Growing up in Mao's China, Anchee Min was taught that "Pearl Buck insulted Chinese peasants therefore China" and that "The Good Earth was so toxic that it was dangerous even to translate". Then living in America and reading the book, she wept, "never having encountered any author who wrote about our peasants with such admiration, affection and humanity". This novel about Pearl Buck's life seen through the eyes of one of her childhood friends is the result.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 60 Spring 2011 ) |