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House of Earth #3
A House Divided
"A House Divided," the third volume of the trilogy that began with "The Good Earth" and "Sons," is a powerful portrayal of China in the midst of revolution. Wang Yuan is caught between the opposing ideas of different generations. After 6 years abroad, Yuan returns to China in the middle of a peasant uprising. His cousin is a captain in the revolutionary army, his sister has scandalized the family by her premarital pregnancy, and his warlord father continues to cling to his traditional ideals. It is through Yuan's efforts that a kind of peace is restored to the family.
348 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1935
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About the author
Pearl S. Buck
785 books3,036 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 347 reviews
November 24, 2012
Not many who have read the "Good Earth Trilogy" are likely to agree with me, but this was my favorite book in the series that begins with the The Good Earth, followed by Sons. That is not to say it is the best or most important book in the trilogy, for that depends on what terms we are speaking. All three a page turners with compelling characters and plots. The Good Earth received the most acclaim, is by far the best seller, and is also the best known because it was adapted into a movie. It is also the one that established Pearl Buck's reputation as a writer.
Nonetheless I found A House Divided the most interesting because I found the characters the most interesting and relatable. In this novel Buck depicts characters who are struggling with change and the clash of cultures in revolutionary times. Perhaps it is because Pearl identified with the situation of these characters and understood their situation that she is able to write so perceptively about them. She's able to give us more of an understanding of the psychology and motivations of the characters here than in the other two volumes. Unless, perhaps, I simply understand them better. In any case, a delightful read!
Nonetheless I found A House Divided the most interesting because I found the characters the most interesting and relatable. In this novel Buck depicts characters who are struggling with change and the clash of cultures in revolutionary times. Perhaps it is because Pearl identified with the situation of these characters and understood their situation that she is able to write so perceptively about them. She's able to give us more of an understanding of the psychology and motivations of the characters here than in the other two volumes. Unless, perhaps, I simply understand them better. In any case, a delightful read!
September 3, 2018
This third book in the Good Earth/Sons/A House Divided trilogy follows the life of Wang Yuan, son of a local warlord and grandson the the patriarch of
The Good Earth
. He has left the revolutionary movement brewing in the south, but finds that he can’t tolerate living with the old traditions of his father's region. Thus Yuan moves to a coastal Chinese city where his stepmother and half sister live.
There Yuan finds himself in the middle of a government crackdown on sympathizers of the revolutionary movement. He then fees to a “foreign country” (presumably USA) to study agriculture. After six years he returns to China to find the country in even more turmoil from competing versions of the revolution. Yuan receives word that the peasants have rebelled in his home district, have burned down his father’s house, and his father is near death.
Yuan returns to his home provence in time to witness his father’s death and reconnect with his step mother and a young woman—romanic love interest—both of whom have also returned to the home district. The book ends with the country in political chaos, but with a hint of hope for Yuan’s personal relationship with his young woman love interest.
In addition to the book's observation of political and social change, it also contains the elements of a romance story. Yuan is a young man seeking love. He doesn't want a traditional arranged marriage, he is repulsed by the Western style party scene, so when he meets the well educated professor's daughter with whom he can have interesting and challenging conversations, he develops feelings of love. But he can't get past the Western/Eastern cultural divide. Thus when he returns of China he falls quickly for a young educated Chinese woman who aspires to be a medical doctor. This relationship has its ups and down, and the author elaborates on the internal thoughts of Yuan as he allows his feelings of love to cause him to think irrationally.
A more detailed description of the book’s plot is at this link .
The Book's story presumably takes place in the early 1930s (book published in 1935), therefore it matches the approximate time of the beginning the the Japanese invasion of China, war with the Nationalist Chinese, and the Long March of the Communist Chinese. Thus people who read this book now know that the chaos described at the end of the book was just the beginning of many years of turmoil.
Since the narrative follows Yuan to the USA and back the book's narrative has ample opportunity to thoroughly compare Western versus Eastern thought and traditions. Issues of poverty, social justice, revolution, religion, and cultural traditions are all examined.
In particular I was surprised how much the Christian religion is discussed during Yuan’s time living in America. The author was the daughter of Christian missionaries to China, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that she chose to write about it. I have included the following excerpts to provide a flavor of how the subject is treated.
Excerpt 1: The book describes Yuan objecting to a missionary’s depiction of China as a place of poverty. Yuan declared that it wasn’t the China he knew. The following excerpt is an overheard conversation of two people talking to each other about which side had the correct description of China:
The following is a link to my review of the first book in the trilogy, The Good Earth.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The following is a link to my review of the second book in the trilogy, Sons.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
There Yuan finds himself in the middle of a government crackdown on sympathizers of the revolutionary movement. He then fees to a “foreign country” (presumably USA) to study agriculture. After six years he returns to China to find the country in even more turmoil from competing versions of the revolution. Yuan receives word that the peasants have rebelled in his home district, have burned down his father’s house, and his father is near death.
Yuan returns to his home provence in time to witness his father’s death and reconnect with his step mother and a young woman—romanic love interest—both of whom have also returned to the home district. The book ends with the country in political chaos, but with a hint of hope for Yuan’s personal relationship with his young woman love interest.
In addition to the book's observation of political and social change, it also contains the elements of a romance story. Yuan is a young man seeking love. He doesn't want a traditional arranged marriage, he is repulsed by the Western style party scene, so when he meets the well educated professor's daughter with whom he can have interesting and challenging conversations, he develops feelings of love. But he can't get past the Western/Eastern cultural divide. Thus when he returns of China he falls quickly for a young educated Chinese woman who aspires to be a medical doctor. This relationship has its ups and down, and the author elaborates on the internal thoughts of Yuan as he allows his feelings of love to cause him to think irrationally.
A more detailed description of the book’s plot is at this link .
The Book's story presumably takes place in the early 1930s (book published in 1935), therefore it matches the approximate time of the beginning the the Japanese invasion of China, war with the Nationalist Chinese, and the Long March of the Communist Chinese. Thus people who read this book now know that the chaos described at the end of the book was just the beginning of many years of turmoil.
Since the narrative follows Yuan to the USA and back the book's narrative has ample opportunity to thoroughly compare Western versus Eastern thought and traditions. Issues of poverty, social justice, revolution, religion, and cultural traditions are all examined.
In particular I was surprised how much the Christian religion is discussed during Yuan’s time living in America. The author was the daughter of Christian missionaries to China, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that she chose to write about it. I have included the following excerpts to provide a flavor of how the subject is treated.
Excerpt 1: The book describes Yuan objecting to a missionary’s depiction of China as a place of poverty. Yuan declared that it wasn’t the China he knew. The following excerpt is an overheard conversation of two people talking to each other about which side had the correct description of China:
But Yuan could not stay for such mockery of praying. He rose and went out and stumbled through the streets to his own room. Soon behind him came the footsteps of others who went homeward too, and here was the final stab which Yuan had that night. Two men passed him, not knowing who he was, and he heard one say, “Queer thing, that Chinese fellow getting up like that, wasn’t it?—Wonder which of ‘em was right?”Excerpt 2: A professor’s daughter discouraged Yuan from being influenced by her father to become Christian:
And the other said, “Both of them, I reckon. It’s safest not to believe all you hear from anybody. . . .”
“The truth is I have been much embarrassed by my parents’ efforts to interest you in their religion. Of them I say nothing, expect they are the best people I have ever known. You know my father—you see—anyone can see—what he is. People talk of saints. he is one. I have never seen him angry or unkind in all my life. No girl, no woman, ever had better parents. the only trouble is that my father, if he did not give me his goodness, did give me his brain. In my time I have used that brain, and it has turned against the religion, the energy that feeds my father’s life, really, so that I myself have no belief in it. I cannot understand how men like my father, with strong, keen intellect, do not use it upon their religion His religion satisfies his emotional needs. His intellectual life is outside religion, and—there is no passage between the two. . . . .”Excerpt 3: The following describes Yuan’s admiration of the professor and there are some additional words from the professor's daughter:
“But—I am afraid—father may influence you. I know you admire him. You are his pupil. You study the books he has written, he has been attracted to you as he seldom has been to any pupil. I think he has a sort of vision of you going back to your country as a great Christian leader. Has he told you he once wanted to be a missionary? He belongs to the generation when very good earnest boy or girl was faced with the—the missionary call, as it was named. . . .”
“You are of your own race and your own time. How can anyone dare to impose upon you what is foreign to you?”
.... when he sat and heard the old man speak out his knowledge and beliefs, felt no narrowness here, but the wide ranging simple vastness of a mind unlimited by time or space, to which all things were possible in man and god. It was the vastness of a wise child’s mind, to which there are no boundaries between the true and magical. Yet this simplicity was so informed with wisdom . . . .
One day, in such trouble, he said to Mary, when she came in and found him alone and troubled, “Almost your father persuades me to be a Christian!”
And she answered, “Does he not almost so persuade us all? But you will find, as I did, that barrier is the—almost. Our two minds are different, Yuan—less simple, less sure, more exploring.”
The following is a link to my review of the first book in the trilogy, The Good Earth.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The following is a link to my review of the second book in the trilogy, Sons.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
November 2, 2019
Back in the 1950’s and early 60’s all anyone needed to know about China was In Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth. That it was the first in a trilogy was mostly overlooked. The Good Earth Chinese were a vastly ignorant group of mostly hard working, fugal farmers. Tied to their land and traditions that were more a matter of habit than anything close to a deliberate way of living. There was some mention of opium, but only as it was a weakness of a few Chinese and no of real interest to Americans.
Having rediscovered Pearl Buck through her books about World War II, I also found out that The Good Earth was book I of III. I determined to finish the set. Book II, Sons, about wore me out. Three generations of Chinese living out habit/traditions to no particular point or purpose. Women and children more like mobile household objects than people. Occasionally irritating or comforting but no more individual than their more prominently mentioned men.
Except for the fact that Sons ends in something of a cliff hanger and my Kindle copy continued into most of Book III A House Divided I would not have read it. Things did get better.
In book three a reader may finally get some sense that the Wang family is living in a greater history. Book I should have begun somewhere between the beginning of the Century and World War I. Book II brings inenough markers to suspect that just out of sight, the old Emperor has lost any contact with the business of governing, something like the Chinese Nationalists may be rising and maybe in the distance is the discontent that will become the Communist Revolution.
Politics is no more important than the unexpected introduction of railroads and the jarring presence of the automobile. What these things are, is signs that the remote world of the northern, warlord and peasant farmer are going to touch and be touched by the beginnings of a China that is going to be, well not the old one.
The Wang Family, effectively reduced to the one grandson of Wang the Elder, to Yuan the, the.? the son of Wang the Tiger. Through his life we will experience the beginning of whatever is coming. Forced marriage gives way to marriage as an expression of love and with the consent of the Bride. Education is suddenly needed even for the wealthy. Life in the city is not bound to more than a habit of family reverence.
For all of this change who is the then living generation of Chinese? What is a life with causes rather than traditions?
Unlike most of his elders, his stepmother being a heroic exception, Yuan has to find an identity and a role not tied to family. He must negotiate everything from his love life to the prospect of being at once useful and productive in a world not impressed with daddy-his title or silver. This may sound simple, but there are no certain solutions. No self-help books and virtually no one with whom he can form a support group. Evan worse there is wild talk of revolution and sacrifice for causes, neither well defined. Yuan’s China is changing and doing so in way simultaneously at odds with and in sympathy with Yuan’s growing understanding.
He grieves for the poor, if only they did not smell. If only they could be grateful for his efforts in their behalf. He wants to be more lake the larger worlds wherein he gets to study. But he never particularly like that new world. Those people were cruel to him because his skin was different, yet his native Chinese are just as suspicious toward foreign devils.
A House Divided manages to be something I had not found in the earlier books. It has a direction and an identifiable world under discussion. The book ends with that world still in the making. One has to wonder what a fourth volume would contain if Pearl Buck had to confront the modern warlord kingdom that the Communists ultimately established.
Having rediscovered Pearl Buck through her books about World War II, I also found out that The Good Earth was book I of III. I determined to finish the set. Book II, Sons, about wore me out. Three generations of Chinese living out habit/traditions to no particular point or purpose. Women and children more like mobile household objects than people. Occasionally irritating or comforting but no more individual than their more prominently mentioned men.
Except for the fact that Sons ends in something of a cliff hanger and my Kindle copy continued into most of Book III A House Divided I would not have read it. Things did get better.
In book three a reader may finally get some sense that the Wang family is living in a greater history. Book I should have begun somewhere between the beginning of the Century and World War I. Book II brings inenough markers to suspect that just out of sight, the old Emperor has lost any contact with the business of governing, something like the Chinese Nationalists may be rising and maybe in the distance is the discontent that will become the Communist Revolution.
Politics is no more important than the unexpected introduction of railroads and the jarring presence of the automobile. What these things are, is signs that the remote world of the northern, warlord and peasant farmer are going to touch and be touched by the beginnings of a China that is going to be, well not the old one.
The Wang Family, effectively reduced to the one grandson of Wang the Elder, to Yuan the, the.? the son of Wang the Tiger. Through his life we will experience the beginning of whatever is coming. Forced marriage gives way to marriage as an expression of love and with the consent of the Bride. Education is suddenly needed even for the wealthy. Life in the city is not bound to more than a habit of family reverence.
For all of this change who is the then living generation of Chinese? What is a life with causes rather than traditions?
Unlike most of his elders, his stepmother being a heroic exception, Yuan has to find an identity and a role not tied to family. He must negotiate everything from his love life to the prospect of being at once useful and productive in a world not impressed with daddy-his title or silver. This may sound simple, but there are no certain solutions. No self-help books and virtually no one with whom he can form a support group. Evan worse there is wild talk of revolution and sacrifice for causes, neither well defined. Yuan’s China is changing and doing so in way simultaneously at odds with and in sympathy with Yuan’s growing understanding.
He grieves for the poor, if only they did not smell. If only they could be grateful for his efforts in their behalf. He wants to be more lake the larger worlds wherein he gets to study. But he never particularly like that new world. Those people were cruel to him because his skin was different, yet his native Chinese are just as suspicious toward foreign devils.
A House Divided manages to be something I had not found in the earlier books. It has a direction and an identifiable world under discussion. The book ends with that world still in the making. One has to wonder what a fourth volume would contain if Pearl Buck had to confront the modern warlord kingdom that the Communists ultimately established.
June 13, 2018
The last of an excellent trilogy, this book focuses on Yuan who is Wang the Tiger's son. Revolution is upon China. Old customs are being thrown out either by the infiltration of Western culture or through revolution. Yuan, a would be revolutionist, has to escape the old guard and spends six years in the US, studies and has a plutonic relationship. On return to China he faces the old versus the new, revolutionaries confused with what they have achieved, a dying father and a first love. His wealthy uncles are fast becoming a lot poorer and no longer have the influence provided by their positions.
Yuan's quandaries and mixed emotions as to what to do in a country with abject poverty and ignorance is matched with his uncertainty as to how to approach the woman he loves who is a modern Chinese independent thinker with her own plans.
To me, probably the best of the three books.
Yuan's quandaries and mixed emotions as to what to do in a country with abject poverty and ignorance is matched with his uncertainty as to how to approach the woman he loves who is a modern Chinese independent thinker with her own plans.
To me, probably the best of the three books.
July 31, 2012
This book was a strange one for me. I liked it a lot at first, but then it just stalled for me and got really boring. Yuan was so confused all the time and it seemed that the bulk of the book was about him kinda sorta hating one or another group of people, but not really hating them because he was a gentle soul....over and over. I thought the revolution stuff was interesting, but don't know enough about Chinese history to really understand what was happending in a historical context. I thought it was interesting how Meng hated the poor people who he was supposedly fighting for and that he wanted to join the new "real" revolution. It still rings true today that some people will always seek out conflict and that greed and power can change even the most passionate and well-intentioned people over time. I didn't like that there was so much unresolved turmoil at the end.
January 24, 2012
I'm glad to see how The Good Earth trilogy played out, but A House Divided is nowhere near the book that The Good Earth is. It took me almost two months to read it. It had endearing moments, but did nothing to hold my attention. This book was very easy to put down and forget about for several days at a time. Not terrible, a good enough story, but not a "must read".
"For soon he knew her mind was as simple in its own way as his own country mother's mind, a kindly narrow mind which dwelt on a dish to be cooked...or the garden and its welfare or a bowl of flowers on the dining table. Her loves were the love of God and her own two, and in these loves she lived most faithfully and so simply that Yuan was confounded sometimes by this simplicity. For he found that this lady, who could read well enough to take up any book and comprehend it, was filled with strange beliefs as any villager in his own land. By her own talk with him he knew it, for she spoke of a certain festival in spring and she said, 'We call it Easter, Yuan, and on this day our dear Lord rose from the dead again and ascended into heaven.'"
"For soon he knew her mind was as simple in its own way as his own country mother's mind, a kindly narrow mind which dwelt on a dish to be cooked...or the garden and its welfare or a bowl of flowers on the dining table. Her loves were the love of God and her own two, and in these loves she lived most faithfully and so simply that Yuan was confounded sometimes by this simplicity. For he found that this lady, who could read well enough to take up any book and comprehend it, was filled with strange beliefs as any villager in his own land. By her own talk with him he knew it, for she spoke of a certain festival in spring and she said, 'We call it Easter, Yuan, and on this day our dear Lord rose from the dead again and ascended into heaven.'"
January 31, 2019
Tre e mezza..
In questo terzo libro si raccontano le vicende di Yuan, figlio di Wang La Tigre, nipote di Wang Lung. Fin da piccolo Wang La Tigre instrada il figlio a una vita militare riponendo in lui tante aspettative, tanto da fargli fare un vita a se, nell'intento di farne un buon guerriero. Crescendo Yuan, finirà addirittura a combattere contro il padre, credendo in ideali totalmente diversi dal padre. Tornerà casa e per eludere il matrimonio combinato dal padre si vedrà costretto a fuggire. Verrà arrestato, fuggirà in America, dove iniziarà a studiare non consapevole che intanto il padre si stava indebitando per questo. Rientrato a casa dovrà fare i conto con un debito esorbitante che, ora che il padre è vecchio, ricadrà tutto sulle sue spalle. Tornando a casa però lui incontrerà anche l'amore...
È un libro che rompe con le tradizioni aprendo a ideologie nuove, occidentali. Tutta la trilogia merita e sono stata contenta di averla letta.
In questo terzo libro si raccontano le vicende di Yuan, figlio di Wang La Tigre, nipote di Wang Lung. Fin da piccolo Wang La Tigre instrada il figlio a una vita militare riponendo in lui tante aspettative, tanto da fargli fare un vita a se, nell'intento di farne un buon guerriero. Crescendo Yuan, finirà addirittura a combattere contro il padre, credendo in ideali totalmente diversi dal padre. Tornerà casa e per eludere il matrimonio combinato dal padre si vedrà costretto a fuggire. Verrà arrestato, fuggirà in America, dove iniziarà a studiare non consapevole che intanto il padre si stava indebitando per questo. Rientrato a casa dovrà fare i conto con un debito esorbitante che, ora che il padre è vecchio, ricadrà tutto sulle sue spalle. Tornando a casa però lui incontrerà anche l'amore...
È un libro che rompe con le tradizioni aprendo a ideologie nuove, occidentali. Tutta la trilogia merita e sono stata contenta di averla letta.
August 29, 2014
To me this trilogy is exquisite. The use of language is like nothing I have ever read before, almost as beautifully crafted as Beryl Markham's West With the Night. This third book is not as good as the first two, but I still gave it 5 stars for the clear sense of the passage of time that this multigenerational story conveys. While the first book, The Good Earth, is best, it's worth it to hear the tale to it's end. Beautiful, beautiful writing.
June 11, 2021
Si tratta del terzo romanzo di una trilogia, ma si legge senza problemi come stand-alone, visto che si tratta della terza generazione della famiglia Wang, e si svolge tra gli anni '20 e '30 del XX secolo, all'alba della rivoluzione comunista cinese.
È il romanzo di formazione del giovane Wang Yuan, che si trova sospeso tra il vecchio e il nuovo, tra le tradizioni e il progresso, tra l'amore per la terra e la rivoluzione; lui che è figlio di un signore della guerra e che ha lasciato l'esercito proprio per non dover combattere contro il suo stesso padre. Ma i tempi stanno cambiando, e Yuan non vuole neanche sottostare alla sua autorità e sposare una donna scelta da lui, una contadinotta ignorante.
Trasferitosi in città con i suoi zii e la seconda moglie del padre, la madre della sua cara sorella Ai-Lan, a cui è affezionato più che alla sua stessa madre, Yuan resta coinvolto dal cugino rivoluzionario e, denunciato dalla donna che dice di amarlo - ma da cui Yuan si sente quasi imprigionato - viene mandato in esilio per ben sei anni in America, assieme all'altro cugino. Qui studierà e conoscerà la famiglia del suo professore, stringendo una forte amicizia (un amore?) con la figlia dell'uomo.
Yuan ama profondamente la sua Cina, ma in America si rende conto di non conoscerla davvero, di averne vista soltanto una parte, e con gli occhi dell'abitudine. Quando ritorna in patria, però, capisce che ciò che dicevano il missionario cristiano e i giovani cantonesi che ha incontrato in America e contro cui si è scagliato, accusandoli di diffondere idee non vere sulla Cina, non era un'invenzione; solo che lui non si era accorto che altre persone - cinesi o straniere - potevano aver osservato la sua terra da diversi punti di vista. E così impara a farlo anche lui.
Dopo aver conosciuto l'amore ossessivo della giovane rivoluzionaria e quello della figlia del professore americano, Yuan si rende conto che nessuna delle due era la donna adatta a lui, che ha bisogno di una ragazza cinese che, come lui, si trova sospesa tra tradizione e modernità. Solo che, dopo averla trovata, non è detto che lei, da ragazza moderna, sia disposta a rinunciare alla propria carriera per il matrimonio...
È il romanzo di formazione del giovane Wang Yuan, che si trova sospeso tra il vecchio e il nuovo, tra le tradizioni e il progresso, tra l'amore per la terra e la rivoluzione; lui che è figlio di un signore della guerra e che ha lasciato l'esercito proprio per non dover combattere contro il suo stesso padre. Ma i tempi stanno cambiando, e Yuan non vuole neanche sottostare alla sua autorità e sposare una donna scelta da lui, una contadinotta ignorante.
Trasferitosi in città con i suoi zii e la seconda moglie del padre, la madre della sua cara sorella Ai-Lan, a cui è affezionato più che alla sua stessa madre, Yuan resta coinvolto dal cugino rivoluzionario e, denunciato dalla donna che dice di amarlo - ma da cui Yuan si sente quasi imprigionato - viene mandato in esilio per ben sei anni in America, assieme all'altro cugino. Qui studierà e conoscerà la famiglia del suo professore, stringendo una forte amicizia (un amore?) con la figlia dell'uomo.
Yuan ama profondamente la sua Cina, ma in America si rende conto di non conoscerla davvero, di averne vista soltanto una parte, e con gli occhi dell'abitudine. Quando ritorna in patria, però, capisce che ciò che dicevano il missionario cristiano e i giovani cantonesi che ha incontrato in America e contro cui si è scagliato, accusandoli di diffondere idee non vere sulla Cina, non era un'invenzione; solo che lui non si era accorto che altre persone - cinesi o straniere - potevano aver osservato la sua terra da diversi punti di vista. E così impara a farlo anche lui.
Dopo aver conosciuto l'amore ossessivo della giovane rivoluzionaria e quello della figlia del professore americano, Yuan si rende conto che nessuna delle due era la donna adatta a lui, che ha bisogno di una ragazza cinese che, come lui, si trova sospesa tra tradizione e modernità. Solo che, dopo averla trovata, non è detto che lei, da ragazza moderna, sia disposta a rinunciare alla propria carriera per il matrimonio...
November 21, 2025
― “and they looked with coming hatred and with fear upon this young man, saying in their hearts they knew he lied, because they could not believe there was in the whole world a man who would choose an earthen house when he might have a great one.”
― Pearl S. Buck, A House Divided
Author Pearl S. Buck was the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1932) “for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China.” Buck was just four months old when her parents moved to Zhenjiang China as missionaries. After she married, she served as a missionary in China herself. In all, she spent about forty years living in China.
A House Divided is the conclusion to Buck's celebrated Good Earth trilogy, which tells the stories of three generations of the Wang family of China. The trilogy begins with The Good Earth, Buck's powerful portrayal of early twentieth-century China. It follows the rise and fall of his fortunes farmer Wang Lung and his wife O-Lan.
The second book of the trilogy, Sons, follows the lives of Wang Lung's three sons. After Wang Lung’s death, the brothers must deal with their father's estate. The rest of the story focuses on the youngest son, known as Wang the Tiger, who joined the army of a warlord and longs to become a warlord himself.
The concluding book of the trilogy, A House Divided, is the story of Wang Yuan, the grandson of Wang Lung and son of Wang the Tiger. As the Chinese government begins to crack down on growing rebellion in China, Yuan leaves for America to study agriculture. When he returns to China six years later, he discovers that China is still embroiled in revolution. It is a nation in transition, and Yuan finds himself torn between the traditions of the older generation and the new ways of the younger generation. This is also a story of Yuan’s love for the girl Mei-ling.
The different nations and peoples of the world and their cultures fascinate me. I love reading about the different people groups, which has led me to read a number of foreign authors. Although Pearl Buck was an American, she lived in China many years and understood its culture. A House Divided is a vivid portrait of a family and a nation in transition.
Buck’s final work in her trilogy is interesting, but I found it to be the least compelling of the three books. The Good Earth was definitely five-star material, but A House Divided not so much. 3.5 stars rounded up.
― Pearl S. Buck, A House Divided
Author Pearl S. Buck was the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1932) “for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China.” Buck was just four months old when her parents moved to Zhenjiang China as missionaries. After she married, she served as a missionary in China herself. In all, she spent about forty years living in China.
A House Divided is the conclusion to Buck's celebrated Good Earth trilogy, which tells the stories of three generations of the Wang family of China. The trilogy begins with The Good Earth, Buck's powerful portrayal of early twentieth-century China. It follows the rise and fall of his fortunes farmer Wang Lung and his wife O-Lan.
The second book of the trilogy, Sons, follows the lives of Wang Lung's three sons. After Wang Lung’s death, the brothers must deal with their father's estate. The rest of the story focuses on the youngest son, known as Wang the Tiger, who joined the army of a warlord and longs to become a warlord himself.
The concluding book of the trilogy, A House Divided, is the story of Wang Yuan, the grandson of Wang Lung and son of Wang the Tiger. As the Chinese government begins to crack down on growing rebellion in China, Yuan leaves for America to study agriculture. When he returns to China six years later, he discovers that China is still embroiled in revolution. It is a nation in transition, and Yuan finds himself torn between the traditions of the older generation and the new ways of the younger generation. This is also a story of Yuan’s love for the girl Mei-ling.
The different nations and peoples of the world and their cultures fascinate me. I love reading about the different people groups, which has led me to read a number of foreign authors. Although Pearl Buck was an American, she lived in China many years and understood its culture. A House Divided is a vivid portrait of a family and a nation in transition.
Buck’s final work in her trilogy is interesting, but I found it to be the least compelling of the three books. The Good Earth was definitely five-star material, but A House Divided not so much. 3.5 stars rounded up.
February 2, 2015
A House Divided by Pearl S. Buck finishes off this trilogy about turn of the twentieth century China. The Good Earth starts the story with Wang the farmer becoming the father of three sons. Those sons grow up to be a landlord, a merchant, and a warlord, in Sons. They in turn have their own children. The youngest son of Wang the farmer becomes Wang the Tiger who has his own son and daughter. A House Divided follows the son Yuan through the Chinese Revolution.
A House Divided spends a lot of time juxtaposing familiar themes. Old ways fall away in revolution and new ways are introduced. New ways get compared to the old to see if they actually are any better. Industry is compared to agriculture in different times throughout the book. Internationalism butts up against xenophobia. Elite classes rub against the poor and unsightly. A weak government is compared to a militaristic regime. The game of love is displayed against the idea of true attraction. Overall, A House Divided is really about finding balance and a corner that Yuan can call his.
I found A House Divided to be quite enjoyable. I like how, instead of a character progressing through the trilogy, the whole family changes throughout the books. Each book ties solidly to the previous but is fairly capable of standing alone. The plot is a little plodding at times, certainly not what I would call action. My biggest complaint stems from the fact that I read chapter to chapter in a single session if I can. This book is 348 pages and four chapters. There aren’t even obvious stopping points, at least in the kindle edition I was reading. This probably doesn’t help the plodding plot sensation I was having.
This book would be hard to recommend to most people. I feel the plot is too slow to appeal to younger generations but Yuan is too teenager angst ridden to make adults really enjoy it. Idealism and indecision are generally a young person’s game. While I enjoyed it, I’m not certain the mainstream would. There are some poignant and relevant points to be found in the value of relationships that I’m afraid people would miss by skipping this book. I doubt anybody who can read this book would be offended by the content. Somebody who had an overbearing, or violent parent may be sensitive to Yuan’s childhood. Older teens would probably be the youngest possible audience to draw any value from this fine conclusion to the Good Earth trilogy. But if turn of the century Chinese historical fiction is appealing to you, Pearl S. Buck is probably a great choice. She lived in country and loved the people.
A House Divided spends a lot of time juxtaposing familiar themes. Old ways fall away in revolution and new ways are introduced. New ways get compared to the old to see if they actually are any better. Industry is compared to agriculture in different times throughout the book. Internationalism butts up against xenophobia. Elite classes rub against the poor and unsightly. A weak government is compared to a militaristic regime. The game of love is displayed against the idea of true attraction. Overall, A House Divided is really about finding balance and a corner that Yuan can call his.
I found A House Divided to be quite enjoyable. I like how, instead of a character progressing through the trilogy, the whole family changes throughout the books. Each book ties solidly to the previous but is fairly capable of standing alone. The plot is a little plodding at times, certainly not what I would call action. My biggest complaint stems from the fact that I read chapter to chapter in a single session if I can. This book is 348 pages and four chapters. There aren’t even obvious stopping points, at least in the kindle edition I was reading. This probably doesn’t help the plodding plot sensation I was having.
This book would be hard to recommend to most people. I feel the plot is too slow to appeal to younger generations but Yuan is too teenager angst ridden to make adults really enjoy it. Idealism and indecision are generally a young person’s game. While I enjoyed it, I’m not certain the mainstream would. There are some poignant and relevant points to be found in the value of relationships that I’m afraid people would miss by skipping this book. I doubt anybody who can read this book would be offended by the content. Somebody who had an overbearing, or violent parent may be sensitive to Yuan’s childhood. Older teens would probably be the youngest possible audience to draw any value from this fine conclusion to the Good Earth trilogy. But if turn of the century Chinese historical fiction is appealing to you, Pearl S. Buck is probably a great choice. She lived in country and loved the people.
December 20, 2018
I am not sure just how much readers will learn about China and Chinese culture from the Good Earth Trilogy. I do know you will learn a great deal about Pearl Buck, especially in this concluding volume, A House Divided. Buck does manage effectively to conclude the tale of the Wang family in a satisfying way, but she also indulges in her own ideological polemics. All her personal obsessions--mostly subsumed in the first two books--come to the fore in this final work. All the things Buck concerned herself with in private life are made public causes in A House Divided: women's rights, the cultural arrogance of foreign missionaries in China, the plight of foundlings, the intrusion of foreign ideologies, the issue of unbridgeable racial differences, and the impatience of 1930s youth with modernizing China. Little did she realize that this era, the 1920s and 1930s in China, was a Golden Age, in comparison with what was soon to follow: the murderous invasion of Japan in the "new city," Nanking, the civil war, Mao and communism that resulted in famines that would kill tens of millions, a Cultural Revolution that would suppress and seek to destroy independent thought, and a modern day China in the 21st century that has spoiled its land, left it polluted, and is engaging in a technological dystopia that seeks to encroach on free thought and personal independence.
All that would come after Buck's trilogy. For the readers engaged in the "present" of The Good Earth and its sequels, however, there are other changes. This last book displays an altered style of writing for Buck. One that is markedly inferior to the earlier volumes. The rhythm and the syntax of the earlier novels gives way to a shorter, clipped style. Perhaps this was inevitable as Buck moved her characters from an "archaic" age in the first two novels to a modernizing and revolutionary China in this last. Still, A House Divided often suffers in comparison.
At book's end, the final symbol of Mei-Ling and Yuan in the courtyard of the old earthen house probably gives us a last picture of what Buck wanted the new China to be. A place where people are rooted and belong to past traditions. But also a place willing to accept new ideas and seek to better their world through new ways of "seeing" that were dependent on their appropriateness to old China's ways.
All that would come after Buck's trilogy. For the readers engaged in the "present" of The Good Earth and its sequels, however, there are other changes. This last book displays an altered style of writing for Buck. One that is markedly inferior to the earlier volumes. The rhythm and the syntax of the earlier novels gives way to a shorter, clipped style. Perhaps this was inevitable as Buck moved her characters from an "archaic" age in the first two novels to a modernizing and revolutionary China in this last. Still, A House Divided often suffers in comparison.
At book's end, the final symbol of Mei-Ling and Yuan in the courtyard of the old earthen house probably gives us a last picture of what Buck wanted the new China to be. A place where people are rooted and belong to past traditions. But also a place willing to accept new ideas and seek to better their world through new ways of "seeing" that were dependent on their appropriateness to old China's ways.
September 20, 2014
A couple of days ago, I finished reading the novel, A House Divided by Pearl Buck, which was first published in 1935.
I found this literary novel, in which Pearl Buck tells the fictional story of Wang Yuan, son of Tiger, a Chinese war lord. difficult to read due to its style.
In childhood, Yuan feared his father whose sword was never far from his hand. At the age of nineteen Yuan joined the revolutionists, 'who were the enemies of all lords of war such as the Tiger was.' He returns home wearing his uniform. His father is about to kill him " But for the first time in his life the Tiger's son showed the anger he had in him, but which he had never dared to show before his father."
A House Divided reveals the era prior to the Chinese Revolution, as well as Wang Yuan's uncertainties, selective memory and narrow-mindedness.
Although Yuan is arrested for being a revolutionary, he escapes execution after his family bribe the authorities. He is sent to America where he studies agriculture with the hope of one day improving ordinary Chinese people's lives. Seven years later, he returns home.
Pearl Buck tells the reader how Yuan reacts to America and Americans as well as his reactions when he returns to China, where poverty- stricken people's situation, and the upper class's attitude towards them has not changed. Daughter of missionaries Pearl Buck's descriptions of beggars and naked children obviously came from her heart.
A House Divided is not only about the effects of change on Yuan and his family but also about Yuan's divided, uncertain heart.
All in all, I am glad I persevered and read the entire novel because I learned so much about past times.
I found this literary novel, in which Pearl Buck tells the fictional story of Wang Yuan, son of Tiger, a Chinese war lord. difficult to read due to its style.
In childhood, Yuan feared his father whose sword was never far from his hand. At the age of nineteen Yuan joined the revolutionists, 'who were the enemies of all lords of war such as the Tiger was.' He returns home wearing his uniform. His father is about to kill him " But for the first time in his life the Tiger's son showed the anger he had in him, but which he had never dared to show before his father."
A House Divided reveals the era prior to the Chinese Revolution, as well as Wang Yuan's uncertainties, selective memory and narrow-mindedness.
Although Yuan is arrested for being a revolutionary, he escapes execution after his family bribe the authorities. He is sent to America where he studies agriculture with the hope of one day improving ordinary Chinese people's lives. Seven years later, he returns home.
Pearl Buck tells the reader how Yuan reacts to America and Americans as well as his reactions when he returns to China, where poverty- stricken people's situation, and the upper class's attitude towards them has not changed. Daughter of missionaries Pearl Buck's descriptions of beggars and naked children obviously came from her heart.
A House Divided is not only about the effects of change on Yuan and his family but also about Yuan's divided, uncertain heart.
All in all, I am glad I persevered and read the entire novel because I learned so much about past times.
February 26, 2012
A House Divided is the third novel in the trilogy. In almost all Pearl's novels, there is the contrast of the East and the West. Then there comes the comparison of the different generations. The themes of the book are relevant today in that our culture, ideas, lifestyles, and the influence and relationships with our children, effect their lives and influence future choices.
This book mainly concentrates on the son of Wang the Tiger (and the grandson of the original Wang) but it does reveal a bit here and there of the three sons of Wang. Wang the Landlord and Wang the Merchant come across as spoiled even though they grew up on the farm and didn't get really rich until their adulthood.
In this book, the Revolution is in full swing and it was interesting to see Wang's grandson deal with life in America. You can't help but feel sorry for poor Wang the Tiger after all he'd been through and what he did for his son to ensure the future of the son he loved. While 'The Good Earth' remains the best book in the trilogy - and one of Pearl's best works overall - 'A House Divided' is a very good book in itself and is a definite must for any Pearl Buck fan.
This book mainly concentrates on the son of Wang the Tiger (and the grandson of the original Wang) but it does reveal a bit here and there of the three sons of Wang. Wang the Landlord and Wang the Merchant come across as spoiled even though they grew up on the farm and didn't get really rich until their adulthood.
In this book, the Revolution is in full swing and it was interesting to see Wang's grandson deal with life in America. You can't help but feel sorry for poor Wang the Tiger after all he'd been through and what he did for his son to ensure the future of the son he loved. While 'The Good Earth' remains the best book in the trilogy - and one of Pearl's best works overall - 'A House Divided' is a very good book in itself and is a definite must for any Pearl Buck fan.
July 16, 2021
I think A House Divided Is the best of the 3 book series. It captures the complex picture of the country of China in the midst of change as it impacts the main character of the book. After 19 years in a traditional country he goes to a foreign country for education for six years and then returns to China as it is undergoing major changes. He struggles with his upbringing with traditional values in a country that is undergoing a cultural revolution.
Although the book was published in 1935 and is set in the decades prior to then, the book seems timeless in many ways. The struggle of characters to adapt psychologically to new thinking is dramatically portrayed. And in a strange way the main character ends up respecting the old values in some unexpectedly traditional ways. His feelings about his father ratchet between hatred and unconditional love. And his own personal search for love and a relationship with a woman is extraordinarily complex. Many of the characters in the book struggle between the old and the new and come to some unexpected compromises.
The author pearl buck graduated from college in the town where I live. This brings a personal reality to the book although she graduated from Randolph Macon women’s college in 1914 when life here must’ve been very different.
Although the book was published in 1935 and is set in the decades prior to then, the book seems timeless in many ways. The struggle of characters to adapt psychologically to new thinking is dramatically portrayed. And in a strange way the main character ends up respecting the old values in some unexpectedly traditional ways. His feelings about his father ratchet between hatred and unconditional love. And his own personal search for love and a relationship with a woman is extraordinarily complex. Many of the characters in the book struggle between the old and the new and come to some unexpected compromises.
The author pearl buck graduated from college in the town where I live. This brings a personal reality to the book although she graduated from Randolph Macon women’s college in 1914 when life here must’ve been very different.
October 11, 2012
Overall, a pretty satisfying end to an excellent series by Pearl Buck. Book III of the Good Earth trilogy focuses primarily on Yuan, with his cousins taking minor roles in this one. The themes of this book center around the new versus the old (since some of the book is set during the Chinese revolution) rich versus poor, and foreign versus national. Buck does a nice job of setting up these conflicts and asking the right questions about how to resolve them while depicting that there are no easy answers. In my opinion, the book's only shortcoming was at that times, Yuan became melodramatic over his situation, which made some of the scenes over the top and took away from both the strength and the flow of the story. Nevertheless, Buck does a nice job developing the characters and taking the family that started in The Good Earth to a satisfying ending.
I highly recommend this series.
I highly recommend this series.
August 11, 2017
Pearl Buck Nobel Prize Winner
Truly enjoyed following the life of a poor Chinese farmer who worked hard beside his strong and supportive wife to create great wealth in The Good Earth. The story sheds much light on Chinese History and the changing roles women faced as time marched forward. There is much irony in the story as the children's children forget where they came from and embrace "foreign ways".
Truly enjoyed following the life of a poor Chinese farmer who worked hard beside his strong and supportive wife to create great wealth in The Good Earth. The story sheds much light on Chinese History and the changing roles women faced as time marched forward. There is much irony in the story as the children's children forget where they came from and embrace "foreign ways".
February 14, 2009
It was hard to stay focused. I had to finish it but I was bored by the time I got to the end.
July 19, 2025
"A House Divided" is the final volume of the "House of Earth" which is a family history that tells the story of three generations of Chinese family starting in the 1860's and finishing in the 1920's.
"The Good Earth", the first volume, deals with rural poverty. "Sons" is about the warlord class in China during the era in which they fought a protracted war against Chiang Kai-Shek and his Nationalist Party for control of China. "A House Divided" describes the intellectual conflicts within the Chinese merchant class as the fighting between the Nationalists and the warlords continued.
Wang Yuan the protagonist is a rather abject character. He first rebels against his warlord father and joins the army of Chang Kai-Shek which Buck refers to as the "Revolutionary Army".
Buck never uses the word "Nationalist" nor does she ever specifically mention Chiang Kai-Shek. I can thing of several good reasons why Buck chooses not to mention specific individuals and political organizations but have to way to say what in fact they were. She also never mentions the fact that the Communist party was active in China at the time. Finally, she does not refer at any time to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria which started in 1931 (the year that "The Good Earth" was published) and which she would have been aware of while writing the second two volumes in the series.
The problem with Wang Yuan is that he cannot commit to anything. He rebels against his warlord father, flees the family home and begins training with the "Revolutionary Army". However, he deserts when he thinks that he is about to be sent into combat against the warlords. Wang Yuan bends with the wind at every turn. His political ideas change constantly depending on what his friends and pretty women in his entourage endorse.
He falls in love with a pretty cousin Ailan on several occasions. Ailan is frivolous and to her being a modern woman means simply choose her own husband and not letting her parents decide for her. Wang Yuan also loves Meiling, a foundling raised by his mother. Wang however wants her to be a housewife with no career. For reasons not clear to the reader Meiling finally decides to join her life to the indecisive Wang Yuan. She does however make it clear that she will continue in her profession.
Although the main protagonist fails to engage the sympathy of the reader, the book is nonetheless full of very interesting passages. I particularly enjoyed a conversation between Wang Yuan and his cousin Meng who had committed very early in the novel to the Revolutionary cause and had risen to the position of captaincy in the Revolutionary Army. Late in the novel Meng confides to Wang Yuan that he had not been paid for several months because his General had kept the money to spend on for his personal pleasures. Unfortunately, not many members of the American State Department seem to have read Buck's book. After Mao Tse-Tung came to power they all complained that the money that the American government had given to Chiang Kai-Shek to pay this soldiers had in most cases been embezzled by Chiang Kai-Shek's generals.
"A House Divided" provides a satisfactory conclusion to the "House of Earth" trilogy which is much greater than the sum of its parts. The appeal of the trilogy is to the reader who is highly interested in the history of China.
"The Good Earth", the first volume, deals with rural poverty. "Sons" is about the warlord class in China during the era in which they fought a protracted war against Chiang Kai-Shek and his Nationalist Party for control of China. "A House Divided" describes the intellectual conflicts within the Chinese merchant class as the fighting between the Nationalists and the warlords continued.
Wang Yuan the protagonist is a rather abject character. He first rebels against his warlord father and joins the army of Chang Kai-Shek which Buck refers to as the "Revolutionary Army".
Buck never uses the word "Nationalist" nor does she ever specifically mention Chiang Kai-Shek. I can thing of several good reasons why Buck chooses not to mention specific individuals and political organizations but have to way to say what in fact they were. She also never mentions the fact that the Communist party was active in China at the time. Finally, she does not refer at any time to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria which started in 1931 (the year that "The Good Earth" was published) and which she would have been aware of while writing the second two volumes in the series.
The problem with Wang Yuan is that he cannot commit to anything. He rebels against his warlord father, flees the family home and begins training with the "Revolutionary Army". However, he deserts when he thinks that he is about to be sent into combat against the warlords. Wang Yuan bends with the wind at every turn. His political ideas change constantly depending on what his friends and pretty women in his entourage endorse.
He falls in love with a pretty cousin Ailan on several occasions. Ailan is frivolous and to her being a modern woman means simply choose her own husband and not letting her parents decide for her. Wang Yuan also loves Meiling, a foundling raised by his mother. Wang however wants her to be a housewife with no career. For reasons not clear to the reader Meiling finally decides to join her life to the indecisive Wang Yuan. She does however make it clear that she will continue in her profession.
Although the main protagonist fails to engage the sympathy of the reader, the book is nonetheless full of very interesting passages. I particularly enjoyed a conversation between Wang Yuan and his cousin Meng who had committed very early in the novel to the Revolutionary cause and had risen to the position of captaincy in the Revolutionary Army. Late in the novel Meng confides to Wang Yuan that he had not been paid for several months because his General had kept the money to spend on for his personal pleasures. Unfortunately, not many members of the American State Department seem to have read Buck's book. After Mao Tse-Tung came to power they all complained that the money that the American government had given to Chiang Kai-Shek to pay this soldiers had in most cases been embezzled by Chiang Kai-Shek's generals.
"A House Divided" provides a satisfactory conclusion to the "House of Earth" trilogy which is much greater than the sum of its parts. The appeal of the trilogy is to the reader who is highly interested in the history of China.
August 19, 2014
I liked this book much better than the second one, although you can understand this book better if you have read Sons. In this final part of the trilogy, the main character studies abroad, and faces all the problems that any ex-pat faces while abroad and then readjusting back home. Yuan's love-hate relationships with both his native country and the country of his sojourn are very convincing, and make a very eloquent answer to the critiques that some Chinese intellectuals made of The Good Earth (i.e. arguing that they had never seen the kind of poverty she described so she must have made it up). While the novel is grounded in the specifics of revolutionary China, it is not so specific as to have no relevance today. I can imagine young men from the developing world today having similar mixed feelings of resentment and admiration while studying abroad in the US. Although on one level the novel has a happy ending, on another level Buck is honest about the difficulties of resolving the tensions between new and old, and creating meaningful social change. Near the end of the book comes a line like "the poor are always with us" that brings us back to a similar line in The Good Earth.
March 3, 2011
Dibandingkan dua buku sebelumnya,The Goodearth dan Son, menurut saya lebih bagus yang sebelumnya.Jika diurut,sesuai dengan serial buku ini,paling bagus adalah yang no.1 menyusul 2 dan 3.Pada buku ke 3 ini lebih banyak bercerita tentang pergolakan batin Yuan, cucu Wang Lung,tokoh sentral dinasti Wang dari Wang Si Macan.Pergolakan yg sejalan dengan perubahan2 yg terjadi di China,dan perubahan diseluruh dunia. Perubahan politik dan kultur yang luarbiasa..Tetap menarik,tetap ingin menuntaskan buku ini,penasaran bagaimana akhirnya.Akhir yang tragis,menyedihkan membayangkan seorg panglima perang yg gagah berani pada masa tuanya hidup sendiri di istana yang usang,jauh dari keluarga,ditinggalkan isteri dan anak2,namun hebatnya masih menafkahi mereka semua yg hidup bermewah2 bahkan menyekolahkan Wang Lung hingga keluar negeri..akhirnya selesai juga dibaca trilogi ini,dari buku 1 yg aku baca di akhir tahun 2008,baru selesai semua Maret 2011..TERLALU..bukan karena tidak bagus,2 hari kelar bacanya,alasan pertama,mungkin karena buku lama susah nyarinya,ke dua diselingi buku2 lain..sayang soalnya ntar buku2 bagus abis dibaca semua..:)..alasan yg aneh..
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June 27, 2011I read this book before I know there are 2 other books before it... at first I was a bit confuse because suddenly Yuan bump into his father and they were arguing... but after all this book is a really nice book, I can't stop myself read it till the end. somehow I know what Yuan feels, he was mad at his country, but he love it with all his heart. he lived in a hard time, when revolution started in China. he loves his father with his own way. well I guess all fathers just like that, love their children in their own way, sometimes it's too much and burden their child. this book really show you two sides of life in china back then. a glamorous life of wealthy families in a big city, all with their love to western culture that brought to China by the newcomers, and a conservative life in the village. I can feel the passion, the situation, and what I love the most is the ending, it has a bit sad ending(because his father died) but still happy.
December 12, 2022
Final book in this series set in China near the revolution. I didn't like Sons as much as The Good Earth as it was from a variety of viewpoints. This book returned to a singular point of view which was a nice arc to observe and less disjointed.
Light spoilers coming. It was interesting to see how the grandson came full circle and in a way returned to the way of thinking of his grandfather. I felt the grandson was quite similar (and of course also had his differences) to his grandfather whereas the sons were all wildly different. I think this is what Buck was trying to show in her writing with writing about each son in the second book.
I read The Good Earth as a young person and didn't know it was part of a series, so it was nice to revisit + read all three and close out the story. I am an acupuncturist and studied a bit of Chinese culture and history (not as in depth as other folks!) so it is always interesting to me to read stories about China.
Light spoilers coming. It was interesting to see how the grandson came full circle and in a way returned to the way of thinking of his grandfather. I felt the grandson was quite similar (and of course also had his differences) to his grandfather whereas the sons were all wildly different. I think this is what Buck was trying to show in her writing with writing about each son in the second book.
I read The Good Earth as a young person and didn't know it was part of a series, so it was nice to revisit + read all three and close out the story. I am an acupuncturist and studied a bit of Chinese culture and history (not as in depth as other folks!) so it is always interesting to me to read stories about China.
September 30, 2012
Well, I finished reading the third volume in the Good Earth Trilogy and continue it celebrate the author's insights, building characters identity and interweaving the three/four generations of one family. There was much to follow but completely worth the reading time. The books, and this one in particular, highlighted the political issues in China that surfaced, went underground and then resurfaced again. Youth who joined the revolutions took up causes that their grandparents fought for. Along with these insights were the changes in youth from generation to another. Amazing! It's wonderful to read historical novels that offer such fresh insights into a country's evolution.
January 20, 2015
This was my favorite book of the "House of Earth" trilogy. I loved the characters: Sheng, the elegant, handsome young poet, who loves art and everything beautiful; a hedonist, and the most honest and unconflicted of the family. There's Wang the Tiger, a once fierce warlord, struggling to maintain power and dignity in a now defunct world, and whose most prized possession, until the end, is his beautifully decorated sword. An image that will stay with me is that of old Wang the Landlord, a lifelong philanderer, now tamed by age, sitting in his gardens surrounded by his miniature picture collection of beautiful women.
May 13, 2016
What a wonderful end to a wonderful trilogy. Through the eyes of this one family we have seen them go from poverty to riches and power to not quite poverty again. We have seen them go develop their opinion on the common man, from being one of them and hating the rich to being rich and looking down on the poor. This trilogy with its rich variety of beautifully packaged characters provides a intimate view of China as it left feudalism and empire into revolution and re-revolution. This is a must read on any list of "100 Must Reads".
May 17, 2019
Yuan is the grandson of the noble Wang Lung who toils upon the earth and brings his family from poverty into good fortune through guile and unexpected circumstance in The Good Earth. He is the beloved son of Wang the Tiger, Lord of War whose fortunes and downfalls are expressed in Sons. Yuan hates violence and loves beauty. He repels bloodshed and clutches his books fervently as he searches for a better world abroad, away from his homeland; but eventually it calls him back once more and he rediscovers the good earth; and more besides.
August 20, 2020
Would not recommend
I’ve read several of the author’s other books and this doesn’t even compare. The main character is a whiny, immature young man who consistently — throughout the ENTIRE book — says he hates another person, then doesn’t hate them, then hates them, and on and on — and then goes through the same back-and-forth with the next character, and the next, and the next. I couldn’t wait for this book to be done. Rarely have I ever disliked a main character so much.
I’ve read several of the author’s other books and this doesn’t even compare. The main character is a whiny, immature young man who consistently — throughout the ENTIRE book — says he hates another person, then doesn’t hate them, then hates them, and on and on — and then goes through the same back-and-forth with the next character, and the next, and the next. I couldn’t wait for this book to be done. Rarely have I ever disliked a main character so much.
January 12, 2018
The last book of the trilogy, which I think is worth going through even though it's the first book that's really the classic. The book follows the grandson of Wang the Farmer, and the son of Wang the Tiger (the general), who was raised to be a general but decides to abandon that and return to the land. He ends up in a city anyway (probably Nanjing), gets an education, becomes a revolutionary (probably a Nationalist), hides in America for a while (probably California) and returns to become a teacher. As usual, Buck avoids name and places, but the time period is the 20's and 30's, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty and before the Communst Revolution. Buck is concerned with how people and societies undergo chage, and how it affects them emotionally as the years wear on. She's great at it, but ultimately held back that her protagonist is a sexist, racist jerk. Yuan's idea of "living free" is living a life free of social, economic, political, or familial responsibility. He expects poor people to serve him and relatives to pay for all of his things. He hates old people because their ideas are old, he hates poor people because they smell, he hates foreigners because they're lower than him, and he especially hates women because he doesn't want to be tied down by marriage, then gets mad when they refuse to marry him. He never really rises to any situation, but is just less terrible than some of the people around him, which is a disappointing note to end on.
February 14, 2022
This is the third book in Pearl Buck’s trilogy that started with “The Good Earth”. Wang Yuen is the third generation of the family of the peasant Wang Lung. The three books span a momentous period in Chinese history – from the 1911 revolution against the imperium, to the years battling local warlords, to the genesis and ascension of the Communist party.
In “The Good Earth”, Wang Lung begins as a peasant but ends his life as a wealthy landowner. His three sons inherit that wealth and become, respectively, an indolent landlord, a merchant, and a war lord. In “A House Divided”, the grandson, Yuen, is the son of the warlord. His life is conflicted. He loves the land and farming, much as his grandfather did, but is educated in the United State and is repulsed by the poor of China. In the end, he accepts himself as he is, with both traditional and modern attitudes.
The book is written in the same simple style of the last three books – short sentences and words without contractions. This creates a unique mood and fits well with the straightforward narrative. “A House Divided” is an engrossing story that is easy to listen to, but one that provides an historical perspective and insight into the culture of its times.
In “The Good Earth”, Wang Lung begins as a peasant but ends his life as a wealthy landowner. His three sons inherit that wealth and become, respectively, an indolent landlord, a merchant, and a war lord. In “A House Divided”, the grandson, Yuen, is the son of the warlord. His life is conflicted. He loves the land and farming, much as his grandfather did, but is educated in the United State and is repulsed by the poor of China. In the end, he accepts himself as he is, with both traditional and modern attitudes.
The book is written in the same simple style of the last three books – short sentences and words without contractions. This creates a unique mood and fits well with the straightforward narrative. “A House Divided” is an engrossing story that is easy to listen to, but one that provides an historical perspective and insight into the culture of its times.
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