• Pearl Buck in China

  • Journey to The Good Earth
  • By: Hilary Spurling
  • Narrated by: Hilary Spurling
  • Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (71 ratings)

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Pearl Buck in China  By  cover art

Pearl Buck in China

By: Hilary Spurling
Narrated by: Hilary Spurling
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Publisher's summary

The author of the much honored two-volume biography of Henri Matisse unearths the life and work of the Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winner Pearl Buck, whose novels in the 1930's and 40's were the first written for a Western audience to describe ordinary life in the still secret China of the late 19th and early 20th century. Published in 1931, The Good Earth sold tens of millions of copies worldwide and is still in print today.

©2010 Hilary Spurling (P)2010 Oasis

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What listeners say about Pearl Buck in China

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Very good

A poignant analysis of one of the most important artists of the 20th century. This book not only educates the reader about Pearl Buck, her childhood and family life, it paints a detailed picture of pre-revolutionary China; chronicling the lifestyle of the missionaries who struggled to blend with and help the impoverished population there. Excellent non-fiction.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Oh dear, boring. Boring. Boring.

What did you love best about Pearl Buck in China?

The way the author of the book drew from Buck's fiction to elucidate her life.

What did you like best about this story?

Learning about what parts of The Good Earth and other of Buck's books were autobiographical.

How could the performance have been better?

ANYBODY could have done a better job. Someone who actually CARED about the material they were reading would have helped. A little inflection. No hurried, rushed, flat speech totally devoid of intonation. Just because someone has written the book does NOT mean they can narrate it!

Any additional comments?

I will never order another book read by the author without listening to the preview several times.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A biography as gripping as a novel

If you could sum up Pearl Buck in China in three words, what would they be?

Tragic inspiring mesmerizing

What did you like best about this story?

Pearl Buck's life in China was much more complex and interesting than I would have imagined before listening to this book. And tragic too. The biographer doesn't omit any of the gritty, grimy details of her life. And there were many! But they add substance to Buck's portrait and vividly illustrate what a remarkable woman (person) Pearl Buck was and what a remarkable life she had lived.

Have you listened to any of Hilary Spurling’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Pearl Buck's greatest novel was her life

Any additional comments?

I lived for two years in Nanjing and one year in Zhenjiang and I was never informed that Pearl Buck had lived in either city. Obviously the Chinese are conflicted about her. But China was an important part of her life, and for millions -- both Chinese and non-Chinese -- she offered a glimpse of a civilization that they would otherwise have never known.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Wy
  • 10-16-11

Fascinating history

I purchased this book based on an interview I heard on NPR. It has taken me a long while to get through the audio version - I wish the NPR book reviewer had been the narrator. This narrator certainly knew her story, but perhaps too well - her bored monotone really detracted from a fascinating history; numerous pronunciation mistakes made it painfully obvious when she needed a break.
However, Ms Spurling has done exhaustive research on Pearl Buck, her family, her inner struggles and the window she opened for the west to view the badly misunderstood culture of China. The first hand accounts of the terror experienced during the Boxer rebellion and the other uprisings and incidents in the 20th century made me wonder how foreigners found the strength to remain in China. I was particularly taken with Pearl Buck's persistent calls for her readers to rethink the purpose and strategies of foreign missions, and feelings of racial and cultural superiority.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Fascinating and Thorough

Women writers fascinate me. So do odd people, gifted people, and exotically experienced people. Of Pearl Buck I've only read The Good Earth, but now I want more. This is a terrific story, wonderfully written and told by terrific, clear narrator.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating read with some thoughtful insights

The portrayal of life in China at that time is a unique blend of personal memoir and historical journey, with perspectives on some of the often hidden aspects of living the ministry life in that part of the world - as well as here in the U.S. This book inspired me to read her complete trilogy and other writings on historical aspects of life in China, written in elegantly descriptive prose. She is a master story-teller in her later works.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Ok, but didn’t care for the narrator

Interesting story. Wish each chapter had been a ‘part’ with separate chapters within. Hilary needed to slow down and take a breath between sections. Sometimes felt like one big run-on sentence.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting history.

The reading was very fast and it was hard to understand at some points. The narrator also did not pause long between thoughts so you had to rewind to allow the brain some transition time. Too much time was spent on Chinese politics; that is entirely a topic on its own! Not having previous knowledge of Chinese politics, especially for this era, one can get lost in these sections. Still, it provided a good cultural and human experience.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Amazing life experience. A feminist, and survivor.

Absolutely loved it. An amazing study of this fabulous soul, and her survival. Will now start reading her books.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A heart breaking story

This is a very interesting and sad story. It’s illuminating and gives great insight into what China was like in the past.

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