Pearl of China: A Novel

Powerful and moving. I found this story so fascinating! I love all the culture -- even the horrible things, are such powerful pieces of history. Although I have read that a few are disappointed about it not being about Pearl, but about Willow, I have to disagree. Willow loved Pearl, and I think she was in Pearl's shadow quite a bit. We see Pearl's life, from Willow's perspective, which I thought was excellent. Anchee Min has a powerful way with words that left me wanting more! I think this book was more about their friendship, which I had known when I read the back of the book, so it came as no surprise, even though I think more thought it would be about Pearl Buck..

Truth be known: The actual title of this fast-paced historical novel should be "Pearl and Willow," not just "Pearl in China." The story is just as much about Willow as it is Pearl. Why is that? Anchee Min, the author, writes from the viewpoint of Pearl's childhood friend, thus can only reveal what Willow knows. While Pearl is in America for over 30 years, Willow can reveal only the details of her own story and whatever she gleans about Pearl from newspapers and the few letters Pearl writes. Whatever limitations exist in the novel, it remains informative and leaves the reader wanting to know more about this fascinating woman, Pearl Buck. Prior to reading this story, I knew that Pearl Buck grew up in China, was the daughter of missionaries, wrote "The Good Earth," and won the Nobel Prize in Literature. That's it. Now that I know the basics, I want to read more by and about this special writer/woman. Anchee Min, herself an interesting subject, wrote her own memoir entitled "Red Azalea" about her experiences during the Cultural Revolution, especially under the influence of Madame Mao. These experiences and resulting book greatly suffuse "Pearl in China" with authenticity and abiding anger and utter disregard toward the Chinese co-leader. As a young woman Anchee Min wanted to read "The Good Earth" because it celebrated the Chinese peasant, but Madame Mao wanted nothing of Western influence in her country. In fact, this occurred during the time that Richard Nixon went to China. Initially, Pearl Buck was to accompany him, making it her first time in China in over 30 years. Madame Mao would not allow it and taught school children to hate Ms Buck as a "Western Imperialist." After the Revolution was over, Min came to the United States. At some point at a book signing of her memoir, a customer gave her a copy of Ms Buck's "The Good Earth." Min was so moved, she decided then to write a historical novel about this American so compassionate toward Chinese peasants. What I like about historical novels is that the writer can move the story forward without getting bogged down in historical minutiae frequently found in historical works. I also like the extrapolation concerning known facts and guesswork. One such event was the relationship between Pearl and beloved Chinese poet, Hsu Chih-mo, who considered Pearl "the most Chinese person" he had ever met. At the time both were married. I loved this book, which has inspired me to read more about the Nobel winner. In addition to the suspected affair, other Buck biographical points rendered on paper were: 1. The almost fanatical dedication of her father Absalom to spreading Christianity to the Chinese people 2. Pearl's actual marriage and her husband's almost fanatical dedication to spreading modern (for the time) farming techniques 3. The story of Pearl's mentally challenged daughter 4. Willow's inside story of her marriage with one of the prominent Cultural Revolutionists (a stand-alone story in itself!) There

From the beginning of the author's note to the last sentence I was hooked. This story is about friendship enduring through separation and the toughest of times. The ending was bittersweet and heart wrenching for me. I wish more had been included about Pearl and what she did, thought, or felt as her friend Willow rode the storm of Mao. I would also like to know how much of this story is real. The author's note was a story in itself. Short, but incredibly powerful in setting the reality of life in China with Mao. Thank you Anchee Min for telling this beautiful story of friendship and love.

NO SPOILERS! NO SPOILERS! I HATE SPOILERS AND HAVE PURPOSELY WRITTEN THIS IN A WAY THAT WON'T RUIN IT FOR YOU. NO SPOILERS! NO SPOILERS! I'm stuck up when it comes to books. I only buy sure fire classics--after all there are so many of them which never disappoint--and other books that I am confident will be a great read. But once in a while I try and buy a book by an author I've never heard of if the reading of a random page or two in the bookstore grabs me. The latter was the case with Anchee Min's first book, Red Azalea with the added draw that it had a gold sticker on it saying it had won some notable prize and been signed by the author. I am the least likely to discover the next great author of timeless classics, but this time I may have gotten lucky. How good is Red Azalea that it prompted me to read this, her third book about fifteen years later? After enjoying Red Azalea I lent it (which I rarely do) to a friend of mine who was studying at Boston University. The next day, when I visited her, as soon as I opened the door she threw it at me. "Damn you!" She yelled. "I was up all night reading that book! I couldn't put it down until I was finished despite all the work I had to do! Get it out of here!" Red Azalea being her first book, having learned English only six years earlier, and a memoir, I thought maybe it was just that her personal story was so rivetting and that maybe she had a lot of help in writing it, but Pearl of China proves that Anchee Min is a great storyteller, period. In this book, she tells the story of Pearl Buck, who was the child of Christian missionary parents spending her childhood in China and an activist who was more familiar, loving, and patriotic of her second heritage in Asia than she was of her native one. I leave it to you to look up who Pearl Buck was on Wikipedia or whatever your favorite resource may be, but for the purposes of this review I will only say that Anchee Min tells her story in a way just as vivid as she did her own story in Red Azalea. BOTTOM LINE: I ended up writing an essay for a class at Harvard comparing Anchee Min to other great Chinese-American Female Authors: Amy Tan and Maxine Hong Kingston. (I'm not Asian by the way, but I have lived in Asia). But I have to say this is great literature on its own, not simply within the genre of Asian-American Literature or as a work by a female author. It's a great book by an author who has written other great books, and readers should be pleased with themselves to have discovered her a such an early stage in her writing career. Anchee Min is turning out to be one of my favorite authors, which is shocking because all my other favorite authors are long since dead writers of timeless classics of literature. Overall, I love stories based on actual historical events and places, that take you to another place, culture, and time. And this book does that very effectively. Whether you're a lover of great literature, of China, or of history

I have long admired Anchee Min's works, whether it was an account of her coming-of-age in Maoist China in Red Azalea, or tracing the life of Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi (although a revisionist version) in Empress Orchid] or [[ASIN:0547053703 The Last Empress: A Novel, Min has a gift for story-telling. In `Pearl of China', Min deftly captures the life of Nobel laureate Pearl S. Buck (who won the esteemed prize for The Good Earth (Paperback) Pearl S. Buck). Min was forced to denounce the author as an "American cultural imperialist" during her youth in Maoist China (the period of the Cultural Revolution) and it was only decades later that Min actually had the chance to read "The Good Earth" and realized Pearl's sincere love for the Chinese people. This novel as such can also be viewed as a conciliatory gesture and this background knowledge made me appreciate the story all the more, as it has a very personal feel to it. In telling the story of Pearl, Min drew on Pearl's actual friends from varying periods in her life and invented a fictional female friend, Willow Yee, who is so seamlessly woven into the story that one could very well believe Willow was a real historical figure. She seems so alive and the friendship between Pearl and Willow is so credibly portrayed that one could easily believe this friendship really existed. Such is Min's talent for bringing these characters to life. In the story, Pearl, the daughter of missionaries, feels awkward and conspicuous in the Chinese village with her striking blue eyes, and blond hair. An enduring friendship forms between Pearl and Willow, one that binds them through bleak times and separations. The story also traces the girls' maturation as childhood gives way to adulthood, and readers get to see their friendship unfold against the backdrop of China's complicated and tumultuous history. Though this is a work of historical fiction, Min does a credible job of weaving in China's political history. At times, I could not really tell which parts were fiction and which were actual historical events (for that one has to read a work of non-fiction regarding China's political history). It would have helped if the author had put the work in actual context by providing some explanations at the end of the text. On the whole though, this novel paints a credible portrait of time, place, and characters all too real. Bittersweet and heartrending, I was saddened when it ended.