertirá en el centro de Asia y por ello, en la potencia central del mundo. Esta es su estrategia”.
Uauuuu, y esto es de 1969!!!
Unas reflexiones muy interesantes, pero se me ha hecho algo tedioso en general.
Uauuuu, y esto es de 1969!!!
Unas reflexiones muy interesantes, pero se me ha hecho algo tedioso en general.
October 25, 2016
One of Pearl Buck's later books, this tells the story of Madame Liang and her three daughters against the backdrop of Mao Zedong's reign during the 1960s. Madame Liang, an elegant and refined successful business owner in Shanghai, walks a delicate line between capitalism and communism that she is only allowed to continue because she has friends in high places. She yearns for the past traditions, although at the same time, the past traditions also destroyed her marriage.
She sent her three daughters to the U.S. at a young age where they grew up and each prospered in their own choice of career - scientist, singer, and visual artist. Throughout the novel, each must make different decisions regarding her relationship to her home country of China, and each must grapple with her identity of being Chinese but raised in the enemy country of America.
I enjoyed this book, and I look forward to reading other books by the same author. Buck has a clear and well-crafted style. I also think that she did an excellent job of showing (not telling) each character's changing perspective on their experiences in communist China. We see the process of indoctrination and the logic behind it through the evolving opinions and values of each character.
This book would be a great supplement to a historical study of 20th century China, but it would also fit in very well with a gender studies curriculum. I'm imagining a course on "Misogyny and the Patriarchy of Communism." This is a book that makes me want to learn more and read more.
She sent her three daughters to the U.S. at a young age where they grew up and each prospered in their own choice of career - scientist, singer, and visual artist. Throughout the novel, each must make different decisions regarding her relationship to her home country of China, and each must grapple with her identity of being Chinese but raised in the enemy country of America.
I enjoyed this book, and I look forward to reading other books by the same author. Buck has a clear and well-crafted style. I also think that she did an excellent job of showing (not telling) each character's changing perspective on their experiences in communist China. We see the process of indoctrination and the logic behind it through the evolving opinions and values of each character.
This book would be a great supplement to a historical study of 20th century China, but it would also fit in very well with a gender studies curriculum. I'm imagining a course on "Misogyny and the Patriarchy of Communism." This is a book that makes me want to learn more and read more.
July 6, 2021
I seriously think that all Americans should be reading Buck's works right now in order to get a better perspective on the Chinese mentality. We all speak about Communism but there is the element of the Chinese mentality and that is something that we do not understand and if we look at them through American eyes only we miss a great deal. This novel that takes place through much of the Cultural Revolution and offers powerful insight. I cannot recommend it highly enough. The lives of these three girls, who have both a Chinese and an American viewpoint is fascinating and Buck can write!
So many great quotes...
"She came down from the carriage then and sat on a bench at the other end of which was already seated a very old gentleman. In other days she would have greeted him, but nowadays one did not give greeting to a stranger. The quiet of the city, the silence of the nation, was everywhere."
"In the old days, as she remembered when she was a child, many birds flew about the threshing floors and boldly pushed their way among the flocks to eat the grain. Now there were no birds. They had been killed by government orders, and too late this government discovered that without the birds insects became rampant."
"We said that we would make a government for the people, by the people - yes we had that dream from America - but our people had their own dreams and their own memories. They did not understand."
"For a real revolution must take place in the hearts of the people - in the deepest thoughts, in the habits of mind, in the accustomed principles. In a few years we are trying to change the thoughts, the habits, the principles - to make a new people out of the oldest in the world. What is that saying of the Christians? Something about new wine in old bottles, is it not? And we cannot be surprised when the new wine is too strong and destroys that which tries to contain it - the new wine."
"I am saying, Elder Sister, that I know we are forbidden to call anyone Honorable nowadays. Yet what will happen to us, who are the old hundred names, if we have no one to look up to as Honorables? Alas, today where are the Honorables? They are forbidden spirits. No head stand higher now than any other. Life is tasteless; we are all alike. Where are the ones whom Heaven ordains to lead, so that we know whom to follow? Ai-ya, bitterness!"
Chao Chung instantly lost his temper, "You have been too long in the decadent West!" he shouted. "There war is a game, with rules for this, rules for that - romance, glory, pity for prisoners - all nonsense! War is for one purpose only - to kill the enemy, put him out of existence by any means. There is no justice, no honor, in war. He who kills first wins victory - the first and the most!"
"Talent is great only when the artist is great enough for his own talent. Only a great soul can fulfill his own talent."
"She was troubled by the monstrous responsibility of love."
"We cannot let down our hearts, not even for an hour, we people of the land, we old hundred names," he said. "In truth, we work our bodies to skin and bone, with bitter labor. By day we till the land; in common we plant, we reap the harvest, an army of men and women. At night we try to make iron. How can we make iron? It has not been our destiny. When people work beyond their destiny, all they do fails."
"His reply was silent but steadfast. It was all doomed to fail. The premises were wrong. Human nature prevails, and human beings thing, work and live for themselves. Rewards were essential, and today there were no rewards."
"Do not forget I, too, in my youth was a revolutionist. Alas, it is also my fault that my beloved country is in her present turmoil! Yet I once believed that I was serving my people, when I joined with Sun Yet-sen to overthrow our government. Ah, how right we thought we were, and how wholly wrong we were! We were never able to build the new government of which we dreamed. Fewer than five hundred of us there were, and yet we changed the lives of all the hundreds of millions of our people. Inot the desolation we created, there came this..."
So many great quotes...
"She came down from the carriage then and sat on a bench at the other end of which was already seated a very old gentleman. In other days she would have greeted him, but nowadays one did not give greeting to a stranger. The quiet of the city, the silence of the nation, was everywhere."
"In the old days, as she remembered when she was a child, many birds flew about the threshing floors and boldly pushed their way among the flocks to eat the grain. Now there were no birds. They had been killed by government orders, and too late this government discovered that without the birds insects became rampant."
"We said that we would make a government for the people, by the people - yes we had that dream from America - but our people had their own dreams and their own memories. They did not understand."
"For a real revolution must take place in the hearts of the people - in the deepest thoughts, in the habits of mind, in the accustomed principles. In a few years we are trying to change the thoughts, the habits, the principles - to make a new people out of the oldest in the world. What is that saying of the Christians? Something about new wine in old bottles, is it not? And we cannot be surprised when the new wine is too strong and destroys that which tries to contain it - the new wine."
"I am saying, Elder Sister, that I know we are forbidden to call anyone Honorable nowadays. Yet what will happen to us, who are the old hundred names, if we have no one to look up to as Honorables? Alas, today where are the Honorables? They are forbidden spirits. No head stand higher now than any other. Life is tasteless; we are all alike. Where are the ones whom Heaven ordains to lead, so that we know whom to follow? Ai-ya, bitterness!"
Chao Chung instantly lost his temper, "You have been too long in the decadent West!" he shouted. "There war is a game, with rules for this, rules for that - romance, glory, pity for prisoners - all nonsense! War is for one purpose only - to kill the enemy, put him out of existence by any means. There is no justice, no honor, in war. He who kills first wins victory - the first and the most!"
"Talent is great only when the artist is great enough for his own talent. Only a great soul can fulfill his own talent."
"She was troubled by the monstrous responsibility of love."
"We cannot let down our hearts, not even for an hour, we people of the land, we old hundred names," he said. "In truth, we work our bodies to skin and bone, with bitter labor. By day we till the land; in common we plant, we reap the harvest, an army of men and women. At night we try to make iron. How can we make iron? It has not been our destiny. When people work beyond their destiny, all they do fails."
"His reply was silent but steadfast. It was all doomed to fail. The premises were wrong. Human nature prevails, and human beings thing, work and live for themselves. Rewards were essential, and today there were no rewards."
"Do not forget I, too, in my youth was a revolutionist. Alas, it is also my fault that my beloved country is in her present turmoil! Yet I once believed that I was serving my people, when I joined with Sun Yet-sen to overthrow our government. Ah, how right we thought we were, and how wholly wrong we were! We were never able to build the new government of which we dreamed. Fewer than five hundred of us there were, and yet we changed the lives of all the hundreds of millions of our people. Inot the desolation we created, there came this..."
May 26, 2017
Madame Liang adalah seorang revolusioner pd masa mudanya. Dengan tegas dia menolak Chao Chung yg melamar dirinya, dan tanpa berpaling dia tinggalkan suaminya saat membawa selirnya masuk ke rumah. Tanpa ragu dia menitipkan anak-anak gadisnya pada pasutri Brandon utk diasuh dan dididik di Amerika tanpa mengharapkan mereka akan kembali.
Tapi Madame Liang tidak bisa mengubah nasib. Anak sulungnya, Grace dipanggil khusus utk pulang ke negeri China utk mengabdi kepada negara yg baru merdeka ini. Tak dinyana, Mercy dan suaminya, John Sung menyusul kemudian kembali ke negeri China. Hanya Joy si bungsu tetap tinggal di Amerika dan menikahi seorang seniman China juga.
Idealisme yg awalnya berkobar-kobar mulai berubah seiring situasi yg berubah. John Sung yg idealis dan dicap terlalu individualis dibuang dari satu tempat ke tempat lainnya hingga ajal menjemputnya. Grace berubah karena mencintai Liu Peng, rekan sejawat dokter bedah yg berprestasi yg juga sangat keras kepala pd ideologi komunis Sang Ketua. Hingga situasi tak tertahankan lagi, Madame Liang harus memutuskan apakah dia akan pindah ke Amerika atau tetap tinggal di negerinya yg sudah rusak parah ini.
Ceritanya tidak digambarkan setting pada tahun berapa, namun perkiraan saya sekitar thn 1957-1966. Dari periode sebelum pengusiran ilmuwan Rusia dari negeri China hingga Revolusi Kebudayaan memuncak di negeri China. Di buku ini banyak dikutip ajaran-ajaran Confucius dan Lao Tzu juga serta selipan beberapa legenda kuno. Yang menarik adalah perbedaan cara pandang generasi muda vs generasi tua, cara berpikir yg borjuis vs komunis dipaparkan lumayan detail di buku ini. Idealisme utopia China di mata kaum muda China pada masa itu bisa kita telaah dari pemikiran Liu Peng, Grace dan John Sung. Sedangkan dari generasi tua diwakili oleh Madame Liang yg lebih obyektif dan kritis mengingat dirinya sudah makan asam garam kehidupan di sekelilingnya.
Setelah lama tidak membaca buku author ini, novel ini lumayan melepas rasa rindu saya terhadap genre historical fiction dgn setting kultur China.
Tapi Madame Liang tidak bisa mengubah nasib. Anak sulungnya, Grace dipanggil khusus utk pulang ke negeri China utk mengabdi kepada negara yg baru merdeka ini. Tak dinyana, Mercy dan suaminya, John Sung menyusul kemudian kembali ke negeri China. Hanya Joy si bungsu tetap tinggal di Amerika dan menikahi seorang seniman China juga.
Idealisme yg awalnya berkobar-kobar mulai berubah seiring situasi yg berubah. John Sung yg idealis dan dicap terlalu individualis dibuang dari satu tempat ke tempat lainnya hingga ajal menjemputnya. Grace berubah karena mencintai Liu Peng, rekan sejawat dokter bedah yg berprestasi yg juga sangat keras kepala pd ideologi komunis Sang Ketua. Hingga situasi tak tertahankan lagi, Madame Liang harus memutuskan apakah dia akan pindah ke Amerika atau tetap tinggal di negerinya yg sudah rusak parah ini.
Ceritanya tidak digambarkan setting pada tahun berapa, namun perkiraan saya sekitar thn 1957-1966. Dari periode sebelum pengusiran ilmuwan Rusia dari negeri China hingga Revolusi Kebudayaan memuncak di negeri China. Di buku ini banyak dikutip ajaran-ajaran Confucius dan Lao Tzu juga serta selipan beberapa legenda kuno. Yang menarik adalah perbedaan cara pandang generasi muda vs generasi tua, cara berpikir yg borjuis vs komunis dipaparkan lumayan detail di buku ini. Idealisme utopia China di mata kaum muda China pada masa itu bisa kita telaah dari pemikiran Liu Peng, Grace dan John Sung. Sedangkan dari generasi tua diwakili oleh Madame Liang yg lebih obyektif dan kritis mengingat dirinya sudah makan asam garam kehidupan di sekelilingnya.
Setelah lama tidak membaca buku author ini, novel ini lumayan melepas rasa rindu saya terhadap genre historical fiction dgn setting kultur China.
January 6, 2019
Dejando de lado el sesgo ideológico (algo siempre presente en las obras de Buck), esta novela escrita en el seno de la Revolución Cultural China presenta, con un estilo llano y directo, una trama al completo servicio unos personajes de gran calado psicológico inmersos en unas circunstancias históricas fascinantes. Una autora para reivindicar.
May 16, 2025
porfin me lo he acabado, que con exámenes no estaba pudiendo avanzar. Me ha gustado bastante y encima era uno de los libros favoritos de la amatxi y eso me ha hecho ilu. Tengo que pensar el siguiente libro!!!!
March 25, 2012
The story felt very realistic and enabled me to understand why first generation overseas Chinese wanted to return to China, despite the terrible state of things. It was both personal and broad, touching on larger themes, such as whether one type of political system fits all nations, why Chinese have dominated the business world wherever they go and the significance of being Chinese.
By the end of the book, the three daughters represent the spectrum of attitudes that overseas Chinese have towards the country. Although they start out on the page, it is the man in each girl's life that influences their perceptions. Being intelligent, Grace doesn't accept things wholesale, but yet doesn't repudiate the whole system. This is largely due to her having falling in love with Liu Peng, a communist party doctor, who believes wholeheartedly in communism. Mercy is in between. While she still loves China, she finds the current state of affairs simply unendurable and chooses to leave. Joy chooses to remain in America to be with her Chinese artist husband, who wants nothing to do with China due to the repression of artists. As for Madame Liang herself, she represents the older generation who has seen China through this tumultous period, and though she doesn't buty into communism, chooses to remain as China is her home. The minister, while sharing her beliefs, has becomea cog in the system and so plays the game.
The only thing I didn't like aboutt this book was the lack of division into chapters. The story just seemed to run on and on, without any break or pause.
By the end of the book, the three daughters represent the spectrum of attitudes that overseas Chinese have towards the country. Although they start out on the page, it is the man in each girl's life that influences their perceptions. Being intelligent, Grace doesn't accept things wholesale, but yet doesn't repudiate the whole system. This is largely due to her having falling in love with Liu Peng, a communist party doctor, who believes wholeheartedly in communism. Mercy is in between. While she still loves China, she finds the current state of affairs simply unendurable and chooses to leave. Joy chooses to remain in America to be with her Chinese artist husband, who wants nothing to do with China due to the repression of artists. As for Madame Liang herself, she represents the older generation who has seen China through this tumultous period, and though she doesn't buty into communism, chooses to remain as China is her home. The minister, while sharing her beliefs, has becomea cog in the system and so plays the game.
The only thing I didn't like aboutt this book was the lack of division into chapters. The story just seemed to run on and on, without any break or pause.
February 19, 2013
Without unnecessary drama, in a style that is more reflective and clinical than emotional, Pearl Buck has illustrated the collapse of traditional values through the story of one family during Mao’s communist regime. Unfortunately, the new order proves unable to provide values that replace the social structures it has tried to eradicate. Through the fairly explicit musings of Madame Liang and her son-in-law John, Buck delves into an analysis of how human nature renders Mao’s ideals impossible in the long run. Families crumble, communal farm efforts fail, and this is the socio-political backdrop against which the story unfolds.
Madame Liang's "faith in her people" felt naive in such an otherwise logical character. Although I understood her well, I found it difficult to relate to her, probably because she appeared so emotionless. Grace and Mercy, with all their misguided beliefs, felt more human. I particularly enjoyed reading about the juxtaposition of Western and Eastern science models, and I would recommend the book to anyone interested in modern China.
(Incidentally, I picked up Foreign Babes in Beijing by Rachel DeWosking immediately after Three Daughters. Although the genre and style are completely different, it is interesting to read about how post-Maoist China in the 1990s is coming to terms with the surging wave of consumerism and the individual's desire for independence.)
Madame Liang's "faith in her people" felt naive in such an otherwise logical character. Although I understood her well, I found it difficult to relate to her, probably because she appeared so emotionless. Grace and Mercy, with all their misguided beliefs, felt more human. I particularly enjoyed reading about the juxtaposition of Western and Eastern science models, and I would recommend the book to anyone interested in modern China.
(Incidentally, I picked up Foreign Babes in Beijing by Rachel DeWosking immediately after Three Daughters. Although the genre and style are completely different, it is interesting to read about how post-Maoist China in the 1990s is coming to terms with the surging wave of consumerism and the individual's desire for independence.)
February 20, 2014
Pearl S. Buck was the first author to transport me through space and time and immerse me in a different world. As a ninth-grader reading The Good Earth, my life as a reader changed. I became more interested in the wider world, more conscious of differing viewpoints, and I like to think, more compassionate. This isn't Buck's best to my mind (I reread it to remember why I didn't love it the first time around) mostly because it seems a thinly veiled treatise disguised as a story of why Communism was appealing/inevitable in China and why China was still appealing to expats who returned to the Great Change.
September 17, 2021
"Le ragazze di Madame Liang" mi ha lasciato molto più tiepida. Dopo un inizio coinvolgente, le vicende delle tre figlie di Madame Liang investite dalla rivoluzione di Mao e dallo sradicamento delle loro tradizioni mi hanno solo in parte convinta. Contribuisce sicuramente anche l'esperienza dell'autrice che si nota non aver vissuto queste esperienze in prima persona perché ormai già residente in America, al contrario con i suoi libri precedenti che ho letto (tra cui La buona terra e Stirpe di drago) e questo libro purtroppo non regge il paragone.
February 22, 2020
This book was a ‚blind date‘ from the library for me. I don’t think I would have picked it up but I am so glad to have read it! I will try and read more of her work.
November 28, 2016
Esta lectura ha sido problemática de una forma absolutamente personal.
La historia se desarrolla durante la instauración del régimen de Mao en China, a través de los ojos de madame Liang y sus hijas. Cuatro perspectivas que tratan la discordia entre tradición y modernidad, expectativas y pragmatismos. Así, a lo largo de años y entre Grandes Saltos Adelante, vemos a Madame Liang estrategizar su supervivencia y la de su familia, a su hija mayor idear su patriotismo, a su hija mediana contemplar el peso de sus decisiones y la necesidad de desertarlas, y a su hija menor convivir con lo que sus hermanas no fueron capaces: la adaptación a un país que no es el suyo.
Mi primer problema surge de que no comprendo los sentimientos patrióticos ni los fundamentalismos –incomprensión que me ha sobrepasado y golpeado con especial fuerza en el año de esta reseña, 2016–. Las perspectivas basadas en estos preceptos no me alcanzan, requieren una evisceración total para llegar a comunicarme algo, y en esta ocasión se quedan en nada. La personalidad más definida es la de madame Liang que, tal vez porque sí está bien desarrollada, me resulta mucho menos interesante que la de Grace, su hija mayor, con quien no consigo empatizar en absoluto. Otro problema es que las contraposiciones entre el seguimiento de una y otra son muy bruscas y su intencionalidad demasido evidente, lo cual no ayuda nada a hacer pasar el puntito propagandístico anticomunista y procapitalista. El resto de personajes destacables están desarrollados de forma casi caricaturesca (el ministro Chao Chung) o contradictoria (Liu Peng).
Confieso que he terminado torciendo el gesto en buena parte de las páginas. Por un lado, comprendo y aprecio el uso de los temas. Por otro, la apropiación cultural se me ha hecho mucho más evidente que en 'La buena tierra', limitando mi disfrute y mi capacidad de sumergirme en la lectura. Creo que el estilo magistral de 'La buena tierra' supera la posible inconsistencia de los puntos de vista, y ese éxito no se repite en esta obra. La mayor parte del tiempo resulta imposible olvidar que la autora es americana y está tomando la voz no ya de una, sino de cuatro mujeres chinas, y en ocasiones de sus cohortes masculinos. Sus retratos son prudentes, pero no por ello son apropiados.
También ha influido, sin duda, la calidad de la traducción, que me ha resultado afectada en el uso de expresiones y puntuación. Sus aparentes deformaciones del material original me han distraído bastante.
No obstante, tiene aspectos disfrutables: las descripciones son riquísimas y sintéticas, esfuerzos narrativos en los que no sobra ni una palabra. Es un buen recurso, a pesar de sus fallos, para sombrear algo de profundidad en las lecciones históricas sobre el comunismo chino, y su cierre con el comienzo de la Revolución Cultural es brutal y efectivo. Tengo intención de volver a leerlo sin traducir, y comprobar si mi impresión es la misma.
La historia se desarrolla durante la instauración del régimen de Mao en China, a través de los ojos de madame Liang y sus hijas. Cuatro perspectivas que tratan la discordia entre tradición y modernidad, expectativas y pragmatismos. Así, a lo largo de años y entre Grandes Saltos Adelante, vemos a Madame Liang estrategizar su supervivencia y la de su familia, a su hija mayor idear su patriotismo, a su hija mediana contemplar el peso de sus decisiones y la necesidad de desertarlas, y a su hija menor convivir con lo que sus hermanas no fueron capaces: la adaptación a un país que no es el suyo.
Mi primer problema surge de que no comprendo los sentimientos patrióticos ni los fundamentalismos –incomprensión que me ha sobrepasado y golpeado con especial fuerza en el año de esta reseña, 2016–. Las perspectivas basadas en estos preceptos no me alcanzan, requieren una evisceración total para llegar a comunicarme algo, y en esta ocasión se quedan en nada. La personalidad más definida es la de madame Liang que, tal vez porque sí está bien desarrollada, me resulta mucho menos interesante que la de Grace, su hija mayor, con quien no consigo empatizar en absoluto. Otro problema es que las contraposiciones entre el seguimiento de una y otra son muy bruscas y su intencionalidad demasido evidente, lo cual no ayuda nada a hacer pasar el puntito propagandístico anticomunista y procapitalista. El resto de personajes destacables están desarrollados de forma casi caricaturesca (el ministro Chao Chung) o contradictoria (Liu Peng).
Confieso que he terminado torciendo el gesto en buena parte de las páginas. Por un lado, comprendo y aprecio el uso de los temas. Por otro, la apropiación cultural se me ha hecho mucho más evidente que en 'La buena tierra', limitando mi disfrute y mi capacidad de sumergirme en la lectura. Creo que el estilo magistral de 'La buena tierra' supera la posible inconsistencia de los puntos de vista, y ese éxito no se repite en esta obra. La mayor parte del tiempo resulta imposible olvidar que la autora es americana y está tomando la voz no ya de una, sino de cuatro mujeres chinas, y en ocasiones de sus cohortes masculinos. Sus retratos son prudentes, pero no por ello son apropiados.
También ha influido, sin duda, la calidad de la traducción, que me ha resultado afectada en el uso de expresiones y puntuación. Sus aparentes deformaciones del material original me han distraído bastante.
No obstante, tiene aspectos disfrutables: las descripciones son riquísimas y sintéticas, esfuerzos narrativos en los que no sobra ni una palabra. Es un buen recurso, a pesar de sus fallos, para sombrear algo de profundidad en las lecciones históricas sobre el comunismo chino, y su cierre con el comienzo de la Revolución Cultural es brutal y efectivo. Tengo intención de volver a leerlo sin traducir, y comprobar si mi impresión es la misma.
September 18, 2018
Even in her lesser works, Pearl Buck serves as a good storyteller, someone who always manages to keep you turning one page after another. Three Daughters of Madame Liang is not among those lesser works, although neither is it among her best efforts. It's a good, solid novel that covers the era in Communist China from just before the Great Leap Forward to the midst of the Cultural Revolution. It does so relying on Buck's unique manipulation of time, which compress events into a time frame seemingly much shorter than that over which they actually occurred. This yields the occasional deliberate anachronism, such as mini-skirts in New York City during the removal of Soviet technical specialists in China, something that could not have happened later than 1960. It also imparts a sense of the timeless to events that are historical fact. Despite the fact that it contains a long series of soliloquies on political and philosophical subjects, Three Daughters retains the engagement of the reader. And all in one straight read. There are no chapters or dividing parts.
The story of Madame Liang is a familiar one, that of the revolutionary devoured by the serpents she herself has spawned. This is not a reference to the daughters but to the next generation of revolutionaries who consume all that went before them, ever radicalizing themselves, until mass murder and social anarchy is the result. Along the way, Madame Liang has come not only to doubt herself and her beliefs but to reverse them, becoming a defender of the old Confucian ways dumped into the garbage bin during the years following Sun Yat-sen's overthrow of the old dynasty. The aging voice of Liang we can safely take to be that of Buck's. For it still defends China, its culture, and even Chinese hegemony over neighboring countries in Southeast Asia, Korea, and parts of Russia. Buck was always a China Firster, and never was that more clear than in this novel. It's not the nationalism or racial arrogance of the Han she finds fault with but the ideological regime that cannot see a way to come to terms with Buck's other home country, America.
Seen against the the backdrop of contemporary events and relations between the United States and China, I can't help but wonder what Buck would make of it all. In large part, the solution to defeating ideological totalitarianism she alludes to throughout Three Daughters came to be applied in American foreign policy following Nixon's opening to China. The subsequent era of free trade and cultural exchange that followed was something Buck advocated. And where has it left the world? With a menacing China so intent on controlling the thoughts of its people that it now issues social credit ratings. A marriage between capitalist means and heretofore unimaginable totalitarian fantasies. What would Buck think? And which country would she side with?
The story of Madame Liang is a familiar one, that of the revolutionary devoured by the serpents she herself has spawned. This is not a reference to the daughters but to the next generation of revolutionaries who consume all that went before them, ever radicalizing themselves, until mass murder and social anarchy is the result. Along the way, Madame Liang has come not only to doubt herself and her beliefs but to reverse them, becoming a defender of the old Confucian ways dumped into the garbage bin during the years following Sun Yat-sen's overthrow of the old dynasty. The aging voice of Liang we can safely take to be that of Buck's. For it still defends China, its culture, and even Chinese hegemony over neighboring countries in Southeast Asia, Korea, and parts of Russia. Buck was always a China Firster, and never was that more clear than in this novel. It's not the nationalism or racial arrogance of the Han she finds fault with but the ideological regime that cannot see a way to come to terms with Buck's other home country, America.
Seen against the the backdrop of contemporary events and relations between the United States and China, I can't help but wonder what Buck would make of it all. In large part, the solution to defeating ideological totalitarianism she alludes to throughout Three Daughters came to be applied in American foreign policy following Nixon's opening to China. The subsequent era of free trade and cultural exchange that followed was something Buck advocated. And where has it left the world? With a menacing China so intent on controlling the thoughts of its people that it now issues social credit ratings. A marriage between capitalist means and heretofore unimaginable totalitarian fantasies. What would Buck think? And which country would she side with?
January 13, 2011
I chanced upon this book and find that I am drawn to the stories of the Pulitzer Prize winner and Noble laureate, Pearl S. Buck. She spoke Chinese and lived in China for several years. So she has credibility with regard to her subject matter.
Madame Liang was educated in Paris and was, at the time, a young revolutionary who supported Sun Yat-sen in the overthrow of the imperial throne. Over time she begins to believe that she, together with the other 500+/- revolutionaries, brought about China's difficulties following WWII. She is a single mother when we meet her. After Paris she returns to China and marries and gives birth to three daughters. She leaves her husband because of a Concubine and begins a successful independent life. Madame Liang, recognizing the dangers evolving from the revolution, sends her three daughters to live with American friends in the USA. Her observations and remembrances carry the reader, although somewhat obliquely, from the time of Sun Yat-sen through to the Cultural Revolution. The counterpoint to Madam Liang's commentary on China, and being Chinese, is provided by her three "very Chinese" US educated daughters. The story covers considerable territory, but seems to come down to how one should live one's life. To fully appreciate this story, the reader should be able to recognize what is going on in the world during Madame Liang's time. For example, the Japanese occupation of parts of China during WWII, Chiang Kai-shek's place in history, the civil war between Chiang's Nationalists and the Chinese Communist Party, the Cold War, as well as the economic difficulties brought about by the revolutionary government of Chairman Mao. One omission that troubled me was a lack of acknowledgement of the Korean War. In any case, this book is thought provoking and well worth the time.
Madame Liang was educated in Paris and was, at the time, a young revolutionary who supported Sun Yat-sen in the overthrow of the imperial throne. Over time she begins to believe that she, together with the other 500+/- revolutionaries, brought about China's difficulties following WWII. She is a single mother when we meet her. After Paris she returns to China and marries and gives birth to three daughters. She leaves her husband because of a Concubine and begins a successful independent life. Madame Liang, recognizing the dangers evolving from the revolution, sends her three daughters to live with American friends in the USA. Her observations and remembrances carry the reader, although somewhat obliquely, from the time of Sun Yat-sen through to the Cultural Revolution. The counterpoint to Madam Liang's commentary on China, and being Chinese, is provided by her three "very Chinese" US educated daughters. The story covers considerable territory, but seems to come down to how one should live one's life. To fully appreciate this story, the reader should be able to recognize what is going on in the world during Madame Liang's time. For example, the Japanese occupation of parts of China during WWII, Chiang Kai-shek's place in history, the civil war between Chiang's Nationalists and the Chinese Communist Party, the Cold War, as well as the economic difficulties brought about by the revolutionary government of Chairman Mao. One omission that troubled me was a lack of acknowledgement of the Korean War. In any case, this book is thought provoking and well worth the time.
August 7, 2015
El Presidente Mao se encuentra gobernando desde hace décadas, y madame Liang (partidaria de la Revolución de Sun Yat-sen en su juventud) mantiene un restaurante de alta cocina china que técnicamente debería no existir en los tiempos de la Revolución Cultural y la persecución al capitalismo, de no ser porque importantes figuras políticas lo frecuentan. Madame Liang se considera una mujer moderna, con una fuerte fe en su pueblo, es amante de la belleza, y una matriarca que decidió enviar a sus tres hijas a estudiar a Estados Unidos, y con el retorno de las hijas se explica la situación de la República Popular China de los años cincuentas.
Madame Liang es entrañable . Ella es la unión de las historias que surgen en sus hijas, cada una representando la visión de quienes por una razón u otra crecieron en el extranjero y quieren volver a su patria a pesar de que las cosas no van bien.
Las mujeres son distintas porque cada hija recibe su propia tajada de la China de Mao y responden de acuerdo a una formación académica (ciencia, música, pintura), edad, lazos afectivos, e intereses. Aunque madame Liang destaca cada que aparece, las hijas logran ser personajes autónomos y no solo instrumentos narrativos.
Muy recomendable. En definitiva leeré más de la autora (ganadora del Pulitzer, y primera mujer en ganar el Premio Nobel de Literatura).
Madame Liang es entrañable . Ella es la unión de las historias que surgen en sus hijas, cada una representando la visión de quienes por una razón u otra crecieron en el extranjero y quieren volver a su patria a pesar de que las cosas no van bien.
Las mujeres son distintas porque cada hija recibe su propia tajada de la China de Mao y responden de acuerdo a una formación académica (ciencia, música, pintura), edad, lazos afectivos, e intereses. Aunque madame Liang destaca cada que aparece, las hijas logran ser personajes autónomos y no solo instrumentos narrativos.
Muy recomendable. En definitiva leeré más de la autora (ganadora del Pulitzer, y primera mujer en ganar el Premio Nobel de Literatura).
December 24, 2012
Pearl S. Buck is one of my favorite authors. Her stories are clear, heartfelt, and always tell the story of a culture different than anything I know. She makes the culture, old ways, wisdom, knowledge, and beauty of Chinese people so real to me. She has convinced me that it is the most wonderful culture on the earth. But, as always, with most/best, the fall can be the worst. The book is set between the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. But the story is about how the Chinese characters explain and understand the turmoil. It was incredible to weave SO many thoughts and opinions and stories of different Chinese people living different lives and how those lives are affected by age, circumstances, beliefs, etc. Buck did a phenomenal job in bringing so many thoughts to the table in one story. Sadly, not even Buck could really explain how educated people could go so astray in their 'revolutions.'
January 15, 2012
I didn't find the novel satisfying. Could it be the way the dialogues flow? They are preachy and the characters talk like they were reading a script. All the same, I can see how Buck has influenced many writers who wrote about China and Chinese women. A tragic end.
January 10, 2018
Beautiful book about lost innocence in China. A mother whose passion sets her family up for tragedy watches helplessly as their lives are consumed by the monstrous machine of State that she helped create.
August 8, 2007
This is definitively one of her best books - it's tragic, moving and a real pageturner.
Some of her best character depictions.
Some of her best character depictions.
July 7, 2013
Summary from site Hot Cup of Coffee:
"Three daughters of Madame Liang – Pearl S Buck
AUGUST 13, 2007
tags: Book, book review, buck, china, Feminism, fiction, Nobel, pearl, pearl buck, Women
Three daughters of Madame Liang, published first in 1969 is one of the last pieces of Pearl S Buck’s work. I’ve read more than half a dozen of her pieces of work and, this one is as lucid, as deceptively simple and yet deep as others.
Through the book, Three daughters of Madame Liang, Pearl S Buck takes you into the story of a family, the family of Madame Liang. After her husband takes a concubine, because she could produce no son, Madame Liang leaves him. She sets out on her own and opens a gourmet restaurant in Shanghai. In the times of great turmoil, when good food is scarce, her restaurant survives by providing the best food to the Who’s who of People’s Republic. She, prudently keeps her opinions of the Republic to herself and lives in constant fear. She sends her three daughters – Grace, Mercy and Joy to a much safer world – America.
Grace, the eldest of them is summoned by the government to serve the nation. She returns to immerse herself into her service as a doctor and studying ancient Chinese medicine to compare it with the modern medicine in which she was trained. Grace falls in love with Liu Pang, a young physician despite knowing, he is narrow minded and has been brainwashed into communism. She adapts herself to new China.
Mercy, the younger daughter, a musician convinces her husband John Sung, a rocket scientist to return to China for self-fulfillment. They flee from America. Though, a communist China does not have any use of a musician, she could make use of the services of Mercy’s husband. But John sung refuses to create weapons and gets himself into trouble. Mercy’s experience with new China, forces her to escape.
The bitter sweet chemistry between Grace and Mercy, motivated by their changing loyalties to China is interesting. Madame Liang is deeply saddened by the two sisters growing apart but resigns since she could not live their lives for them.
Joy, the youngest daughter stays in America, never to return. She finds love in a fellow Chinese artist and settles down.
Pearl Buck paints a picture of Cultural Revolution through the very personal accounts and view points of people in Madame Liang’s family. The story is fast paced and the book, un-put-downable."
I did not think it was as fast paced as quoted above and it wasn't didn't leave me with an emotional tie to the characters as some of Ms. Buck's other book. Put it did give a good picture of how the ordinary people of China tried to adjust, reconcile and deal with the change to Communism. How did families try to keep the family bonds alive while the country was tearing them down.
P45-" To this she did not reply. Instead she rose, and bowing slightly, she walked away. One never knew, these days, who, for a little money, might act as spy. But the old man's words held in her mind. Was it true that the day would come when again the rich grew more rich and the poor more poor? This city she had seen in all its several lives. Twenty years ago she had come here with her three daughters, then small children. The city at that time had been one of the centers of the world. Indeed the world was here, France and England and Japan, each with its part. The streets had been clean in these foreign concessions, the traffic swift but controlled by uniformed policeman , all foreign. In the park dogs and Chinese were not allowed. How angered she had been when she found, newly come, that she could not take her children to the park on a holiday because she and they were Chinese!"
"Is this not China?" she had demanded of a policeman at the entrance to the park.:
"No," he had replied. "It is a piece of England, a bounty after the last opium war."
P71-" Though our thousands of years our weakness has been in our pride. We believed and do still believe that we are the superior race, the best people. We grew accustomed through centuries, and with reason, to being the first nation in the world, our civilization above that of any other. We became the most ancient of days. While other peoples rose and died and nations flourished and passed away, our nation and our people, continued upon the earth, the center of all. We knew this, and the knowing of it, the certainty of it, has been our undoing. We could not believe that the time had arrived for us to change, because a new power had come to mankind. It is the power of science, first manifest to us in new weapons. The new weapons, devised by the few, were soon used by the many. One man, devising a weapon, gives power of life and death to the many who know nothing except how to pull a trigger. This science was our undoing, and all the wisdom of Confucius could not save us."
The above quote should be a caution label to all the nations!!!
P77--cultural misunderstandings: China viewed by US as aggressor. But China does not have this view: Korea: " But that was our duty! Korea is one of our tributary nations and has been for many centuries. It was our responsibility, always to send a volunteer army if any of our tributary nations was attacked by a foreign power."
P94-95 "We did not understand that there are times in the history of any country when the government is weak and evil because the rulers are weak and evil, as they always become if the dynasty lasts too long. We did not understand that we had been born into such a period in our own country, when the end of the Tsing dynasty was near. We should have seized the government, not to destroy its very structure, as we did, but to change the rulers. We should have seized the throne to maintain it and make it at its best again, not to bring an end to it, so that for ten miserable years the people were in chaos, without rulers."
P103- "We are a nation of peasants. Eighty-five out of one hundred of our people are peasants. True, it the fifteen percent who carry on the nation's business and contain the ruling two percent, but these no longer rule. The Chairman has released the dragon of the peasant youth. Those who controlled them are no more--the landlords, the gentry, the literate; people such as you and I sprang from, are gone. Ah, what a dragon the Chairman has rereleased! "
P 189-- Pride again! "Why should we hate them? Because ours is the only true civilization!"
P190-" Scientists in other parts of the world were making the same explorations and he longed to know of their progress but he had no source of information. His country had returned to its traditional isolation. He pondered the dangers in this isolation, for how could a modern people live in safety who did not know what happened elsewhere in the world?"
Pg. 193- "People cannot live for thousands of years and learn nothing," Liu Peng said. "We are the oldest people on earth and the wisest. We are superior to the West in everything except firearms. Even our great leader Sun Yat-sen said that only in science could the Chinese learn from the West but in the true principles of philosophy the West must learn from us."
P197-198- "You are using Communism as an instrument to express your convictions as a Chinese--an instrument instead of an ideology! Emperors did the same in the old days when China was the center of the world-to us, at least!"
Pg 206 "We cannot let down our hearts, not even for an hour, we people of the land, we old hundred names, " he said. "In truth,we work our bodies to skin and bone, with bitter labor. By day we till the land; in common we plant, we reap the harvest, an army of men and women. At night we try to make iron. How can we make iron? It has not been our destiny. When people work beyond their destiny, all they do fails."
P 230-231-- Equality for all--" A dream...Why impossible? Because it did not consider the nature of man, which in each human being stands separate and isolated, the self its chief concern. Only when the self is fed, is safe, is warm in winter and cool in summer, possessing its own and working for its own, can peace prevail."
P242- "...she came to understand that throughout all such changes there is no change. She knew ow that in all changes she could find the unchangeable. And who is the unchangeable except the people themselves?...Never was she more sure of the unchangeable than she was now when the disasters created by man and nature fell upon the people."
Interesting that the names of the 3 daughters were- Joy, Mercy, and Grace. Like all her books, Ms. Buck gives insight of people--how they interact in society and with each other. The book gave insight of people's love of nation or homeland but how does one reconcile with a change and maybe a negative change.
"Three daughters of Madame Liang – Pearl S Buck
AUGUST 13, 2007
tags: Book, book review, buck, china, Feminism, fiction, Nobel, pearl, pearl buck, Women
Three daughters of Madame Liang, published first in 1969 is one of the last pieces of Pearl S Buck’s work. I’ve read more than half a dozen of her pieces of work and, this one is as lucid, as deceptively simple and yet deep as others.
Through the book, Three daughters of Madame Liang, Pearl S Buck takes you into the story of a family, the family of Madame Liang. After her husband takes a concubine, because she could produce no son, Madame Liang leaves him. She sets out on her own and opens a gourmet restaurant in Shanghai. In the times of great turmoil, when good food is scarce, her restaurant survives by providing the best food to the Who’s who of People’s Republic. She, prudently keeps her opinions of the Republic to herself and lives in constant fear. She sends her three daughters – Grace, Mercy and Joy to a much safer world – America.
Grace, the eldest of them is summoned by the government to serve the nation. She returns to immerse herself into her service as a doctor and studying ancient Chinese medicine to compare it with the modern medicine in which she was trained. Grace falls in love with Liu Pang, a young physician despite knowing, he is narrow minded and has been brainwashed into communism. She adapts herself to new China.
Mercy, the younger daughter, a musician convinces her husband John Sung, a rocket scientist to return to China for self-fulfillment. They flee from America. Though, a communist China does not have any use of a musician, she could make use of the services of Mercy’s husband. But John sung refuses to create weapons and gets himself into trouble. Mercy’s experience with new China, forces her to escape.
The bitter sweet chemistry between Grace and Mercy, motivated by their changing loyalties to China is interesting. Madame Liang is deeply saddened by the two sisters growing apart but resigns since she could not live their lives for them.
Joy, the youngest daughter stays in America, never to return. She finds love in a fellow Chinese artist and settles down.
Pearl Buck paints a picture of Cultural Revolution through the very personal accounts and view points of people in Madame Liang’s family. The story is fast paced and the book, un-put-downable."
I did not think it was as fast paced as quoted above and it wasn't didn't leave me with an emotional tie to the characters as some of Ms. Buck's other book. Put it did give a good picture of how the ordinary people of China tried to adjust, reconcile and deal with the change to Communism. How did families try to keep the family bonds alive while the country was tearing them down.
P45-" To this she did not reply. Instead she rose, and bowing slightly, she walked away. One never knew, these days, who, for a little money, might act as spy. But the old man's words held in her mind. Was it true that the day would come when again the rich grew more rich and the poor more poor? This city she had seen in all its several lives. Twenty years ago she had come here with her three daughters, then small children. The city at that time had been one of the centers of the world. Indeed the world was here, France and England and Japan, each with its part. The streets had been clean in these foreign concessions, the traffic swift but controlled by uniformed policeman , all foreign. In the park dogs and Chinese were not allowed. How angered she had been when she found, newly come, that she could not take her children to the park on a holiday because she and they were Chinese!"
"Is this not China?" she had demanded of a policeman at the entrance to the park.:
"No," he had replied. "It is a piece of England, a bounty after the last opium war."
P71-" Though our thousands of years our weakness has been in our pride. We believed and do still believe that we are the superior race, the best people. We grew accustomed through centuries, and with reason, to being the first nation in the world, our civilization above that of any other. We became the most ancient of days. While other peoples rose and died and nations flourished and passed away, our nation and our people, continued upon the earth, the center of all. We knew this, and the knowing of it, the certainty of it, has been our undoing. We could not believe that the time had arrived for us to change, because a new power had come to mankind. It is the power of science, first manifest to us in new weapons. The new weapons, devised by the few, were soon used by the many. One man, devising a weapon, gives power of life and death to the many who know nothing except how to pull a trigger. This science was our undoing, and all the wisdom of Confucius could not save us."
The above quote should be a caution label to all the nations!!!
P77--cultural misunderstandings: China viewed by US as aggressor. But China does not have this view: Korea: " But that was our duty! Korea is one of our tributary nations and has been for many centuries. It was our responsibility, always to send a volunteer army if any of our tributary nations was attacked by a foreign power."
P94-95 "We did not understand that there are times in the history of any country when the government is weak and evil because the rulers are weak and evil, as they always become if the dynasty lasts too long. We did not understand that we had been born into such a period in our own country, when the end of the Tsing dynasty was near. We should have seized the government, not to destroy its very structure, as we did, but to change the rulers. We should have seized the throne to maintain it and make it at its best again, not to bring an end to it, so that for ten miserable years the people were in chaos, without rulers."
P103- "We are a nation of peasants. Eighty-five out of one hundred of our people are peasants. True, it the fifteen percent who carry on the nation's business and contain the ruling two percent, but these no longer rule. The Chairman has released the dragon of the peasant youth. Those who controlled them are no more--the landlords, the gentry, the literate; people such as you and I sprang from, are gone. Ah, what a dragon the Chairman has rereleased! "
P 189-- Pride again! "Why should we hate them? Because ours is the only true civilization!"
P190-" Scientists in other parts of the world were making the same explorations and he longed to know of their progress but he had no source of information. His country had returned to its traditional isolation. He pondered the dangers in this isolation, for how could a modern people live in safety who did not know what happened elsewhere in the world?"
Pg. 193- "People cannot live for thousands of years and learn nothing," Liu Peng said. "We are the oldest people on earth and the wisest. We are superior to the West in everything except firearms. Even our great leader Sun Yat-sen said that only in science could the Chinese learn from the West but in the true principles of philosophy the West must learn from us."
P197-198- "You are using Communism as an instrument to express your convictions as a Chinese--an instrument instead of an ideology! Emperors did the same in the old days when China was the center of the world-to us, at least!"
Pg 206 "We cannot let down our hearts, not even for an hour, we people of the land, we old hundred names, " he said. "In truth,we work our bodies to skin and bone, with bitter labor. By day we till the land; in common we plant, we reap the harvest, an army of men and women. At night we try to make iron. How can we make iron? It has not been our destiny. When people work beyond their destiny, all they do fails."
P 230-231-- Equality for all--" A dream...Why impossible? Because it did not consider the nature of man, which in each human being stands separate and isolated, the self its chief concern. Only when the self is fed, is safe, is warm in winter and cool in summer, possessing its own and working for its own, can peace prevail."
P242- "...she came to understand that throughout all such changes there is no change. She knew ow that in all changes she could find the unchangeable. And who is the unchangeable except the people themselves?...Never was she more sure of the unchangeable than she was now when the disasters created by man and nature fell upon the people."
Interesting that the names of the 3 daughters were- Joy, Mercy, and Grace. Like all her books, Ms. Buck gives insight of people--how they interact in society and with each other. The book gave insight of people's love of nation or homeland but how does one reconcile with a change and maybe a negative change.
October 1, 2023
Me llamó la atención este libro porque había leído a la autora en Viento del este, viento del oeste y me había gustado mucho.
En esta ocasión la acción se desarrolla en un periodo temporal más cercano al actual, durante el gobierno de Mao Zetong. Madame Liang sobrevive manteniendo un estilo de vida nada comunista, regentando un local en el que todavía se visten y comen con lujos.
Sus tres hijas han ido a estudiar a Estados Unidos y también trabajan allí, al menos le queda ese consuelo, pero un día, un miembro del partido le hace saber que sus hijas deberían regresar para ayudar a su país, especialmente la que estudió biología.
Es así como dos de las tres hijas de Madame Lian regresan a China, convencidas en que ayudar a su país es lo mejor y que el comunismo es bueno para todos. Claro que no han podido ver la parte negativa y la represión de todo ello.
La verdad es que este libro no ha logrado convencerme o resultarme ni de lejos tan atractivo como Viento del este, viento del oeste. Aunque el libro se titula las tres hijas de Madame Liang conocemos bien solo a dos de ellas y en algunos momentos son difíciles de comprender y ni siquiera se nota mucho la influencia que ha podido tener en ellas una educación y un estilo de vida americano.
Este, además, es un libro que esperaba tener una continuación así que estamos ante un final abierto. No es el mejor libro sobre este periodo histórico y no logró mantener mi interés.
Algo que me frustró sobremanera es que ninguno de los personajes, ni la propia Madame Liang, eran capaces de hablar con franqueza con las recién llegadas. Todo lo que hacían era darles mensajes crípticos que anunciaban que el sistema no era tan bueno y podía ser peligroso, pero no concretaban y todo quedaba en el aire.
No entendí ni por qué durante la intimidad no podían avisarles del peligro que corrían si hacían determinadas cosas.
Es una lectura sencilla pero no aporta nada nuevo y se va un poco por las ramas. Creo que hay otros títulos más interesantes de esta autora y aunque mi experiencia con este no ha sido la mejor, espero tener la oportunidad de conocer mejor su otra obra en el futuro.
En esta ocasión la acción se desarrolla en un periodo temporal más cercano al actual, durante el gobierno de Mao Zetong. Madame Liang sobrevive manteniendo un estilo de vida nada comunista, regentando un local en el que todavía se visten y comen con lujos.
Sus tres hijas han ido a estudiar a Estados Unidos y también trabajan allí, al menos le queda ese consuelo, pero un día, un miembro del partido le hace saber que sus hijas deberían regresar para ayudar a su país, especialmente la que estudió biología.
Es así como dos de las tres hijas de Madame Lian regresan a China, convencidas en que ayudar a su país es lo mejor y que el comunismo es bueno para todos. Claro que no han podido ver la parte negativa y la represión de todo ello.
La verdad es que este libro no ha logrado convencerme o resultarme ni de lejos tan atractivo como Viento del este, viento del oeste. Aunque el libro se titula las tres hijas de Madame Liang conocemos bien solo a dos de ellas y en algunos momentos son difíciles de comprender y ni siquiera se nota mucho la influencia que ha podido tener en ellas una educación y un estilo de vida americano.
Este, además, es un libro que esperaba tener una continuación así que estamos ante un final abierto. No es el mejor libro sobre este periodo histórico y no logró mantener mi interés.
Algo que me frustró sobremanera es que ninguno de los personajes, ni la propia Madame Liang, eran capaces de hablar con franqueza con las recién llegadas. Todo lo que hacían era darles mensajes crípticos que anunciaban que el sistema no era tan bueno y podía ser peligroso, pero no concretaban y todo quedaba en el aire.
No entendí ni por qué durante la intimidad no podían avisarles del peligro que corrían si hacían determinadas cosas.
Es una lectura sencilla pero no aporta nada nuevo y se va un poco por las ramas. Creo que hay otros títulos más interesantes de esta autora y aunque mi experiencia con este no ha sido la mejor, espero tener la oportunidad de conocer mejor su otra obra en el futuro.
December 26, 2022
Se trovate questo libro e vi piacciono i romanzi storici, vi prego, non lasciatevelo sfuggire e leggetelo.
Incipit bellissimo, che introduce da subito la protagonista, Madame Liang, misteriosa, forte e a tratti sovversiva, seppur legata a certi concetti tradizionali della sua cultura.
Ci troviamo in una Cina sconvolta e drasticamente mutata dalla rivoluzione culturale. Un paese che si ritrova a fare i conti sia con il nuovo ordine sociale creato, che con gli effetti del colonialismo inglese, francese e giapponese precedente. La vita è regolata dalla censura, dalla nuova politica del Presidente, dalla minaccia dei lavori forzati.
Nonostante il divieto della madre, le sue tre figlie, Grace, Mercy e Joy decidono a un tratto di voler tornare a vivere in Cina.
Ma che impressione ho avuto da lettrice nel romanzo?
Grace, onestamente, è quella che mi ha dato più sui nervi. Parte con una mentalità rinnovata dalle idee liberali occidentali e si ritrova a piegare il proprio pensiero a quello di Liu Peng, rivoluzionario convinto e piuttosto indottrinato, del quale si innamora.
Mercy, una vittima del sistema. Quando si rende conto di come vanno davvero le cose nel paese decide di fare dietrofront e fuggire di nuovo in America con il figlio.
Joy, l’unica a cui le cose vanno bene dall’inizio, perché di fatto sarà l’unica a non tornare mai in Cina, nonostante la volontà di farlo (grazie marito di cui non ricordo il nome per averle impedito di compiere una scelta discutibile, considerando i tempi storici).
Due dei miei personaggi preferiti muoiono malissimo, sotto il fuoco di un paese che corre verso lo sviluppo, nel tentativo di eguagliare e rivaleggiare contro l’Occidente.
Il romanzo si legge bene e velocemente e dona un’ottimo sguardo sul contrasto tra l’amore per la patria e ciò che la suddetta patria è diventata nella realtà, distorta dalla dittatura.
Cinque stelle è pure poco per i miei gusti 💜
Incipit bellissimo, che introduce da subito la protagonista, Madame Liang, misteriosa, forte e a tratti sovversiva, seppur legata a certi concetti tradizionali della sua cultura.
Ci troviamo in una Cina sconvolta e drasticamente mutata dalla rivoluzione culturale. Un paese che si ritrova a fare i conti sia con il nuovo ordine sociale creato, che con gli effetti del colonialismo inglese, francese e giapponese precedente. La vita è regolata dalla censura, dalla nuova politica del Presidente, dalla minaccia dei lavori forzati.
Nonostante il divieto della madre, le sue tre figlie, Grace, Mercy e Joy decidono a un tratto di voler tornare a vivere in Cina.
Ma che impressione ho avuto da lettrice nel romanzo?
Grace, onestamente, è quella che mi ha dato più sui nervi. Parte con una mentalità rinnovata dalle idee liberali occidentali e si ritrova a piegare il proprio pensiero a quello di Liu Peng, rivoluzionario convinto e piuttosto indottrinato, del quale si innamora.
Mercy, una vittima del sistema. Quando si rende conto di come vanno davvero le cose nel paese decide di fare dietrofront e fuggire di nuovo in America con il figlio.
Joy, l’unica a cui le cose vanno bene dall’inizio, perché di fatto sarà l’unica a non tornare mai in Cina, nonostante la volontà di farlo (grazie marito di cui non ricordo il nome per averle impedito di compiere una scelta discutibile, considerando i tempi storici).
Due dei miei personaggi preferiti muoiono malissimo, sotto il fuoco di un paese che corre verso lo sviluppo, nel tentativo di eguagliare e rivaleggiare contro l’Occidente.
Il romanzo si legge bene e velocemente e dona un’ottimo sguardo sul contrasto tra l’amore per la patria e ciò che la suddetta patria è diventata nella realtà, distorta dalla dittatura.
Cinque stelle è pure poco per i miei gusti 💜
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2025
Pearl S. Buck is one of those authors I've buried in my TBR for so long, although it wasn't this book. That being said, I decided to try reading this title just to see how the author reads.
Before I give my review, I'd like to remind myself—and possibly you guys as well—that Pearl S. Buck was a white woman (not Chinese). Though she lived her childhood in China, she still wasn't Chinese. So I'd like to recommend taking whatever she writes with a grain of salt.
This book, in particular, is fantastic. I believe it is such a powerful writing that gives a glimpse of Chinese history and the Chinese experience in the 1960s. Told from the point of view of a middle-aged Chinese woman (a proud and powerful woman with a strong head and a fiery heart) and her three daughters who travel and reside somewhere between China and the US, this book explores varying views and opinions about China of the old and the new.
For an outsider, this book reveals things about China and the Chinese I'd never thought of before but (frankly) explains a lot about the way Chinese people think and behave even today. I suppose, as someone who has never met a Chinese person in the mainland, I never knew what Chinese people who have never been outside think about their beloved homeland and the experience of being a Chinese person. It's astounding to me how actually very similar Chinese and Americans are.
That explains a lot about the ever present political tension between them.
While dealing with a lot of political and social issues, the story itself is first and foremost personal and emotional. It focuses so much on family (what it means to be one and its complicated relationships) and also on being a nation's people (what role they play in a country).
Highly recommended for anyone who wants to read a classical book on China. I personally find this a pretty quick read. If you really knuckle down on it, you can probably finish it within a week.
Before I give my review, I'd like to remind myself—and possibly you guys as well—that Pearl S. Buck was a white woman (not Chinese). Though she lived her childhood in China, she still wasn't Chinese. So I'd like to recommend taking whatever she writes with a grain of salt.
This book, in particular, is fantastic. I believe it is such a powerful writing that gives a glimpse of Chinese history and the Chinese experience in the 1960s. Told from the point of view of a middle-aged Chinese woman (a proud and powerful woman with a strong head and a fiery heart) and her three daughters who travel and reside somewhere between China and the US, this book explores varying views and opinions about China of the old and the new.
For an outsider, this book reveals things about China and the Chinese I'd never thought of before but (frankly) explains a lot about the way Chinese people think and behave even today. I suppose, as someone who has never met a Chinese person in the mainland, I never knew what Chinese people who have never been outside think about their beloved homeland and the experience of being a Chinese person. It's astounding to me how actually very similar Chinese and Americans are.
That explains a lot about the ever present political tension between them.
While dealing with a lot of political and social issues, the story itself is first and foremost personal and emotional. It focuses so much on family (what it means to be one and its complicated relationships) and also on being a nation's people (what role they play in a country).
Highly recommended for anyone who wants to read a classical book on China. I personally find this a pretty quick read. If you really knuckle down on it, you can probably finish it within a week.
January 8, 2022
I love Pearl s buck's books and this was no exception.
This story is of Madame liang who herself is an independent successful woman and her three daughters as the name suggests during the rule of chairman Mao. The country was changing and considering this Madame sends her all three daughters to America so that they could be safe but destiny has different plans. Grace is firstly summoned cause she is a scientist and the country needs her.. and Mercy wants to give birth to chinese children. So they come back. But they don't know its not the same country they left.
Its only third daughter who stays put where she was sent.
Times are changing and so are people and you have to stay on your toes to keep yourself safe.
Where the food is never plenty because communes failed.
Where you are sent to hard labour just for there is no concept of freedom of speech.
Madame Liang herself never leaves her country because she considers herself a little responsible for what is happening at present.
It is a story of finding yourself again in a place you left long ago, a place that is changing and will change with every passing day.
This is an amazing story with a prose that flows in a way that you go on reading. It doesn't feel streched and reading history doesn't bore you to death. It is interesting and if you are keen on this authors work then this might actually work for you.
Personally i love her writing, her ability to draw you inside the story, her way with words , and her quotes and onliners.
Ohh how i love books with numerous quotes and chinese fiction literature is always full of them. Another interesting thing about her works is that you never realise that its an American who is writing this characters who are 100% chinese.
4.5 starer for me.
This story is of Madame liang who herself is an independent successful woman and her three daughters as the name suggests during the rule of chairman Mao. The country was changing and considering this Madame sends her all three daughters to America so that they could be safe but destiny has different plans. Grace is firstly summoned cause she is a scientist and the country needs her.. and Mercy wants to give birth to chinese children. So they come back. But they don't know its not the same country they left.
Its only third daughter who stays put where she was sent.
Times are changing and so are people and you have to stay on your toes to keep yourself safe.
Where the food is never plenty because communes failed.
Where you are sent to hard labour just for there is no concept of freedom of speech.
Madame Liang herself never leaves her country because she considers herself a little responsible for what is happening at present.
It is a story of finding yourself again in a place you left long ago, a place that is changing and will change with every passing day.
This is an amazing story with a prose that flows in a way that you go on reading. It doesn't feel streched and reading history doesn't bore you to death. It is interesting and if you are keen on this authors work then this might actually work for you.
Personally i love her writing, her ability to draw you inside the story, her way with words , and her quotes and onliners.
Ohh how i love books with numerous quotes and chinese fiction literature is always full of them. Another interesting thing about her works is that you never realise that its an American who is writing this characters who are 100% chinese.
4.5 starer for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 25, 2025
Una vez más, Buck hace gala de una prosa sencilla para retratar un drama familiar ambientado en la revolución cultural china. Lo que nos presenta es a Madame Liang, una señorona que aún teniendo ciertos contactos y privilegios en su ciudad, la traen cortita espiándola porque tiene tres hijas en el extranjero, específicamente en los Estados Unidos.
Poco a poco iremos conociendo a esta chavas, de entrada a Grace, la que más es importante para el gobierno chino por sus estudios de medicina. Aunque ella vive despreocupada de lo que pasa en China, su madre intenta hacerle ver que está mejor allá. Sus otras hijas, Joy y Mercy están más dedicadas a las artes, pero también son requeridas.
Me gusta que Pearl S. Buck pueda hilar cómo afecta la parte íntima y familiar en un contexto político específico. Vemos las tensiones de las chicas que tienen otra visión y cultura, cómo deben acoplarse a los usos y costumbres, pero sobre todo, a la nueva lógica revolucionaria. Son dos veces extranjeras y aún así, tienen más libertad por tener ese estatus de estudiadas, y que hablan inglés.
Creo que una vez establecida la trama de estas chicas, empieza a ser un poco fastidioso que se repitan las ideas. Grace es la que más cambia en su modo de ver la vida, pero las otras dos se parecen y no hay una transformación. Eso sí, la novela es muy aguda, la visión occidental de la autora permea pero también da impresiones interesantes sobre lo que ocurre y lo que ocurrirá en esa China socialista en pañales.
No solo es una gran novela sino un documento histórico (permítanme la mamada) de la conformación de este nación que hoy nos sorprende.
Poco a poco iremos conociendo a esta chavas, de entrada a Grace, la que más es importante para el gobierno chino por sus estudios de medicina. Aunque ella vive despreocupada de lo que pasa en China, su madre intenta hacerle ver que está mejor allá. Sus otras hijas, Joy y Mercy están más dedicadas a las artes, pero también son requeridas.
Me gusta que Pearl S. Buck pueda hilar cómo afecta la parte íntima y familiar en un contexto político específico. Vemos las tensiones de las chicas que tienen otra visión y cultura, cómo deben acoplarse a los usos y costumbres, pero sobre todo, a la nueva lógica revolucionaria. Son dos veces extranjeras y aún así, tienen más libertad por tener ese estatus de estudiadas, y que hablan inglés.
Creo que una vez establecida la trama de estas chicas, empieza a ser un poco fastidioso que se repitan las ideas. Grace es la que más cambia en su modo de ver la vida, pero las otras dos se parecen y no hay una transformación. Eso sí, la novela es muy aguda, la visión occidental de la autora permea pero también da impresiones interesantes sobre lo que ocurre y lo que ocurrirá en esa China socialista en pañales.
No solo es una gran novela sino un documento histórico (permítanme la mamada) de la conformación de este nación que hoy nos sorprende.
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