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Chân dung một cuộc hôn nhân
“Pearl Buck, với bút lực tài hoa, đã biểu đạt những chân lý giản đơn nhưng sâu sắc về cuộc sống, về sự sống, mang giá trị vĩnh hằng.” - Saturday Review
Mọi chuyện khởi nguồn từ lúc chàng họa sĩ thuộc tầng lớp thượng lưu ở Philadelphia đi tìm cảm ứng, đã tình cờ gặp gỡ và bị cuốn hút bởi vẻ đẹp giản dị của một cô gái nông dân. Bức chân dung về cô đã trở thành một trong những tác phẩm ấn tượng nhất của anh; tuy nhiên niềm đam mê với cô gái mù chữ không chỉ dừng lại ở giá vẽ: chàng họa sĩ đã quay trở lại để kết hôn cùng cô và bắt đầu ổn định cuộc sống ở vùng thôn quê - một hành trình bắc cầu chông gai vượt qua những khoảng cách xa vời về văn hóa giữa họ, cắt đứt mối quan hệ gia đình và gây nên nỗi căng thẳng trong giới bằng hữu của cả hai người.
Pearl S. Buck đã bày tỏ lòng cảm thông sâu sắc với cả hai phía của một cuộc hôn nhân phức tạp - từ buổi ban đầu lưu luyến lãng mạn đến thời điểm va chạm và mất mát, rồi sau cùng là sự bình yên chấp nhận - như một ẩn dụ của cuộc sống; đồng thời bà cũng khắc họa nên bức tranh sinh động về nước Mỹ trải dài từ đầu thế kỷ 20 đến Thế Chiến thứ Hai.
Mọi chuyện khởi nguồn từ lúc chàng họa sĩ thuộc tầng lớp thượng lưu ở Philadelphia đi tìm cảm ứng, đã tình cờ gặp gỡ và bị cuốn hút bởi vẻ đẹp giản dị của một cô gái nông dân. Bức chân dung về cô đã trở thành một trong những tác phẩm ấn tượng nhất của anh; tuy nhiên niềm đam mê với cô gái mù chữ không chỉ dừng lại ở giá vẽ: chàng họa sĩ đã quay trở lại để kết hôn cùng cô và bắt đầu ổn định cuộc sống ở vùng thôn quê - một hành trình bắc cầu chông gai vượt qua những khoảng cách xa vời về văn hóa giữa họ, cắt đứt mối quan hệ gia đình và gây nên nỗi căng thẳng trong giới bằng hữu của cả hai người.
Pearl S. Buck đã bày tỏ lòng cảm thông sâu sắc với cả hai phía của một cuộc hôn nhân phức tạp - từ buổi ban đầu lưu luyến lãng mạn đến thời điểm va chạm và mất mát, rồi sau cùng là sự bình yên chấp nhận - như một ẩn dụ của cuộc sống; đồng thời bà cũng khắc họa nên bức tranh sinh động về nước Mỹ trải dài từ đầu thế kỷ 20 đến Thế Chiến thứ Hai.
296 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2025
About the author
Pearl S. Buck
790 books3,184 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 133 reviews
July 9, 2016
This was a serendipitous read. I was in India recently, and this old book which was lying about in my reading nook suddenly caught my eye. As I read the blurb, I remembered the story: my great-aunt used to tell it to me often, as a cautionary tale on marrying beneath one's station (maybe she was a bit afraid that I would fall for a pretty face without considering caste and pedigree). On a whim I started reading it, and realised to my surprise that it was much more than the story of an "unsuitable" marriage.
The marriage of William, an artist and the son of a rich businessman to village belle Ruth is unsuitable, no doubt - at least from the point of view of his family. William is forced to abandon his home and stay at Ruth's farm. However, he is also a failure as a farmer, and is relegated to the status of a "do-less" husband by the village: while Ruth is forever barred from William's house, as his mother refuses to see her at all. What makes the marriage function is the love of the couple for one another, despite all the differences.
The novel takes in a vast swathe of time, from the turn of the twentieth century to the fifties. Pearl Buck masterfully creates the portrait of a world in turmoil (as it goes through two world wars and their attendant deaths and heartbreak), reflected in the humdrum daily life of a rural couple. The love of William and Ruth for each other never wavers ; however, neither does their basic incompatibility as persons get ironed out. As the family proceeds through generations, we understand that this is not the portrait of one particular marriage, but marriage (and life) in general. The ending, though rather predictable, is fitting and affirms the continuity of life: the flame is carried forward even though each brief candle burns out in its time.
The marriage of William, an artist and the son of a rich businessman to village belle Ruth is unsuitable, no doubt - at least from the point of view of his family. William is forced to abandon his home and stay at Ruth's farm. However, he is also a failure as a farmer, and is relegated to the status of a "do-less" husband by the village: while Ruth is forever barred from William's house, as his mother refuses to see her at all. What makes the marriage function is the love of the couple for one another, despite all the differences.
The novel takes in a vast swathe of time, from the turn of the twentieth century to the fifties. Pearl Buck masterfully creates the portrait of a world in turmoil (as it goes through two world wars and their attendant deaths and heartbreak), reflected in the humdrum daily life of a rural couple. The love of William and Ruth for each other never wavers ; however, neither does their basic incompatibility as persons get ironed out. As the family proceeds through generations, we understand that this is not the portrait of one particular marriage, but marriage (and life) in general. The ending, though rather predictable, is fitting and affirms the continuity of life: the flame is carried forward even though each brief candle burns out in its time.
August 5, 2024
“And every other face in the world … faded and left him. This was his wife.”
Whereas many novels and plays bring together lovers from different classes or cultures and conclude either with a fairytale wedding or tragic parting, this novel follows the couple throughout their married life, from their family-alienating wedding, to childbirth, through two world wars, to old age and grandchildren. And it should have won a Pulitzer Prize, because it provides a wonderfully realistic portrait of a loving marriage in early 1900’s America—one where the lovers cannot fully explain their love, but know only that they need each other and are most comfortable when together, and one where married life is happy and fulfilling, but not uncomplicated or without difficulty.
“When he woke in the morning he knew that here with her was his home and here alone.”
“Together they plumbed the abyss and found its depth. Together they sprang up again.”
It starts like this. William Barton is a budding painter from a rich, railroad-owning family. He accidently stumbles upon a farmer’s daughter, Ruth Harnsbarger, in the countryside one day while searching for inspiration and falls in love. William is highly educated and book-loving, but Ruth has only a fifth-grade education from a one-room country school. Obviously, William’s parents would never accept such a marriage, so he leaves them to marry Ruth in a small country wedding attended only by farm folk and then to live in an old farmhouse that has been in her family for nearly two hundred years. The above description spoils nothing, as the main and best parts of the story follow from there.
“[H]e knew that for the sake of their love he would never take her away from this house and this land. She was nourished here to her fullest being. At the work she loved best she grew so beautiful, so rich, that he could not disturb that sacred growth.”
Whereas many novels and plays bring together lovers from different classes or cultures and conclude either with a fairytale wedding or tragic parting, this novel follows the couple throughout their married life, from their family-alienating wedding, to childbirth, through two world wars, to old age and grandchildren. And it should have won a Pulitzer Prize, because it provides a wonderfully realistic portrait of a loving marriage in early 1900’s America—one where the lovers cannot fully explain their love, but know only that they need each other and are most comfortable when together, and one where married life is happy and fulfilling, but not uncomplicated or without difficulty.
“When he woke in the morning he knew that here with her was his home and here alone.”
“Together they plumbed the abyss and found its depth. Together they sprang up again.”
It starts like this. William Barton is a budding painter from a rich, railroad-owning family. He accidently stumbles upon a farmer’s daughter, Ruth Harnsbarger, in the countryside one day while searching for inspiration and falls in love. William is highly educated and book-loving, but Ruth has only a fifth-grade education from a one-room country school. Obviously, William’s parents would never accept such a marriage, so he leaves them to marry Ruth in a small country wedding attended only by farm folk and then to live in an old farmhouse that has been in her family for nearly two hundred years. The above description spoils nothing, as the main and best parts of the story follow from there.
“[H]e knew that for the sake of their love he would never take her away from this house and this land. She was nourished here to her fullest being. At the work she loved best she grew so beautiful, so rich, that he could not disturb that sacred growth.”
May 25, 2014
Since Pearl S. Buck was a MK, I thought this book would be Christian. I was surprised at how much despairing of souls there was in it, like a lostness of one who cannot find the true meaning in life.
Aside from that, it was a good story. Most books go into detail about a certain few years in a characters life… this went from before William even met his wife until his death as an old man, and how his widow coped thereafter.
She was a Proverbs 31 woman to me, living to better his life and keeping up the house and farm just the way he wanted, etc. She put him above herself, even above her own happiness, and loved him in spite of this.
He held back from her in matters of his past. When he died she regretted not knowing every little thing about him; likewise the night before he died he wished he could have united their spirits as much as their bodies, but he knew it was his fault. She had given him everything.
This was also a neat illustration about how your descendants carry on who you were other than just being a namesake. There are little traits, not necessarily physical, but in character and inclinations that come from an ancestor. It makes you wonder who has lived before you, even several generations prior, to help make you who you are now, even if you never met them.
A very good book.
Aside from that, it was a good story. Most books go into detail about a certain few years in a characters life… this went from before William even met his wife until his death as an old man, and how his widow coped thereafter.
She was a Proverbs 31 woman to me, living to better his life and keeping up the house and farm just the way he wanted, etc. She put him above herself, even above her own happiness, and loved him in spite of this.
He held back from her in matters of his past. When he died she regretted not knowing every little thing about him; likewise the night before he died he wished he could have united their spirits as much as their bodies, but he knew it was his fault. She had given him everything.
This was also a neat illustration about how your descendants carry on who you were other than just being a namesake. There are little traits, not necessarily physical, but in character and inclinations that come from an ancestor. It makes you wonder who has lived before you, even several generations prior, to help make you who you are now, even if you never met them.
A very good book.
September 6, 2017
Long before the advent of marriage counseling and self-help books about “healing your relationship”, Pearl Buck wrote with astounding psychological insight about the inner workings of a marriage. Portrait of a Marriage follows William and Ruth through 75 years of their relationship, from their first meeting when they fell in love at first sight, through courtship, marriage, conflicts with in-laws, childbirth, disillusionment, mid-life crises, old age, grandchildren, and the inevitable family drama that ensues when two people from entirely different backgrounds decide to marry.
Given the spouses’ starkly different backgrounds and personalities, the reader is constantly reminded of the age-old debate: Do opposites attract? Or is a marriage more likely to succeed when the couple shares similar backgrounds and have many interests in common? The marriage in this novel clearly belongs to the first category.
Several reviewers have expressed the opinion that it was the couple’s deep and enduring love for one another that kept this marriage together against all odds. I disagree. In my opinion, most of the credit for the long duration of this unconventional marriage belongs to Ruth, whose display of strength and maturity through multiple marital crises, including the reappearance of an old lover, far surpasses that of her husband, who seems to play a more passive role in the marriage.
The writing is flawless. The plot is not overly complex and moves forward at a slow but steady pace. I was never bored or distracted while reading this novel, which is rare in a novel of this length. I seldom award five stars, but I can find nothing to criticize in this book and must give it five stars.
Given the spouses’ starkly different backgrounds and personalities, the reader is constantly reminded of the age-old debate: Do opposites attract? Or is a marriage more likely to succeed when the couple shares similar backgrounds and have many interests in common? The marriage in this novel clearly belongs to the first category.
Several reviewers have expressed the opinion that it was the couple’s deep and enduring love for one another that kept this marriage together against all odds. I disagree. In my opinion, most of the credit for the long duration of this unconventional marriage belongs to Ruth, whose display of strength and maturity through multiple marital crises, including the reappearance of an old lover, far surpasses that of her husband, who seems to play a more passive role in the marriage.
The writing is flawless. The plot is not overly complex and moves forward at a slow but steady pace. I was never bored or distracted while reading this novel, which is rare in a novel of this length. I seldom award five stars, but I can find nothing to criticize in this book and must give it five stars.
February 13, 2022
It says it all on the front page of this version, “A love story of great beauty.” Pearl S. Buck presents an interesting story of the love of William and Ruth from their 2 different backgrounds. Buck remains a fav author of mine.
August 31, 2023
Interesting and well written . William was a bad example of a husband and father.
May 23, 2025
کتاب دربارهی زندگی یه زوجه که با وجود اختلاف طبقاتی و فرهنگی، با هم ازدواج میکنن. دختر از یه خانوادهی سادهی روستاییه و پسر مرفه و شهری. روایت کتاب سادهست و خوندنش آسونه.
برای من خیلی خاص نبود که بخوام به کسی پیشنهادش بدم، جز اون بخشهایی که شخصیتها با پیری و مرگ روبهرو میشن. اونجاها برام عمیقتر و قابلتأملتر بود.
داستان انقدر آروم و واقعی پیش میره که واقعاً یادم رفته بود اینا هم قراره پیر بشن، قراره بمیرن. درست مثل زندگی واقعی که آدم یهو متوجه میشه زمان گذشته و همهچیز تغییر کرده.
برای من خیلی خاص نبود که بخوام به کسی پیشنهادش بدم، جز اون بخشهایی که شخصیتها با پیری و مرگ روبهرو میشن. اونجاها برام عمیقتر و قابلتأملتر بود.
داستان انقدر آروم و واقعی پیش میره که واقعاً یادم رفته بود اینا هم قراره پیر بشن، قراره بمیرن. درست مثل زندگی واقعی که آدم یهو متوجه میشه زمان گذشته و همهچیز تغییر کرده.
July 22, 2009
I found a battered copy of this book in musty corner of a used bookstore in Mexico City, and saucily purchased it after reading the cover jacket quotation from the book, something about the husband gasping in horror at the specter of his wife holding a whip in his hand. This, although I knew that since it was Pearl Buck, there wouldn't be anything truly salacious or gratuitous about it. In truth, I've always been curious to discover which elements make a novel timeless and which consign them to the 50 cents bin. Reading this book gave me some insight.
Buck's Portrait of a Marriage is the unbelievable tale of how a high-born New York artist as a young man falls in love with a simple farmer's daughter from rural Pennsylvania, and they get married. In other words, this novel is essentially the daydream of someone who wants to believe that love can overcome class differences. But instead of the poor lover moving up to the wealthy and affluent world of the rich lover, in this novel, the rich lover moves to the country and lives the country artist life while his wife does all the child-rearing and farming. We are made to understand that the couple has a healthy sex life though, and this, fed by the artist's patronizing admiration for his wife's simple-mindedness and stout healthy body, is what keeps them together. I believe that love can overcome class differences, but this isn't the novel that truthfully and courageously explores how.
The novel's language is stale, its ideas are bound to the moment in which they had currency, and their realization in the narrative itself is difficult, if not impossible to believe.
Buck's Portrait of a Marriage is the unbelievable tale of how a high-born New York artist as a young man falls in love with a simple farmer's daughter from rural Pennsylvania, and they get married. In other words, this novel is essentially the daydream of someone who wants to believe that love can overcome class differences. But instead of the poor lover moving up to the wealthy and affluent world of the rich lover, in this novel, the rich lover moves to the country and lives the country artist life while his wife does all the child-rearing and farming. We are made to understand that the couple has a healthy sex life though, and this, fed by the artist's patronizing admiration for his wife's simple-mindedness and stout healthy body, is what keeps them together. I believe that love can overcome class differences, but this isn't the novel that truthfully and courageously explores how.
The novel's language is stale, its ideas are bound to the moment in which they had currency, and their realization in the narrative itself is difficult, if not impossible to believe.
March 17, 2025
I suppose even Nobel winners must occasionally write a book just to make a little money. Hints of Buck's usual human insight are obscured here by an oppressive romantic primitivism. Urbane artist marries Pennsylvania peasant. Said artist takes no interest in his dull peasant children but continues to be obsessed with his peasant wife who remains for fifty years as fresh and beautiful as when he married her. Rose and cream complexions abound.
I did enjoy Buck's ruminations on how dependent every event is on the chance encounters and often strange decisions of previous generations. Any realism or poignancy the book possesses came from this theme.
I did enjoy Buck's ruminations on how dependent every event is on the chance encounters and often strange decisions of previous generations. Any realism or poignancy the book possesses came from this theme.
April 1, 2026
I knew when this story began I would end up in tears. I was right, but underestimated how deeply I would feel this story and these words. Maybe because I'm just a couple of days away from being married 28 years? To know the depth of someone so fully, to be united as one yet such separate individuals, and be so profoundly in love having weathered children, loss, anger and tremendous joy-- Ms Buck captured the essence of it through the story of Ruth and William. I will treasure this one in my heart and never stop talking about it.
January 24, 2024
2.5⭐️ rounded up. Upper-class painter meets farmer's daughter and they live happily ever after. I liked the quiet and calm romance and Ruth herself, though I don't understand what she saw in the idle and spoiled William. More insights into her thoughts and feelings and a few real conflicts could have made this an interesting read. As it is, it is a nice and easy, but utterly forgettable book.
April 28, 2026
So many thoughts swirling around my head after finishing this one. It’ll stick with me for a while…such depth and brokenness and realness and beauty
February 25, 2023
I think this book was beautiful in a way no other book I've read has been. It took me a while to understand the full purpose of the story, and still I don't think I can completely grasp it. But it made me feel something nonetheless. It wasn't something I was fully aware of feeling, but it was there.
Portrait of a Marriage is the story of a couple's life through their years together. They come from different backgrounds and their ways of mind couldn't be more different from each other. But even though they have different forms of showing their love, and sometimes feel unhappiness instead of joy, their marriage persists.
I liked the fact that it had both points of views, that let me know what William and Ruth thought about each other, and the things they didn't say out loud.
Adding to that, the story not only talks about their marriage, but also many more around them, giving a view as to how couples change and act.
The ending left me with a surprising feeling of sadness. I didn't cry, but I don't think the author made the ending for people to cry. It was suposed to leave you thinking. About the things you could have understood earlier in the story but didn't. And how death changes the way a person speaks about another. Like they no longer can hear them.
4/5
Portrait of a Marriage is the story of a couple's life through their years together. They come from different backgrounds and their ways of mind couldn't be more different from each other. But even though they have different forms of showing their love, and sometimes feel unhappiness instead of joy, their marriage persists.
I liked the fact that it had both points of views, that let me know what William and Ruth thought about each other, and the things they didn't say out loud.
Adding to that, the story not only talks about their marriage, but also many more around them, giving a view as to how couples change and act.
The ending left me with a surprising feeling of sadness. I didn't cry, but I don't think the author made the ending for people to cry. It was suposed to leave you thinking. About the things you could have understood earlier in the story but didn't. And how death changes the way a person speaks about another. Like they no longer can hear them.
4/5
December 4, 2016
I had mixed feelings about this book. I love Pearl S. Buck's writing, loved seeing the characters through their long lives, loved Buck's commentary on the process of life and living in a marriage, but the main characters were so strange and selfish. A husband who loved his wife so much that he had little love for his children, his parents, etc. A wife who could only live in her own little world.
August 3, 2023
*We will discuss this book in an upcoming episode of our podcast — Stay tuned!
July 2023
272nd Cove Pick: PORTRAIT OF A MARRIAGE by Pearl S. Buck
Chosen By: Millenia
Trivia Winner - Roberta
~COVE OPINION: C+, Above Average story
July 2023
272nd Cove Pick: PORTRAIT OF A MARRIAGE by Pearl S. Buck
Chosen By: Millenia
Trivia Winner - Roberta
~COVE OPINION: C+, Above Average story
June 9, 2026
Oh. My. God. You must read this book.
February 2, 2025
Pekna knizka, hezky se cetla ☺️
March 18, 2025
Docela zajímavý příběh
February 16, 2022
Is it possible to spend fifty years living with one person and keep the feeling that you are in love intact? Is it possible to do so with a person who is the complete opposite of yourself? Pearl S. Buck gives her answers to these questions, and some of these answers will certainly surprise some readers.
Everyone knows the story. A rich man, used to idleness and with every opportunity in the world open for him. And a girl from the countryside, used to hard work, limited by her origins. From the moment they meet, we all know what will happen. Either a man uses the girl dishonestly and hurries back into his glamorous life without a backward glance – if only a brief moment of melancholy sweeps him back in time in his memories from time to time. Or they marry, and the girl moves into the big house and starts playing a role of a rich lady, discarding her roots and never looking back at her humble past.
It's not what happens in “Portrait of a Marriage”.
Pearl S. Buck will surprise the reader, and pleasantly so, the one who wouldn’t mind the slow pace of the story, and who would wish to invest in two spouses’ inner worlds, in both of which the author dives with thorough knowledge of human nature.
William and Ruth dedicate their lives to each other. Each in their own way, sacrificing things to gain something more significant in return. It’s been an almost hypnotising experience reading through the years and decades they spent together. The choices they make, fates of their children, relationship with their families – nothing seemed cliché or strained.
For some readers, it might feel a little repetitive, but I found the way the author describes Ruth through William’s eyes absolutely mesmerising. In his eyes, her beauty never diminishes despite her age. He is a painter, and maybe that’s what lets him see her differently than a non-creative man would have seen her. But maybe it’s love that has – not clouded! – righted his vision.
I loved that the author doesn’t slip into describing the long marriage of two so different people like an idyll. But through highlighting the problems and disagreements spouses inevitably face living their whole life together, Pearl S. Buck illuminates the worth of the commitment two people enter when they give their wedding vows.
Everyone knows the story. A rich man, used to idleness and with every opportunity in the world open for him. And a girl from the countryside, used to hard work, limited by her origins. From the moment they meet, we all know what will happen. Either a man uses the girl dishonestly and hurries back into his glamorous life without a backward glance – if only a brief moment of melancholy sweeps him back in time in his memories from time to time. Or they marry, and the girl moves into the big house and starts playing a role of a rich lady, discarding her roots and never looking back at her humble past.
It's not what happens in “Portrait of a Marriage”.
Pearl S. Buck will surprise the reader, and pleasantly so, the one who wouldn’t mind the slow pace of the story, and who would wish to invest in two spouses’ inner worlds, in both of which the author dives with thorough knowledge of human nature.
William and Ruth dedicate their lives to each other. Each in their own way, sacrificing things to gain something more significant in return. It’s been an almost hypnotising experience reading through the years and decades they spent together. The choices they make, fates of their children, relationship with their families – nothing seemed cliché or strained.
For some readers, it might feel a little repetitive, but I found the way the author describes Ruth through William’s eyes absolutely mesmerising. In his eyes, her beauty never diminishes despite her age. He is a painter, and maybe that’s what lets him see her differently than a non-creative man would have seen her. But maybe it’s love that has – not clouded! – righted his vision.
I loved that the author doesn’t slip into describing the long marriage of two so different people like an idyll. But through highlighting the problems and disagreements spouses inevitably face living their whole life together, Pearl S. Buck illuminates the worth of the commitment two people enter when they give their wedding vows.
August 15, 2023
I have been on a campaign to 'fill in' my literary education by reading the masterpieces of years gone by. My most recent 'oldie but goodie' author is Pearl S. Buck. Portrait of a Marriage is one of her earlier novels. It didn't take many pages of reading to realize the mid 20th century style of writing is quite tame compared to the style of the 21st century. I wonder had I read it in the 1960s would I have given the novel 5 stars rather than the 3 stars I did bestow on it?
This is a short story of the marriage between an upper class city bred man and a lower class country bred woman. In the eyes of the 21st century, the characters (especially the husband William) are held fast in gender and class roles. As much as William and Ruth loved and cared for each other, and even though their marriage was long lived, they never completely gave themselves to the other. There always was a certain piece of themselves that was never shared with the other partner.
Having said that, I would say their marriage was a very successful partnership. They picked up on each other's needs and both cared deeply for the other. Not sure this little novel will provide enough interest in Ms. Buck's writing style for me to attempt another of her novels. Glad I read this one but not eager to check out another Pearl S. Buck novel from the library.
This is a short story of the marriage between an upper class city bred man and a lower class country bred woman. In the eyes of the 21st century, the characters (especially the husband William) are held fast in gender and class roles. As much as William and Ruth loved and cared for each other, and even though their marriage was long lived, they never completely gave themselves to the other. There always was a certain piece of themselves that was never shared with the other partner.
Having said that, I would say their marriage was a very successful partnership. They picked up on each other's needs and both cared deeply for the other. Not sure this little novel will provide enough interest in Ms. Buck's writing style for me to attempt another of her novels. Glad I read this one but not eager to check out another Pearl S. Buck novel from the library.
October 20, 2017
Chtěla jsem si od nositelky Nobelovy ceny Pearl S. Buck konečně něco přečíst a tak jsem sáhla po této úzké novele, 2.vydání z roku 1970, v překladu Jarmily Urbánkové. Byl to docela zážitek, číst si v těch ohmataných, mírně zažloutlých a zapáchajících stránkách (moje rodiče si ji kdysi dávno koupili v antivariátu za 14 Kčs). Je to mistrně napsané, na 170 stránkách autorka podrobně popsala příběh jednoho manželství od seznámení se až po smrt jednoho z partnerů. Čistý psychologický román, od kterého jsem se sotva odtrhla, i když mě ani k jednomu protagonistovi nepoutaly žádné velké sympatie a nakonec mi to celé přišlo jako jedna velká utopie - dva naprosto se k sobě nehodící lidé, kteří se ale přese všechno celý život vroucně milovali, poutala je k sobě obrovská fyzická přitažlivost a ani se skoro nikdy nepohádali. Nevěřím, že by to tak opravdu bylo, ale četlo se mi o tom dobře.
January 25, 2018
Good read although some of the language was a little stilted since it was written in 1941. Story of the courtship and almost 50 years of marriage of William (from a wealthy family, educated, and a promising painter) and Ruth (a simple, uneducated farm girl). Ruth did everything for William while raising 3 children and running their farm to allow William to lead a life of leisurely painting. They were totally devoted to each other to the exclusion of their children. I enjoyed this book. A good and steady story.
July 17, 2019
One of the challenges in the summer reading program at my library was to read a book from before I was born. Well, I had to go w-a-a-a-y back! This book is from 1941! There is much I like about it: it is a sweet story of the marriage between polar opposites who absolutely love each other throughout the years. But there are things that really did not mean much to me, simply because of the different ways we do things now. I frequently wondered what either of these people saw in the other one!
June 18, 2023
Pearl S. Buck ganó el Pulitzer y el Nóbel y es conocida porque la temática de sus libros es China.
Al principio, el libro es un poco lento. La historia transcurre en EE. UU.; el protagonista es Wellian, un pintor que se va al campo, donde conoce a Ruth, la hija de uno granjeros, y él, su vida y su futuro cambian.
Los personajes están muy bien trabajados; y el libro nos deja verlos matices y la evolución del protagonista.
Me gustó, vale la pena leerlo porque es distinto a lo que nos tiene acostumbrados.
Al principio, el libro es un poco lento. La historia transcurre en EE. UU.; el protagonista es Wellian, un pintor que se va al campo, donde conoce a Ruth, la hija de uno granjeros, y él, su vida y su futuro cambian.
Los personajes están muy bien trabajados; y el libro nos deja verlos matices y la evolución del protagonista.
Me gustó, vale la pena leerlo porque es distinto a lo que nos tiene acostumbrados.
February 24, 2023
Habida cuenta de que, por lo general, los libros de Pear S. Buck dan mucho qué pensar y están muy bien definidos he de decir que éste en concreto me ha parecido más flojo. Me ha resultado en su construcción muy pesado y a la vez mucho más superficial de lo que nos tiene acostumbrados. Hasta el final, donde la autora realmente nos da a entender el punto que ha tratado de explicarnos a lo largo del libro.
April 21, 2020
I have read other Pearl Buck books and they have been much better. This one was a bit of a disappointment. I didn't like the characters. Ruth seemed to have no self respect and her husand was a narcissist. He was only about himself. Not likeable characters. To Pearl Buck fans I would suggest skipping this one.
March 7, 2018
Great insight!
I loved this book as I do so many of Pearl Bucks books.S he had great insight into a long marriage ,having been in one her self.I liked the way she showed
the natural changes that happen in a long union. The story was sweet and comforting .
I loved this book as I do so many of Pearl Bucks books.S he had great insight into a long marriage ,having been in one her self.I liked the way she showed
the natural changes that happen in a long union. The story was sweet and comforting .
July 9, 2025
Wonderful story about the life of a marriage. Pearl S. Buck was a very good writer. Going to put her on my go to list (along with Erich Marie Remarque) when I get tired of mediocre authors and need a reminder of what good writing is all about.
December 27, 2024
I had no idea what to expect with this book, but found it really compelling. The writing is spare and leaves much to the reader, giving it a certain feeling of timelessness. The marriage has stayed with me....
January 6, 2020
Such a great read
I read her I school but never as an adult. Now in sixties I know what I have been missing. Great reading! Deep and meaningful!
I read her I school but never as an adult. Now in sixties I know what I have been missing. Great reading! Deep and meaningful!
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