Pearl Buck in China

by Hilary Spurling
Hennepin County Library audioCds 9 discs
read by the author
genre: biography

Fascinating and enlightening. I have not read The Good Earth, but definitely want to now. I am amazed at how prolific Buck was as an author! Her personal story is interesting and sad to me. The author did a wonderful job of crafting a biography that is neither fawning nor overly critical. Her voice was odd, but it fit the story of Pearl Buck's life. I am interested in reading the stories she wrote about her parents - The Exile and ??? I don't remember. she had such an unusual childhood growing up in China and having a missionary father who seemed to care very little for his own family. Her divorce and marriage to her editor in the 1930s must have been very sensational indeed.

I started writing this many months ago and didn't realize I hadn't published it . . . on 10/13/13, I mostly remember this being very interesting while also quite sad. She was a very interesting person whose books had a huge impact on her audiences. I believe she truly loved China and wanted others to know what it was really like.