The mother

I really enjoyed this book. As a parent myself you only want what is best for your child.Sometimes you make choices as mother did with her daughter that you cannot forsee and in your own heart you cannot forgive.Life for mother was a hard and painful at times yet she found the good too.

For those who didn't like this book as much, I believe they missed something. I thought this was great writing and in many ways her best. The lack of The Mother's name is insignificant. You know when you're reading who is being referred to. The story is the important part. This book involves much about honor and "saving face" and how important that was to the Chinese and in the peasants case, they had little else. When the mother starts her web of lies, to hide her shame, one lie leads to a bigger lie and before she knew it, she had spun some very sophisticated lies with props to go with them. As many believed, rich and poor, in that time and place, the sins made the Gods angry and the Gods got even. The mother believed it was her sins that caused her ultimate tragedies which were inflicted on those she loved most. I was absolutely intrigued with this story and believe that a woman might appreciate and understand it more than a man. A woman's life was so much more meaningless than a mans and once her sons married, she suddenly became more insignificant with little say in anything and little to look forward to. A good read.

In Pearl Buck's autobiography, "My Several Worlds," she reveals that she almost destroyed the manuscript of "The Mother", feeling that it was not worthy of publication. Had this happened, literature would have suffered a great loss. The characters that Ms. Buck created here - the tragically blind daughter, the grandmother who wears her own shroud in anticipation of death, and especially the mother - are exquisitely drawn and memorable. The suffering of the mother, whose life after the strange disappearance of her husband seems an endless series of heartbreaks, is almost unbearable for the reader. But ultimately the mother is comforted, as is every mother, by the birth of children and grandchildren. This is the story of a seemingly insignificant woman, worlds away from me, whose dreams and longings and difficulties are not so very different from my own. This book is definitely and very enthusiastically recommended.

If you like The Good Earth, you will love this book - written in a similar style, which some have called mechanical, but is, in actuality, an archaic form of language - I always feel like I'm reading a story from the Bible or some other ancient text. This is the way the Chinese language of the people would be translated into English - the language of the book moves along gracefully and strikes a chord deep within you. This is not just the story of one woman, but of many. Buck's characters have the feel of archetypal beings - not at all "cardboard", as some have claimed, but types that everyone can recognize, whatever the culture they live in.Yes, the Mother has her faults - and you may not always sympathize with her decisions, such as when she decides to end a pregnancy- however, the way in which the writer delves into the mind and heart of her character, you can at least see WHY she makes her decisions, and this makes one less judgmental, more compassionate. It made me think of all the women in the world who have had to make the decisions the Mother had to make, about her life, her marriage, her children, her pregnancies, her family honor. You really do feel for this character: When, in the end, she rejoices, you rejoice with her. I definitely recommend this book!

Let me explain this book to you. It has very little historical references. To those who are familiar with Mrs. Buck's usually history-packed books, perhaps this will be somewhat of a surprise. However, this book still has some non-fiction qualities. The most important and dominating example of this is the cultural picture that is painted of a chinese family. A common situation in America is illustrated as it would happen in China. From this, we truly learn about Chinese culture and how greatly it contrasts to American culture. This book is also a tragedy too. Very sad, yet quite enjoyable!