The Good Earth

By: Pearl S. Buck

Narrated by: Anthony Heald

Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize Winner, Novel 1932

This Pulitzer Prize-winning classic tells the poignant tale of a Chinese farmer and his family in old agrarian China. The humble Wang Lung glories in the soil he works, nurturing the land as it nurtures him and his family. Nearby, the nobles of the House of Hwang consider themselves above the land and its workers; but they will soon meet their own downfall.

Hard times come upon Wang Lung and his family when flood and drought force them to seek work in the city. The working people riot, breaking into the homes of the rich and forcing them to flee. When Wang Lung shows mercy to one noble and is rewarded, he begins to rise in the world, even as the House of Hwang falls.

©1958 Pearl S. Buck (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"A beautiful, beautiful book. At last we read, in the pages of a novel, of the real people of China." ( Saturday Review)
" The Good Earth has style, power, coherence and a pervasive sense of dramatic reality." ( New York Times Book Review)
"To read this story of Wang Lung is to be slowly and deeply purified; and when the last page is finished it is as if some significant part of one's own days were over." ( Bookman)

Great "read".

Great writing. Very engaging story. Ending a bit of a non event but it was written in the 1930's.

A must read.

The gentleness to the prose made disagreeable traditions understandable. It demonstrates with clarity how cultural influences make right, that which outside the culture seem wrong. Recommend strongly.

Excellent!

I love this book. Read it first in high school and 40 years later, listened to the audio book and love it still.
The narrator was also excellent.

Captivating Story

I listened to this book on audio and I enjoyed it very much; the narration was good and the story was interesting. I wavered as to whether I wanted to continue with the trilogy, however, because I thought that this book was longer than it needed to be; by the last 1-1.5 hours, I felt that the story became redundant.

That being said, I do want to learn more about the Chinese culture during this time and I see from the reviews that this is done in the next two books. I thought the cultural aspects of this book were fascinating and I want more. So, I believe I will plunge forward with the trilogy at some point!

captivating

excellent reader, engaging story telling, good look into Asian culture. I enjoyed hearing the story of one man's life until it's completion.

A beautifully written story, if you're into that.

I don't usually go for high literature or drama, but I am trying to expand my horizons. This book has some beautiful prose, and a moving story with characters that you can care about.

Powerful book

I read this book in the sixties and thoroughly enjoyed it. When I saw it was available on Audible, I just had to order it. Again, so many hours of listening enjoyment. My favorite stories are of family generations. This writer truly knows how to express this. I have already referred this book to friends & relatives. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fascinating

I read this many many years ago on a school required reading list, but it's significance was lost on me then. Reading it now, I was very caught up in the life of these folks on the other side of the world, and what it must of been like for them in those times. I was captivated by the people's stories and eager each reading day to see what developed next. A very somber story, but an eye-opener into history.

Loved this Book

I read this book when I was a kid and listen to it again as an adult. I love to just as much now as I did long ago.

A great one that got away

I can't believe I never read this classic. I was up until 2 in the morning listening to this wonderful work of art. A great story memorable characters. The audio was wonderful. The reader read each character so well. Highly reconsider!