Stirpe di drago

by Pearl S. Buck, Giorgio Monicelli (Translator)

Fedele al mondo della sua giovinezza, la Cina, Pearl S. Buck narra la vicenda di una comunità di contadini che resiste alle violenze degli invasori giapponesi, forte della dignità e della saggezza di cui i suoi membri sono stati testimoni e interpreti nei secoli. Improntata a un positivo realismo, la vicenda è addolcita dalla sensibilità con la quale l’autrice accosta e descrive la patriarcale esistenza del popolo minuto. La storia di Lin Tang e della sua famiglia ne costituisce il tema centrale, che s’intreccia con quello di una giovane coppia, sorretta - pur attraverso gli orrori della guerra - dalla fiducia nella vita, nelle tradizioni. Il romanzo è, contemporaneamente, un grande affresco di vita sociale e un appassionante racconto di amori umanissimi ed eroici.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, China, Classics, Asia, War, Historical

437 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

Pearl 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.

Reviews

[Ajeje Brazov · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Stirpe di drago", racconta l'epopea di Ling Tan e la sua famiglia di campagna, nella Cina, negli anni del Secondo Conflitto Mondiale.

Per i cinesi il drago non è una creatura malefica ma un dio amico degli uomini che lo venerano. Esso "hai in suo potere la prosperità e la pace". Reggitor delle acque e dei venti, manda la buona pioggia ed è pertanto simbolo della fecondità. Nella dinastia Hsia due draghi si batterono in un terribile duello fino a scomparire entrambi, lasciando solo una fertile schiuma, da cui sorse la progenie Hsia. E così i draghi finirono per essere cosiderati i capostipiti di una razza di eroi.

Siamo negli anni '30 del Novecento, in Cina, in un villaggio nella campagna e vediamo lo scorrere del romanzo attraverso gli occhi ed i cuori, di Ling Tan e la sua famiglia. Tutto procede nella normalità, fatta di regole ferree tradizionali, fino a quando arrivano gli invasori venuti dall'Oceano Orientale. Così chiamavano e conoscevano i Giapponesi quella popolazione contadina cinese. Così la quotidianità di quella gente di campagna, viene sconvolta da quest'invasore sconosciuto, violento e crudele. Man mano che si prosegue col racconto e le crudeltà, effettuate dagli invasori, diventano sempre più efferate, inimmaginabili, la povera gente oppressa ed invasa arriverà a chiamare gli invasori: demòni!

Primo approccio con la scrittrice premio Nobel per la letturatura nel 1938 e subito dalle prime pagine ne sono rimasto sbalordito, per la capacità di raccontare la guerra con una schiettezza tale da rimanerne colpiti, ma ancor di più per infondere, nella sua scrittura, una delicatezza e una dolcezza così particolare.
Quando si legge, si ha davanti agli occhi e si condivide, come esser lì con i protagonisti, tutto ciò che viene raccontato, senza per questo spremersi le meningi perchè ciò avvenga, questo vuol dire soltanto che il libro è magico, nel senso che, per me, l'autrice è riuscita a toccare le corde giuste.

...gli antenati avevano insegnato loro che nessun uomo onesto avrebbe mai voluto fare il soldato e che il guerriero era il più basso degli uomini e perciò indegno di rispetto...

Noi tutti, uomini pacifici e ragionevoli, tanto qui, sulla parte superiore della terra quanto quelli che penzolano, a testa in giù, dall'altra parte, dovremmo confederarci a rendere la vita impossibile a chiunque volesse scatenare la guerra.

[Chrissie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are so many reasons why I should have liked this more than I did.

The book was published in 1941. The Second World War had not yet ended. The Nanjing Massacre and the subsequent occupation by the Japanese is the central theme of the book. In 1948 the International Military Tribunal for the Far East estimated that over 200,000 Chinese were killed in the six weeks of the massacre, beginning on December 13, 1937 when the Japanese captured Nanjing. Other estimates set the death toll to 350,000. Japanese occupation and atrocities continued for more than seven years. Think about that. Even today the Japanese do not admit guilt for past actions.

The plot follows a farm family in rural China, near Nanjing. The events are hard to read despite the fact that Pearl S. Buck's writing is not graphic. Old traditions, obligatory respect for elders, illiteracy and male dominance are the rule. I was impressed by Buck's knowledge of the massacre, given the date of the book's publication. Other much more recent books cite events that are mentioned here in this early book by Buck (1892-1973). Born to American missionaries, she spent much of her life before the age of 40 in China. In 1935 she returned to the US, but continued to write and support women’s rights and Asian cultures. As a book of historical fiction, it certainly captures the Chinese way of life outside of the cities. It helps to know the author to know what to expect from the book. Women are strong and there is respect for the Chinese culture. The expansion of communism is not covered.

However, I did not love the book. I felt that The Good Earth, for which Buck won the Pulitzer fin 1932 and subsequently the Nobel Prize in 1938, has better lines. Her love of the land is more vivid in the earlier book. There, some of the lines almost read as poetry. Here, in Dragon Seed, Buck has a message to deliver. In both books the style is simplistic, which I like, but tied with Buck’s clear attempt to deliver a message of the atrocities taking place the text takes on the tone of a school lecture. I saw the forefinger pointed over and over again. She wants us to understand certain things and in making her point crystal clear the beauty of her simple lines is lost. She speaks of love and family and morals. She speaks of the importance of tilling the land. Ownership is not by deed but rather to he who cares for the land. However, I felt I was being lectured. I felt as though I was being told a story, rather than experiencing it. I never felt close to any of the characters.

I became acquainted with Buck’s views in her earlier book and I have read quite a bit about the Nanjing massacre, so I simply didn’t get as much from this one. I highly recommend Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking. In 2004 this author committed suicide most probably due to the pressure put on her in Japan. Chang’s book is non-fiction. Buck’s is historical fiction. Both are informative. Both are difficult to read, but Buck’s is wider. You get love affairs and family relationships. There was too much coincidental in the fictive story for my taste.

Just one word of warning, if you cannot deal with the reality of the massacre, rape and torture, you might as well just skip the book, but I feel that is very wrong. It is everyone’s duty to be informed of the Nanjing Massacre.

The audiobook narration by Adam Verner was simple to follow.

[Fred Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a grand novel to start the year with.

Characters:

Ling Tan father
Lao Er, 2nd son, Jade wife with child
Ling Sao mother and Ling Tan’s wife
Wu Lien husband of eldest daughter
Orchid married to eldest son
Pansiao youngest daughter
Lao Ta eldest son
Mr. Wei, Mayli daughter to marry youngest son, Lao San

This is the story of Ling Tan, a farmer in bucolic China working the land of his forefathers and providing a home for his sons, daughters and grandchildren. The land and family were everything to him. Then the enemy invaded his country and tried to take it all away. There was murder, rape and theft and devastation left in the wake of the cruel warring enemy soldiers. Many in the world today will recognize and/or relate to Ling Tan’s plight.

There is warmth, caring, and fierce devotion in Buck’s characters. While reading, I immersed myself into the story and looked forward to the next page and chapter. I loved the life Ling Tan was living and and his determination to keep his land and protect his family. I rate this book 5 stars and highly recommend it. It is one I will read again in time.

Pearl S. Buck is no longer with us, but her words are as moving as when she wrote them. She spent much of her life as a child with her missionary parents in China, and the time during her first marriage was also spent in country. Most of her writing, both fiction and non, were about the peasant farmers of China. Eventually she became an advocate for China against Japan after Japan invaded China before WW II, and was influential in turning America against Japan. She received the Pulitzer prize for “The Good Earth” and the Nobel prize for literature for her body of works.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some time, I've wondered what it was like for farmers and people who lived in remote areas during times of warfare. While major battles were fought in cities and large armies tore each other apart, what did these other people experience? How did the war affect them?

Pearl S Buck writes about this exact situation in the context of the Japanese invasion of China during the 1930s. She focuses on one family, the Lings, who have long lived on their land and have known peace and prosperity for many decades, and writes about their lives during peace time and the many terrible trials they endure after the invading army arrives and takes over the nearby town.

I found this book remarkable. Buck writes prose that conveys a pastoral perspective of the world, and the resulting narrative is clear and a great pleasure to read. She develops different members of the Ling family through scenes that follow a progression that feels natural. In short time, I grew very attached to this family, and each time I picked up the book, I was soon lost to it. In fact, I did much of my reading on the subway, and I was so immersed that I never once suffered distractions from other passengers.

If I have one criticism, it is that Buck--after allowing events to transpire in such a way that her authorial hand was barely apparent--packs numerous big happenings into the final 30 pages and suggests moments of coincidence convenient to a tidy ending. This turn saddened me--until I reached the final chapter, which slowed everything down and returned us to our first character, Ling Tan, the father, and drew him to a final scene that left my heart full of a graceful sentiment that will long remain in me. This is a beautiful and wonderful novel.

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ling Tan is a Chinese farmer living with his extended family and working the land outside a nearby city (which is never named but obviously is Nanking). The novel starts with their peaceful life, which is then interrupted by war. The peasants had never seen airplanes and bombs, and they are plunged into a violent world. The invading troops demand their livestock and harvested crops, and the family hides several pigs in a remote location to avoid handing them over. Hardships become a regular part of life, and atrocities are perpetrated by the invaders, leaving the people to try to understand what is happening and what they can do about it. Some flee the area, others seek shelter in a Christian mission, others join the resistance, and a few become collaborators.

Published in 1941, this book describes the invasion of China by the Japanese in 1937, and specifically, the Rape of Nanking. The location names are never mentioned, and the invaders are called the East Ocean people. Buck writes in such a way that the reader understands the atrocities being committed without describing them in brutal detail. It brings attention to the need for western support for China. Buck lived in China as a child with her missionary parents, and with her first husband, and her empathy for the people shows in her writing. Toward the end of the story, there are a few romance-related segments that I found a bit far-fetched, but this is definitely a historical novel worth reading.

[Viktor Stoyanov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Наченах да слушам 2 книги на Pearl S. Buck. Тя е писала основно историческа проза, ситуирана в Китай, първата половина на XX век. Изследва живота на обикновените семейства, традициите и как всяка от новостите на века се приема. Тази книга конкретно е за японската инвазия през ВСВ и проследява съдбините на типично фермерско семейство и като цяло на общността им.

Голяма трансформация преживяват героите. От:
"Трябва само да не се съпротивлявам. А това всъщност е лесно за човек като мен".
До измислянето на всевъзможно начини за противоборство срещу врага и неговата окупационна власт. Като например сервирането на 2 патици пропити с отрова по случай пиршество за годишнината от инвазията.

Има ги запомнящите моменти от бита, чрез които научаваме местните порядки. Преди инвазията, един от синовете ходи на пазара в града да продава яйца. Търговецът му дава 1 пени по-малко. Той не му казва нищо, приема и продължава. Следващия път в яйцата слага 3 развалени - равностойността на 1 пени. Така никой от двамата не се ядосва, а се разбират без думи, без разправии. Справедливостта е възстановена.

Засегната е темата за грамотността. Осъзнаването, че хората на новото време ще трябва да са учени, книжовни. Личи си изостаналостта на региона спр��мо Западния свят (и Япония). Когато навлизат самолети, за местните те са летящи кораби и ги гледат с почуда. Оръжията на фермерите са никакви - стари мечове в най-добрия случай. Врагът е представен винаги като зъл и нисък. Китайците са представени като носещи своето достойнство на първо място. И разбира се, лулата си с опиум на второ ...

Не мога да се обвържа с преценка, доколко е 100% достоверна представената ни картина, все пак авторката не е китайка. Стилът ѝ е силно изчистен и мога да си представя защо се е харесал на критиката. Мисля ще допадне и на немалка част от съвременните читатели.
3.5

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pearl S. Buck writes this story of the invasion of China by the Japanese during WWII from the viewpoint of the peasant farmers outside Nanking. The city is never named and the Japanese are simply called the East-Ocean people.

The language of the book is simple, as if coming from the lips of a Chinese farmer. But the thoughts and feelings are beautifully expressed. Some parts of the book are hard to read, but told without today's graphic descriptions. Don't expect today's liberated women because this is the traditional Chinese culture. But these are strong women in their own way. Because the book was originally published in 1941 the war was far from over but the book ends with hope.

[Joanna]

Very few books have the sort of impact that this one does. I've read it at least 3 times and while I am a huge Pearl S. Buck fan and have read more than a dozen of her novels (by the way, she wrote her Asian novels first in Chinese, they had to be translated to English, which explains their authenticity!), I ALWAYS recommend this one first, over "The Good Earth." It's short, but powerful, and despite the horrors of the war which are addressed, it is an inpiration to read.

[Annalisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

L’orizzonte delle letture della mia prima adolescenza era principalmente costituito dalla biblioteca di casa, messa insieme soprattutto da mia madre, con bestseller della generazione precedente, tra cui diversi titoli della premio Nobel 1938 Pearl Buck. Oggi ne ho però pallidi ricordi (sia pure con immagini indelebili come la fasciatura dei piedi delle donne o il taglio del codino degli uomini) per cui da tempo volevo recuperare qualche titolo, magari con una traduzione più moderna.
Si tratta di un romanzo storico al cui centro le vicende della famiglia di Ling Tan e Ling Sao, contadini di un piccolo villaggio, visceralmente legati alla loro terra, travolti dalla invasione giapponese (sullo sfondo la cadut probabilmente di Nanchino) e dalla violenza della guerra. Spiccano nella narrazione soprattutto i personaggi femminili, non ancora emancipati nella società, ma che costituire la vera ossatura della famiglia e compiono scelte coraggiose e cruciali. Ognuna ha una propria individualità ben descritta e costruita con maestria tale da risultare non facilmente dimenticabile. Tra gli aspetti che ho più apprezzato la narrazione che ha un sapore solenne, quasi fuori dal tempo, nella sua semplicità e delicatezza, e che rimanda alla cultura millenaria cinese, costituita, per quanto ne sappiamo noi da questa parte di mondo, da un’etica salda, legata alla terra, alla famiglia e all’onore, cristallizzata in relazioni gerarchiche che stentano a modificarsi.
Non un romanzo perfetto, segnato, a mio modo di vedere, da una parte finale un po’ frettolosa e un filo retorica, tuttavia una storia dal respiro epico.
Si avvertono il fermo rifiuto della guerra e della violenza che ad essa si accompagna, che scardina i rapporti umani e sociali, oltre che la condanna della cultura militarista del nemico, anche se la condanna più decisa è soprattutto legata ai singoli perché le responsabilità sono sempre individuali e raramente ci sono eccezioni.

[Hoora · Rating 4 out of 5]

نسل اژدها روایت یک خانواده روستایی است که بیشتر در زمینه کشاورزی فعالیت می کنند. با شروع جنگ جهانی دوم و اشغال چین، زندگی این خانواده و سایر اهالی روستا دچار تغییر و آشوب می شود. و نویسنده ضمن روایت زندگی روزمره و شخصی اعضای این خانواده و بیان مبارزات مردمی و مخفیانه ساکنان چین، قحطی و گرسنگی، خیانت، فساد و فحشا و سایر تبعات منفی جنگ را به خوبی شرح می دهد...

[Suzanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this will never be one of my all time favorites, especially in comparison to Buck's The Good Earth, it was a worthy book. I did not like the ending of it, as it was somewhat anticlimactic, and felt as though with the many facets of the novel in place, something still needed to be said on certain fronts. However, there were things I did love about this book.

I love Pearl Buck's style of writing, and this book was certainly in keeping with her usual work. She has a simple, storyteller's voice, which is straightforward and direct, but at the same time has many layers. There is a hidden complexity that I thoroughly enjoy.

This novel traces a simple family's life throughout war in their homeland. The family that is central to the novel is endearing, interesting, and charms the reader into caring for them, and I much enjoyed these characters. I also loved Buck's way of looking at this family; I loved how this one family embodied many views of people in wartime, and how this family is just like any other in many ways. The author has a delightful manner of expressing certain universal truths about gender, family, government, leadership, power, and life in general.

I do want to say how much I appreciated the author's manner of dealing with war. While she didn't mince words, she was not indulgent. The atrocities of war, the ugliness and horrors, are all there. Those things which happened, in particular what happened in China in WWII, are addressed in a manner which is understandable, digestible, and never sugarcoated. She shows us the abominable suffering the Chinese people have endured, and how some managed to survive. It also explains, in a manner, how the foundation is lain for certain communist leadership to take over.

I have read a number of books on the subject of this war, and I can say that this was easily the least indulgent as far as gore and violence. Buck has a way of phrasing things that makes it clear what is happening, is disturbing, but does not go so far as to give the reader nightmares. But the subject matter made it difficult for me to want to read more than a few pages at a time in some parts (a situation aggravated by my own busyness and off and on illness during this read, so this one took me quite a while).

I notice other Goodreads readers find the directness of the author on the horrors of the war too much for them to bear. The cruelty of the Japanese soldiers during this war was beyond, beyond.... Any book of any sort dealing with this war, and with what happened to the Chinese people, would be doing an injustice by any less than what Pearl Buck has explained in this book.

Even though I did not love this book in the sense that it is a favorite - I can't say I loved, loved, loved the story-line or couldn't put the book down, and I can't say this is even one of Buck's best works in my opinion - I think anyone with a desire to understand this segment of world history would find this a worthwhile read. It is also an interesting novel relating to family and relationships.

I would also recommend The Rape of Nanking as a companion book, to read before or after, but probably not at the same time or back to back, as this latter is nonfiction, and is extremely powerful and explicit.

[arcobaleno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il padre del padre di Ling Tan...
...ai suoi tempi aveva una volta scavato molto profondamente una fossa per il proprio padre e trovato un piccolo drago d'oro...*

La scrittura di Pearl S. Buck è naturale e tranquilla. Per me è stato un piacere leggerla. Si adatta, proprio per la sua semplicità, all'ambiente contadino della Cina orientale che descrive, e che lei conosce molto bene per esserci cresciuta fino all'adolescenza ed esserci tornata dopo il matrimonio.

Ling Tan è un contadino che vive con la sua famiglia del raccolto della propria terra (i raccolti sono la sua propria vita, e se questi gli vengono tolti, a che più gli serve vivere?) e seguendo il buon senso della saggezza millenaria tramandata dai padri dei padri. Famiglia di analfabeti e senza cultura (era una magia che gli occhi di lei potessero identificare quei segni che per lui erano come tracce di uccelli sulla carta, e gli occhi le dessero voce e la sua voce parlasse alle sue orecchie, sì da permettergli d'intendere perfettamente), il cui solo obiettivo era quello di sfamarsi, eppure capaci di vivere sentimenti profondi. Famiglia patriarcale, ma che riconosce alla donna un ruolo importante (in casa le donne sono più forti degli uomini) che si rifletterà anche sull'emancipazione sociale e culturale e sulla lotta per la libertà.
Il romanzo si appoggia sul culto della terra (la mia terra s'estende profondamente sotto la crosta del suolo e si spinge entro le sue viscere, e io non voglio abbandonarla), ma anche sulla ricchezza della paternità e maternità, come fondamento della vita da tramandare. Vi viene ben presentato il confronto tra due generazioni e, in particolare, vi vengono descritti il fermento e la trasformazione sociale ad opera dei giovani.
Lo sfondo è quello dell'occupazione da parte dei nemici dell'Oceano Orientale con le loro navi volanti e macchine infernali. E, attraverso le atrocità subite dalla famiglia di Ling Tan e dalla gente del suo piccolo villaggio, si intuiscono quelle avvenute in tutta la Cina orientale, in particolare a Nanchino, da parte dei Giapponesi alla fine degli anni 30 del secolo scorso, massacro da qualcuno definito "olocausto asiatico dimenticato".
La penna di Pearl S. Buck vi scorre sempre con naturalezza, non nomina i nemici e non giudica, non si sofferma neppure sui particolari più cruenti che tuttavia risultano ugualmente nitidi.
Mi hanno però un po' deluso le ultime pagine, nelle quali è stata persa la quinta stellina: troppe coincidenze e costruzioni, forzate e affrettate, per arrivare alla conclusione.

Un libro voi ve lo conservate nella testa e là rimane e potete tornare a leggervelo quando ve lo dimenticate, e ripensarlo più a lungo, e solo gli dei sanno quali e quanti pensieri possono fruttificare in voi dalla sua lettura. La vostra fortuna potrebbe anche nascere da quel libro
_____

* Per i Cinesi il drago [...] è un dio amico degli uomini che lo venerano. Esso ha in suo potere la prosperità e la pace. Reggitor delle acque e dei venti, manda la buona pioggia ed è pertanto simbolo della fecondità.

[venticinque_lettori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bellissima sorpresa! Una civiltà che non conosco, una bella storia familiare, la Storia sullo sfondo, uno stile di scrittura d'altri tempi. Tanti gli spunti interessanti.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you never read anything else, read this. Forget The Good Earth, that's what most people associate with Pearl S. Buck (one of my most favorite novelists). Dragon Seed is one of the most inspired and hopeful, powerful books ever written, with truth about human nature which crosses over culture and time. I recommend it, without reservation, to everyone I ever meet who is the slightest bit interested in good literature.

[Sergio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mio padre era un fan di questa scrittrice e perciò non deve meravigliare che da ragazzino anch'io leggessi i romanzi di Pearl Buck e mi piacesse l'atmosfera orientale dei suoi libri. Questo romanzo mi piacque molto

[Justine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read and loved The Good Earth I was excited to find Dragon Seed in my local op-shop. It seemed to have a similar theme to TGE but I had not heard of it before and was thinking maybe it was a lesser novel and not one that made much of a splash. Then I saw that it had won the Nobel Prize for literature when it was written. So, I read and found that just like The Good Earth I marveled at what an amazing writer and story teller Pearl S. Buck is. The story centers around a small farming family in China that have a very happy and content life until The Japanese invasion before the second world war. Along with being a great history lessen (I did not even know about this invasion which was often referred to as the War of Resistance in China) it was a great story with lots of humor as well as horror and sadness. I have read a few Pearl S buck's novel and now want to read about her as she seems like such an interesting woman, being American but also being so entrenched in Chinese culture and history. This is another of my favorite books, and I was sorry it ended so soon, It could have been twice as long.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting historical fiction novel about the Japanese invasion of the region around the city of Nanking, China, in the second half of the 1930s. The story is about the lives of Ling Tan’s family. Ling Tan is a small farmer whose family has worked the soil for many generations. He has three sons and a daughter, who are all very different characters. The affects the Japanese invaders have on the Chinese peasants is well described. For example, the Chinese become quite cunning in surviving and thwarting Japanese efforts to take the majority of the crops grown.

By passive resistance, the peace loving Chinese survive, notwithstanding that terrible atrocities occur.

The author writes in a fairly simple style, intelligently covering many issues that beset the Chinese in relation to the Japanese invasion.

This book is nearly as good as the author’s famous novel, ‘The Good Earth’.

This book was first published in 1941. A recommended read.

[Katherine 黄爱芬 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jangan berikan sejengkal pun tanahmu pd musuhmu. Tanah milik kita harus dipertahankan dari musuh walau cuma sejengkal.

Inilah prinsip dasar orang China yg sudah turun temurun dilestarikan kepada keturunannya. Ling Tan adalah petani yg sudah melewati usia parobaya yg berpikiran sederhana, cenderung lugu namun berwibawa di keluarga dan desanya. Sejak kedatangan musuh, keluarganya tercerai berai dan perang mengubah kepribadian seluruh anggota keluarganya. Nilai-nilai luhur berganti dgn kekejaman dan kebiadaban. Masih adakah secercah harapan bagi Ling Tan utk mendapatkan kedamaian di tanah kelahirannya ini?

Membaca novel ini saya terbawa ke suasana peperangan pd saat Jepang memasuki China. Kemungkinan besar lokasi setting novel ini adalah desa dekat kota Nanjing. Di awal cerita dikisahkan kedamaian keluarga besar Ling Tan yg belakangan terusik ttg rencana penyerbuan musuh. Tanpa prasangka buruk para penduduk desa menganggap musuh yg datang jauh lebih baik. Siapa yg mengira kekejian musuh melampaui pikiran mereka yg sederhana krn musuh tidak segan membunuh, memerkosa bahkan menjarah. Setelah itu, mulailah Ling Tan dan keluarganya melakukan segala daya upaya supaya survived dari cengkeraman musuh yg lalim.

Saya suka poin survival dan struggle mereka dlm menghadapi musuh. Masih ada nilai-nilai tradisional dan gotong royong antar anggota keluarga yg ditampilkan menarik di buku ini. Kengerian mencekam saat musuh datang juga sanggup membuat saya merinding. Mungkin kalau saya membaca buku ini 15 thn - 2 thn yg lalu, mungkin saya kurang tertarik dgn buku ini. Tapi ternyata isi cerita novel ini mirip-mirip dengan situasi sekarang. Mungkin kita bisa mencontoh sikap Ling Tan si petani sederhana ini saat merenungkan perubahan zaman namun tetap bertekad kuat mempertahankan tanahnya utk keturunannya.

[Safura · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب رو با توجه به زمانی که نوشته شده ارزیابی میکنم. اگر نوشته جدید بود اینقدر بهش امتیاز نمی دادم. چون خط روایی کتاب خیلی ساده و بدون پیچیدگیه و سلیقه من اینقدر سادگی رو نمی پسنده. اما در کنار این خط روایی و جزییاتی که می پردازه قابل توجهه و ملموس.

[Sephreadstoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

1937, Cina. La famiglia di Ling Tan e Ling Sao vive una semplice vita contadina. Tre figli maschi, due dei quali sposati, una figlia femmina, due nipotini.
L'idillio si spezza quando la Cina è invasa dai soldati giapponesi e porterà sofferenze, restrizioni, violenze non solo in seno alla famiglia, ma anche in tutto il resto della nazione.
Eppure, la famiglia non si abbatte e riuscirà a tenere la testa alta di fronte alla violenza della guerra.

La penna di Pearl S. Buck è straordinaria nel raccontare la guerra che per lei stessa è stata quotidianità con incredibile schiettezza e dolcezza. Pubblicato nel 1941, "Stirpe di drago" parla del massacro di Nanchino del 1937 senza tuttavia riferirvisi direttamente: perpetrato dall'esercito giapponese quando questi conquistò la città e per settimane massacrò e torturò i cittadini, violentando migliaia di donne. Questo evento così raccapricciante spinse il Giappone ad intensificare la capillarità delle comfort houses, per evitare che tali eventi si ripetessero su larga scala.

Figlia di missionari di stanza in Cina, la Buck era profonda conoscitrice della cultura cinese di cui parla con realismo e affetto.
Le sue protagoniste femminili sono personaggi forti, impavidi, emancipati considerati i tempi: si occupano della famiglia, non solo del marito e figli, ma anche della famiglia allargata, sono forti baluardi contro le grandi tempeste della storia.
Romanzo familiare, non lesina sulle violenze e sulle crudeltà perpetrate dall'esercito giapponese a Nanchino, ma restituisce anche un'immagine forte del coraggio mostrato dalla popolazione.

"Questo è il motivo per cui mi sono tagliata i capelli. Volevo venderli per comperarmi un libro. Allora avevo paura di dirtelo, ecco perché ti parlai di orecchini. Ma è un libro, che voglio."

[Stephanie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

4**
Next to The Good Earth, this has to be one of Buck’s most excellent reads, bringing in the tension of progress against tradition through unspeakable war. Never does she name the countries, the enemy, the leaders, nor the actual war because she doesn’t need to. The “enemy” is always those going against you, invading you, destroying your way of life, and as such, the concept of “evil” belongs to all of humanity.

What I found so interesting, too, is how Buck showed the response of a family once their country was occupied - deal with the enemy in order to survive but be branded a traitor? Employ passive resistance by sneaky, target attacks to undermine them? Assume that the occupiers were their fate and thus accept brutal torture? The best course of action is never black and white, and the grayscale that Buck paints is so vivid amidst conflicting ideas.

Most fascinating is the idea that books were evil - that they poisoned a mother’s milk if she read while nursing, that only evil people read, that knowledge was destructive, and knowing history didn’t mean you were doomed to repeat it because men were always going to be cruel, greedy beings whose nature is to suppress and oppress others. Books just gave them the know-how on how to do it more efficiently.

I will forever love Pearl Buck’s novels, and this one just cemented my opinion of a brilliant author who never disappoints.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a Pearl S. Buck fan from way back, this particular book was interesting but not one of my favorites of hers, of which The Mother and Imperial Woman are my favorites. I love the author's way of telling a story and pulling you into the lives of her characters.

[Maricarmen Vian Quiroga · Rating 4 out of 5]

En una aldea china, una tradicional familia campesina sufre el asalto de las tropas japonesas a comienzos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

[Nikoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*
سعی میکنم سر فرصت یه چیزی در موردش بنویسم،هر چند یه کم سخته همیشه برام

[Jenifaël · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intéressant, mais pas des plus addictif.

✅ Les points que j'ai aimés :
- Le réalisme : c'était super intéressant et passionnant de découvrir les conditions de vie des paysans chinois lors de la seconde guerre mondiale, ainsi que l'impact de la guerre sur leur vie. On découvre tous les aspects de leur vie quotidienne, mais aussi leurs croyances et leur culture ; le tout m'a semblé très complet et étudié.
- Les personnages : tous les personnages sont uniques, avec leurs propres motivations, qualités et défauts, et encore une fois ils étaient tous très réalistes avec des croyances très ancrées qui leur sont propres.

❌ Les points qui m'ont gênés :
- Les personnages : les personnages m'ont cependant paru aussi assez clichés dans certains aspects poussés à l'extrême, et je n'ai pas franchement réussi à me sentir proche d'eux et donc à m'y attacher véritablement.
- Le rythme : j'ai ressenti un certain nombre de longueurs, j'avais du mal à me sentir accrochée dans le récit. En plus, il y avait beaucoup de répétitions dans les pensées et les actes des personnages (ce qui en soit est réaliste, je ne dis pas le contraire, mais assez ennuyeux à lire et relire sans cesse) ajouté à des éléments très prédictifs, qui ont contribué à mon détachement de l'histoire.

[Regina Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dragon Seed by Pearl S. Buck
5 Stars and a heart

Set in the 1930's Japanese during the invasion of China pre-WWII, Buck follows the lives of members of a simple village family. The family consists of the parents, three sons and their wives, a married daughter, and an unmarried daughter each having to make difficult decisions regarding their decision under incredibly oppressive conditions. Written with incredibly humor and caring for the characters this is my favorite Buck book. Yes, The Good Earth is a must read. But, if you crave more of Buck's work this is the must read follow up.

Buck is known for her simplistic writing style and display of Chinese life, but here it doesn't prevent her from developing incredibly well-drawn characters, some of who disappoint you but are, in the end, redeemable. I really appreciated her ability to create a family who is naive pre-invasion and develops in to a savvy group of resistance fighters. Even more than that she tackles the question of the changes that occur when one undertakes these efforts and the sacrifice of who you once were. The father of the family grapples poignantly with the question of is it worth it and does one have the right to judge others for their decisions. It is a complex novel full of a wide range of emotions from sentimentality to laughter, to sadness, to heart-rendering tenderness.

I had a really difficult reading year last year and resolved to re-visit some of my favorite authors in an attempt to shake me out of my reading slump. This choice seemed to succeed.

[Johanna Ilen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a family saga describing the complete change of one family's life caused by WWII. They go from peaceful farming life where the outside world does not have meaning for them to an awareness of other nations and their power on them. They also have to go from helpless to fighting the war, even though they are not in the army. Each person takes these changes differently, coping as they can.

In rural China these events take place simultaneously with development of literacy and beginning of change in women's role in society. The war has an impact on speeding up these developments as news from distant places become valuable and women are needed as more than just baby-makers and household work responsibles. I like the way Dragon Seed brings these changes alive.

There are a lot of documentaries and memoirs about WWII in Europe but I haven't seen so many from the point of view of Asians. The movie John Rabe was a really interesting exception (well, it was about the Nanjing massacre in 1937, not really WWII... but a similar situation) as is this book.

I read this book in Finnish, but could not find the Finnish edition on Goodreads.

[Marilyn Saul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stopped in the middle because I knew what was coming to this family to whom I'd become so attached. But I picked it up again and finished, and I'm so glad I did. The pillaging and rape were not as explicit as I anticipated (after all, it's Pearl S. Buck writing in a whole different time, when much could be left up to the imagination, so unlike books written these days). This is an excellent book and I learned so much about village vs. city life and the plight of the simple folks in China during the invasion of the Japanese.

[Mitra.Daal · Rating 4 out of 5]

_ تو باید در فکر این باشی که به طریقی پدرت را امیدوار کنی، زیرا او مردی است که هرگز در زندگی نومید نشده بود.
+ کار غیرممکنی را به من محول می‌کنی. امروز چه امیدی برای ما وجود دارد؟ جایی را سراغ داری که بروم و این امید را بخرم؟ این جواهر نفیس و گران‌بها در جایی و از دست کسی افتاده‌است که بروم و آن را پیدا کنم؟ امیدواری باید زاییده‌ی اوضاع باشد، وگرنه رویا و خیال است.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pearl S Buck is winning me over with her powerful and simple narrative style that brings me tenderly into another world. Her style allows great insights into human nature and human relationships. Can’t wait to read more from her!