Pearl of China: A Novel

Anchee Min is an amazing writer that can really draw you deeply into the book; this book didnt once bore me! The book also showed me a different veiw on Pearl, rather then being always happy woman we imagine her to be. Anchee' min is absoutley one of my favortite authors and an extodnary story teller!

This was an interesting, readable take on life in China during early 20th cent. through Communist transition. I enjoyed the sense of nationhood and friendship despite obvious hardships and strains on both.

A compelling novel of how Pearl Buck’s insight and sensitivity to the Chinese and the Chinese culture might have evolved.

SUMMARY
PEARL OF CHINA is a fictional account of a lifelong friendship between Pearl S. Buck and Willow Yee in the small southern China town of Chin-kiang. Willow is the only child of a educated but destitute father, whose only way to survive is to steal from his neighbors. Pearl is the headstrong daughter of a fierce Christian missionary. The two are destined to meet, when Willow steals Pearl’s father’s wallet and Pearl catches her. This unlikely pair become life-long friends, confiding their beliefs and dreams, and experiencing love and motherhood together. As Communism was gaining power in China the Nationalist government believed all foreigners were the source of Communism and so began torturing and murdering foreigners. No one was safe. Pearl, her daughter and sister all fled on the last boat out of China, leaving their aged father behind. Willow would correspond with Pearl in the future, but they would never see each other again. Some sixty years later Willow makes a pilgrimage to America to spread Chinese dirt on Pearl’s grave.

REVIEW
From the title you assume the book is all about Pearl Buck’s life. The first portion of the book does focus on Pearl and Willow fictional childhood escapades; separating and shining eggs, watching a traveling opera troupe perform The Butterfly Lovers, and making corn explode into popcorn. As the two grow older and are separated by geography, the latter portion of the book turns to Willow’s involvement in the political history of China; from the nationalist and communist revolutions to Mao’s inner circle power struggles. Perhaps the major reason for including the political history here, is ANCHEE MIN’s desire to show how the relationship between Pearl and China evolved. Not a bad idea, execution could have been better

ANCHEE MIN’s goal was to “convey a full sweep of Pearl’s life and also tell her story from a Chinese perspective”. Given that Willow and Pearl never saw each other again after Pearl’s exile, I don't believe this book could quite be considered a full sweep. So many parts of Pearl’s life was missing. MIN also wanted to show us how Pearl’s insight and sensitivity into the Chinese and Chinese culture came about. That, I think she did compellingly through the stories of Pearl’s friendship’s with Willow and the Chin-kiang community.

My biggest take away from this book was a frustration with historical fiction, and a desire to read a true biography of Pearl Buck!

Anchee Min begins her story well and with a solid punch in introducing the desperate life of Willow and her family. Living a life of extreme poverty in China, Willow and her father follow the missionary, Absalom, and his church because they need the food they can get from him. This hypocritical patronage turns into a fierce loyalty and conversion for Willow's father and also for many of the people from their village. Willow meets, and is befriended by Pearl, Absalom's daughter and the two friends are cynical viewers of Absalom's fanatical mission to 'save souls' and Willow's father's scheming and unethical ways to obtain converts. The logic of how Willow's father goes about convincing people to convert is hilarious and these first few chapters are my favorite in the book.

However, when Anchee Min really gets into the historical aspect of the time - the rise of communism and the ejection of missionaries in China - this book is oddly subdued. The turmoil and violence of the time are barely communicated. It seems that as the girls age the pace of the novel becomes more and more hurried and Min squeezes events of huge magnitude into a few cursory pages. Willow's first marriage, abuse, escape and kidnapping is dealt with in almost a shadowy form where we don't really see her misery or feel for her pain. What could, and probably should, have taken a few chapters is quickly wrapped up and disposed of. The narration seems automatic and unemotional. I had a really had time finishing the rest of the novel simply because I kept thinking of how much better it could have been.

In sum, I think this story had the potential to be absolutely marvellous, but it falls quite a bit short.

My first time read of Anchee Min. I really enjoyed the fictional story of Pearl Buck's life in China. I found Pearl's best friend, Willow, a young scrapper of a girl and later a strong minded woman, a true friendship quite a likable character that I grew to respect through her difficulties. Since I do like history, I found the turmoil of China's change through the boxing days to Communist China most interesting. Can't believe what people can live through! Could I? Honestly, so much suffering, horrible living conditions, prison - horrible condition - starvation, torture and somehow Willow lived through all her great losses. I'm going to check out other novels by this writer.

Anchee Min has long been one of my favorite writers. Her first book, Red Azalea, is one that I have recommended many times to many people. In the beginning, I was seduced by her wonderful, lyrical writing. Both Red Azalea and her second book, Katherine, were not only gorgeously written but also full of an unexpected eroticism that seemed to deepen the writing and draw one even tighter into Min's literary web.

Over time, Min has changed her focus somewhat in order to tell China's history and provide us with her unique version of historical fiction to bring forth the lives of famous Chinese such as Madame Mao. Min is undeniably one of the best writers today in bringing Chinese life and history to the Western world. Her books are a pleasure to read not only for the sensitive prose but also for the sense of past times, the way politics and history have intertwined and influenced China as a country over time.

But what of her newest book? What of Pearl of China? Again, Min has taken on an actual person - in this case, the famous writer Pearl Buck - and has written a fictionalized version of her life based in quite a bit of historical fact. The book will not please Buck purists who are looking for a traditional biography. For one familiar with Buck and her life and work, perhaps Pearl of China will serve as a pleasant and fascinating "add on," or something to read after one has read a detailed biography.

Or, it is possible to read Pearl of China knowing nothing at all of Buck. Perhaps in the reading, one will become intrigued with the child of missionaries who grew up in China and later wrote insightful books about the country, winning literary prizes and gaining worldwide attention. Perhaps Min's latest writing will create an upswing of interest in Buck among younger readers. It is also possible to read Pearl of China without any emphasis on Buck at all and view her simply as a background character. After all, the book is more about Willow, Buck's childhood friend in China and her life. One of the most memorable characters in the novel is Papa, Willow's father who both comically and touchingly manages to walk a tightrope between Buddhism and Christianity and between con man and church man in order to survive through decades of difficult times in China.

Fans of Anchee Min will read this book, but it probably will not be anyone's favorite book by Min. In fact, Pearl of China feels very much like a Min running out of steam. Her writing - always very good - seems less lyrical, more narrative. One misses the poetic quality of her earlier novels. Also missing is the amazing eroticism that Min used to be able to render in almost every novel. Perhaps the idea of combining Pearl Buck with an erotic factor did not seem wise or even imaginable. But the romance that Min dreamed up for Buck did not seem to work either. Perhaps, in the end, Buck was too difficult and too real a person to fictionalize.

Min touches on the Boxer Rebellion and, as always, the Cultural Revloution in China. She manages - as usual - to fill her readers with the horrors of those times. She has done this so well, so many times over now, that one begins to wish for Min to ease up a bit on the political and allow herself to go back to the dream-like early writings with the pages that read as poetry and the building eroticism lurking behind the flowered words. At this point in her life, Min is, perhaps, too serious. Her own writing self seems to be too wired to past political traumas in China. Perhaps this is the time for her to try a different kind of novel. Pearl of China is not it. I, for one, am waiting for the poetry to come back.

Truth be known: The actual title of this fast-paced historical novel should be "Pearl and Willow," not just "Pearl in China." The story is just as much about Willow as it is Pearl. Why is that? Anchee Min, the author, writes from the viewpoint of Pearl's childhood friend, thus can only reveal what Willow knows. While Pearl is in America for over 30 years, Willow can reveal only the details of her own story and whatever she gleans about Pearl from newspapers and the few letters Pearl writes.

Whatever limitations exist in the novel, it remains informative and leaves the reader wanting to know more about this fascinating woman, Pearl Buck. Prior to reading this story, I knew that Pearl Buck grew up in China, was the daughter of missionaries, wrote "The Good Earth," and won the Nobel Prize in Literature. That's it. Now that I know the basics, I want to read more by and about this special writer/woman.

Anchee Min, herself an interesting subject, wrote her own memoir entitled "Red Azalea" about her experiences during the Cultural Revolution, especially under the influence of Madame Mao. These experiences and resulting book greatly suffuse "Pearl in China" with authenticity and abiding anger and utter disregard toward the Chinese co-leader. As a young woman Anchee Min wanted to read "The Good Earth" because it celebrated the Chinese peasant, but Madame Mao wanted nothing of Western influence in her country. In fact, this occurred during the time that Richard Nixon went to China. Initially, Pearl Buck was to accompany him, making it her first time in China in over 30 years. Madame Mao would not allow it and taught school children to hate Ms Buck as a "Western Imperialist."

After the Revolution was over, Min came to the United States. At some point at a book signing of her memoir, a customer gave her a copy of Ms Buck's "The Good Earth." Min was so moved, she decided then to write a historical novel about this American so compassionate toward Chinese peasants.

What I like about historical novels is that the writer can move the story forward without getting bogged down in historical minutiae frequently found in historical works. I also like the extrapolation concerning known facts and guesswork. One such event was the relationship between Pearl and beloved Chinese poet, Hsu Chih-mo, who considered Pearl "the most Chinese person" he had ever met. At the time both were married.

I loved this book, which has inspired me to read more about the Nobel winner. In addition to the suspected affair, other Buck biographical points rendered on paper were:
1. The almost fanatical dedication of her father Absalom to spreading Christianity to the Chinese people
2. Pearl's actual marriage and her husband's almost fanatical dedication to spreading modern (for the time) farming techniques
3. The story of Pearl's mentally challenged daughter
4. Willow's inside story of her marriage with one of the prominent Cultural Revolutionists (a stand-alone story in itself!)

There you have it--a review of a book well worth reading. Highly recommended!

In the novel "Pearl of China," Anchee Min, born in China in 1957 and now a resident of the United States, does her best to pay tribute to the life and influence of Pearl S. Buck as someone who successfully depicted the Chinese peasant with affection and veracity. Her main character Willow, a fictitious blending of many of Buck's childhood acquaintances from the village of Chin-kiang, represents the many faces of China during the turmoil of Willow's lifespan encompassing the late 19th and 20th centuries beginning with the Boxer Revolution and ending with the denouncement of Madame Mao and her regime of terrorism and murder. Min's tale speaks with authenticity in a simple yet strong voice that reveals the pragmatic survivor that will do anything to ensure her own continuance without knuckling under to the brutality, humiliation and stripping away of personal dignity in a dangerously paranoid and anti-capitalistic China.

As a daughter of the communist way of life and having no experience or knowledge of the existence of anything else, author Min was chosen by Madame Mao as the ideal proletariat to star in a propaganda film that was never finished. When Madame Mao's regime collapsed with the death of Mao, Min was found guilty by association. Disgraced as a collaborator she was punished with chores of menial labor designed to humiliate her. She knew she faced death and with the help of actress Joan Chen decided that her only option besides suicide was to escape to America. In 1984, she arrived in Chicago, speaking no English, only Chinese. Overwhelmed by the difference in lifestyle and the sting of having been lied to by the communist regime regarding the quality of life in America, she concentrated her efforts, dreaming only of assimilation through the power of language. She wished to speak English like an American. After working in a Chinese restaurant, she realized that all she knew how to say was "Kung Pao Chicken" and "May I take your order?" As this wasn't enough, she set her sights on becoming a secretary so that she could answer the phone like an American.

Her reason for writing initially was to master American grammar. But on another level, she was so tired of all the lies she had to tell to stay alive in China that she desired only to set the record straight. History, as told by the Chinese, in her opinion was incorrect and she did not want to stand by and let their version of history stand--she wanted to tell the story the way she lived it. Writing honestly, she says, is a result of her American renaissance, her American re-education.

And so, in "Pearl of China," Min rights the wrong. Buck was condemned by Mao's regime as an American imperialist even though Buck, nee Sydenstricker, considered herself more Chinese than American. As the child of missionaries, Pearl grew up knowing the real peasants of China; she lived and fought for their rights and those of the subjugated Chinese women for the forty years that she spent as a resident and for the remainder of her life in America as a Noble Prize laureate after she was forced to leave for fear of her life when the communists gained power of the government.

Min's art reflects life. As a student, she had been ordered to renounce Buck; she never questioned if Buck had been condemned for the benefit of the political regime and the brainwashing power it had over the people it controlled. It was only later, upon reading Buck's novel "The Good Earth (Paperback) Pearl S. Buck," did Min realize that Buck possessed a true love of the Chinese peasant and had portrayed these people with love, respect and great humanity. "Pearl of China," is a way for the author to make amends, to portray her homeland in the same manner that Buck did--with persistence and understanding. In particular she wishes to depict its people's willingness to transform in order to continue if not thrive.

Within the novel's 275 pages, as the reader listens to the voice of Willow, they can envision the bond between two children, one a typical Chinese--dark haired and almond-eyed--the other a wavy-haired blonde with blue eyes who wore a crocheted cap to conceal the difference in her coloring to blend in better with her peers. The background story of Pearl's father, the frenetic preacher Absalom, and his desire to ensure his churches growth in the small town and that of Willow's father, the sly Papa Yee, portrays the differences and similarities between the two cultures that clash and then out of necessity come together to survive due to the greater connection as human beings.

As the two women become adults, the usual issues that can end friendships come into play but fail to destroy a relationship that lasts over a lifetime. Willow and Pearl vie to express themselves, each in their individual ways. Both experience disastrous marriages and fall in love with men who they can have but must share with their larger worlds. These two main characters forever share their stage with a secondary cast of colorful local players that rival the distinctive peasant types created by Buck herself. Even when Pearl is forced to leave China and return to America, the friendship persists in the form of letters and warm thoughts.

At this point, Willow's narrative becomes the history of the beleaguered individual in a country where personal freedom did not exist and the threat to one's life could come from a frightened neighbor or a misspoken word. Willow, married to Mao's head of publicity, risks her life to remain true to her memories of Pearl and their friendship and like her creator is publicly denounced, punished and humiliated. It is here that Min's voice is strongest; her depictions of the cruelty inflicted on a populace that would either break or bend to the will of its power-crazed leaders startle the reader with their stark reality. Min doesn't pretty up her prose; she describes with a blunt intensity that makes one weep with sadness at the madness of those who think little of human life and the families that must betray their members just to stay alive. Key is her scene where Nixon visits the village home of Buck with whom he had hoped to travel and is greeted with ceremony reeking of the party line but also with the bravery of a town that although threatened with punishment nevertheless insures that Pearl hears their wishes for her albeit through a messenger.

Bottom line? In "Pearl of China," author Anchee Min shows that determination and craftsmanship allows her access to the title `writer.' Min wants her audience to know China; she wants the reader to become enriched by her story. She wants to remain Chinese--not lose her Chinese voice even though she is now an American. "Pearl of China" successfully depicts a China of great beauty, confusion and upheaval. Nim writes in English although this is not her first language. However, because of this, the prose although screaming with the brutality of the Cultural Revolution and its damage to the soul of the very people it supposedly freed, is at times emotionless in its bluntness. Peasants are depicted with the same authenticity of Pearl S. Buck herself, but again, there is an immature bareness to the tone that perhaps underlines a basic cultural difference. Nim only knew the mental confinement of communism--she lived and breathed it. Now she is like a butterfly, fully grown, emerging from a cocoon she didn't even know existed. She has much to tell--an entire culture to reveal. As the Chinese say about writing, "the wind shows its body through traveling leaves." Nim must learn the nuance--there are soft breezes and hurricanes--the leaves dance, fly, sail, coast and drop to the ground. Nim is determined and as she writes, she will discover the difference. I await her growth. Recommended for those who like Pearl S. Buck and want to see a portrait of China during the Cultural Revolution.
Diana Faillace Von Behren
"reneofc"

This novel envisions Pearl Buck's life in China. The story is told by a fictional childhood friend, Willow. The narrative somewhat parallels the Sydenstricker family's life in China as presented in Pearl Buck in China: Journey to The Good Earth through Pearl's young adulthood. Poetic license is taken with events following Nanking, for instance Absalom and Pearl go to Japan before Absalom returns to China.

The rigid missionary father Absalom, while headstrong and difficult, is somewhat air brushed. The emphasis on his wife, Carie's, gardening softens the misery of her life. Unlike most missionary children, Pearl does not go to a missionary school. She lives among the poor and develops native speaker fluency in several Chinese dialects.

The childhood stories are most likely realistic episodes of the lives of two such girls in rural China. After childhood, a lot of unreality mars the story. Willow's horrible marriage is plausible, but her rescue from it and subsequent life are not. How much free speech would a speech writer to Mao put up with in his home? Or more to the point, how long could the official (or such a marriage) last? The longevity of Papa and the other residents of Chin-kiang is questionable given the state of (mal)nutrition, lack of medicine and stress.

This is Min's fourth fictional biography. One covers Madame Mao and two cover the Empress Cixi. I believe this book is shaped by a different ethos. I'm speculating that the last chapter (and maybe the book as a whole) is the author's atonement for having had to denounce Pearl Buck (a person she had never heard of at the time) at the behest of Madame Mao.

While this is readable, and at times a page turner, it doesn't come up to the standard set in Min's Empress Orchid.

So says Pearl Buck in this fictionalized biography of the Nobel-winning author's career-shaping experiences in China, commenting on the sharp and violent political schisms that divided the country in the first half of the 20th century. Buck, who grew up thinking of herself as Chinese, ended up being forced out of one of her 'home' countries, as were so many other non-Chinese in the years that culminated in the Communist victory of 1949. This is the story of Pearl's relationship with China, told through the eyes of a Chinese novelist who was once forced to denounce the novelist and her works at the height of the Cultural Revolution.

The first half to-two thirds of this book, which is essentially the story of a friendship between Pearl and the fictional character of Willow Yee, a young beggar whose father ends up as the disciple of Pearl's missionary father, is excellent and even riveting in parts, giving the reader glimpses of life in China in the earliest years of the 20th century, from the Boxer rebellion and the violent attacks on foreign missionaries to the years in which warlords vied with each other for power. The growing ties between Willow and her family and Pearl and her parents transform the lives of Willow and her father, in particular; Willow becomes a witness to the experiences that Pearl would later transform into novels like The Good Earth. When they are parted, Willow faces life-altering challenges to her early loyalty to Pearl and to their friendship.

As long as Pearl and Willow are interacting, the story held me in its grip. But as they are pulled apart, the narrative began to feel more perfunctory, fragmented and choppy, almost like a series of vignettes featuring Willow (who narrates the whole book, an excellent way to tell the story.) At times, the narrative is downright rushed, compressing the decades between Mao's Great March and the 1950s into some 20 pages. It's as if when Pearl isn't part of the story, Willow's own story falters, which was disappointing. A lot of the time, I'll read books that feel padded or overwritten; this is one of those rare occasions when I thought more detail and a bigger, broader story would have swept me up more in Willow's own experiences. There were moments that were fabulous, like snapshots of Mme Mao in the caves of Yenan; they worked beautifully as satire and moved the story and themes forward. But I kept wondering "what else?" It felt perfunctory, and became increasingly so right up to what should have been the climax of the novel. The worst consequence, for me as a reader, is that some of the characters and relationships that emerge in the second half of the novel -- such as Willow's husband and daughter -- never felt as real or vivid as those she introduces in the first half, who were so alive that I could almost conjure up a mental image.

My biggest gripe about this book is something that struck me even more forcefully reading her last book, The Last Empress: A Novel, which I reviewed earlier. While this novel is ostensibly narrated by Willow, Min is almost a shadow narrator, and an omniscient one; there are too many interjections along the lines of "What Pearl did not know was that xxxx..." or "I didn't yet know that...". That works in a non-fiction history; perhaps in a memoir, but not in a novel. I didn't want to be told by the author when Pearl and Willow part for the last time; that spoiled what could have been a great suspenseful moment for me later in the book. At times, I felt as if I was reading a lively history book, with some dialog thrown in for good measure, the way that history documentaries are fleshed out with re-enactments of critical scenes.

To me, the first half of the book was dramatic, even startlingly good in parts, showing that it could have been even more compelling a portrait of China in the first decades of the 20th century, told through the eyes of someone with an obvious understanding of those changes as well as the ability to stand back and think about their meaning. So when it fell flat, and I found myself plodding through Willow's various trials later in the book, flicking ahead to see how many pages were left and not really experiencing the events with her (as I think a reader should with a first-person narrator 200-plus pages into a book), I was disappointed. It lacked the emotional power need to transform a good book into a 'thumping good read' in that second half; hence it's only a 3.5-star book for me. I've rounded up, true, but it doesn't measure up to a lot of other novels I've rated 4 stars in the past because it just didn't rivet my attention as much.

I do hope this novel causes more readers to seek out and discover some of Buck's own novels, not just the Good Earth. Some of my personal favorites, which I started reading decades ago and still re-read, include Kinfolk (Oriental Novels of Pearl S. Buck),Pavilion of Women (which has its own wonderful portrait of friendship between a Chinese women and two utterly incompatible characters, a Western missionary and a very different kind of Chinese woman) and Three Daughters of Madame Liang (Buck, Pearl S. Oriental Novels of Pearl S. Buck, 4th,). No, Buck didn't deserve to stand alongside literary greats like Thomas Mann in receiving the Nobel Prize, and some of her short stories, in particular, are romanticized pablum. But that doesn't mean that she and her novels should be ignored. In fact, I'd argue that her own novel of Tzu Hsi, Imperial Woman (Buck, Pearl S. Oriental Novels of Pearl S. Buck, 3rd,), is a far better read than Min's more stilted two-volume biography of the last empress of China. Whether you end up enjoying this book more than I did or not, I'd definitely recommend seeking out those four Buck novels.

Edited to add: I have just caught up on a book that was published a year or so ago, The Calligrapher's Daughter: A Novel. Set in Korea during a similar time frame, I found it far more appealing as a novel, both in terms of the characters and the writing style. There are some similarities in plot -- there are Christian missionaries in both, along with Japanese invaders and hardships -- but I found Kim's book more polished and intriguing. So an additional shout-out to that as an alternative or in addition to Min's book.

I have long admired Anchee Min's works, whether it was an account of her coming-of-age in Maoist China in Red Azalea, or tracing the life of Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi (although a revisionist version) in Empress Orchid] or [[ASIN:0547053703 The Last Empress: A Novel, Min has a gift for story-telling. In `Pearl of China', Min deftly captures the life of Nobel laureate Pearl S. Buck (who won the esteemed prize for The Good Earth (Paperback) Pearl S. Buck). Min was forced to denounce the author as an "American cultural imperialist" during her youth in Maoist China (the period of the Cultural Revolution) and it was only decades later that Min actually had the chance to read "The Good Earth" and realized Pearl's sincere love for the Chinese people. This novel as such can also be viewed as a conciliatory gesture and this background knowledge made me appreciate the story all the more, as it has a very personal feel to it.

In telling the story of Pearl, Min drew on Pearl's actual friends from varying periods in her life and invented a fictional female friend, Willow Yee, who is so seamlessly woven into the story that one could very well believe Willow was a real historical figure. She seems so alive and the friendship between Pearl and Willow is so credibly portrayed that one could easily believe this friendship really existed. Such is Min's talent for bringing these characters to life. In the story, Pearl, the daughter of missionaries, feels awkward and conspicuous in the Chinese village with her striking blue eyes, and blond hair. An enduring friendship forms between Pearl and Willow, one that binds them through bleak times and separations. The story also traces the girls' maturation as childhood gives way to adulthood, and readers get to see their friendship unfold against the backdrop of China's complicated and tumultuous history. Though this is a work of historical fiction, Min does a credible job of weaving in China's political history. At times, I could not really tell which parts were fiction and which were actual historical events (for that one has to read a work of non-fiction regarding China's political history). It would have helped if the author had put the work in actual context by providing some explanations at the end of the text. On the whole though, this novel paints a credible portrait of time, place, and characters all too real. Bittersweet and heartrending, I was saddened when it ended.

'One slip in tone and `Good morning' becomes `Let us go to bed together'.'

While this novel is constructed around the early life of Pearl S. Buck in China, she is only part of the unfolding story. The protagonist is a fictional Chinese girl named Willow, the only child of a destitute family living in Chin-kiang at the end of the 19th century. Pearl Sydenstricker was the elder daughter of zealous Christian missionaries from America stationed in China. Pearl and Willow become good friends, and this friendship is sustained through the disruption caused by the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 and Pearl's removal first to Shanghai and then to the USA for education.

Time moves on: both Willow and Pearl marry and live very different lives. The novel touches on Pearl's later life, but increasingly it becomes a story of Willow and a China in uproar - especially after the Nanking Incident in 1927. Pearl left China permanently in 1934, and was not allowed to return. China's 20th century history is woven into the novel and through Willow's eyes we experience the turmoil of the civil war, and the rise of Mao.

I have mixed feelings about this novel. I enjoyed the introduction to Pearl's early life and liked the character of Willow as a link to Pearl but also as a narrator of the changes in China. Pearl's role changed over the course of the novel: at the beginning she had a clear, vibrant role. By the end Pearl's influence, but not her presence was the defining force. But perhaps that is the key: this is a novel and those who want to know more about Pearl S.Buck will find other sources. Those who want to know more about `her' China need look no further than her novels.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

"Pearl of China" is a fictionalized biography of Pearl Buck told from the point of view of her childhood friend, Willow. Willow is from a once well-to-do family who had lost everything. She becomes a thief in order to survive and help feed her family. One day she's caught in the act by a strange little girl who wears a black cap to cover her blonde curls so she'll fit in better. Pearl is the daughter of the local missionary who is trying with limited success to convert people to Christianity. Oddly enough, these two girls become lifelong friends and through their friendship we catch a glimpse of China and why Pearl Buck loved it so much. Forced to leave just before WWII, she always hoped to return but politics and the communist party always got in the way. Despite their forced separation, Pearl and Willow continued to correspond until intercepted letters landed Willow in prison. Even then, they never forgot each other.
When both Willow and Pearl are in the story, it had more power. The parts about just Willow and her life were less interesting but still compelling. She suffered much because she would not denounce her dearest friend during the Cultural Revolution. I don't know just how much of this story is factual beyond the broad brushes, but I think this book gives interesting insight into China and her people. Anchee Min's writing is delightful, full of poetry and beautiful metaphors. After "Pearl of China," I'm planning to read other books by this author as well as reread "The Good Earth" which won Pearl Buck the Pulitzer Prize for literature. Another author I'd recommend is Han Suyin who lived in China for many years. One of her books (probably out of print) was the basis for the movie "Love is a Many Splendored Thing." I'd also suggest Lisa See ("On Gold Mountain," and "Snowflower and the Secret Fan") or Amy Tan ("Joy Luck Club") who are Americans with deep familial connections to China's culture.

Willow is a young Chinese peasant who befriends the daughter of a Christian missionary, Pearl, in the rural town of Chin-kiang. Willow's father is a trickster who pretends to convert to Christianity and works with Absolom, Pearl's father, to spread the word of God amongst other Chinese peasants. When the natives begin to show hostility toward foreigners, Pearl is sent to Shanghai for safety. Her education takes her even farther as she returns to America for college, but the friendship with Willow endures. Both girls - now women - suffer disappointing marriages, but for a time they are reunited in China as Pearl's husband seeks to teach new agriculture techniques to the Chinese people. But as the 1949 Revolution comes ever closer, Pearl is forced to leave the country again. When Mao rises to power, Willow's husband rises with him, but her refusal to denounce her childhood friend lands Willow in hot water. Through trials and tribulations, the friendship between Willow and Pearl endures, but at a great price.

As a child, author Anchee Min was ordered to denounce Pearl S. Buck, and for years she believed the American woman to be a toxic enemy of the Chinese people. It wasn't until Min came to the United States that she read `The Good Earth', Buck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about pre-Revolution life. It almost seems like writing this fictional account of Buck's life was a form of penance for Anchee Min, penance for accepting Mao's assertion that Buck was evil without questioning it.

It's an interesting story, and I enjoyed reading it. The first third of the book, during the girls' childhood, did a great job establishing the characters and life in the backwaters of China. But as the girls grow into young women, the story starts speeding up, and the account becomes rather rushed. Willow's first marriage is barely mentioned and glossed over; Pearl is overseas for years at a time and disappears from the narrative entirely. By the time Mao came to power, I felt like I was watching a movie with the fast-forward button on. I could tell what was happening, but I was missing the nuance and depth that really makes the story exciting.

One effect of the book is it made me really want to read more of Pearl S. Buck's books. I read 'The Good Earth' in high school and `Imperial Woman' a few years back, but there are so many other titles to check out!

I suspect that there will be a movie version (perhaps directed by Joan Chen, who engineered the author's immigration) of Anchee Min's novel told by Willow, an imagined boon companion of the missionary's daughter growing up in Zhenjiang in the eastern coastal Chinese province of Jiangsu (Chin-kiang in the Wades-Gilles romanization Min uses). Pearl's father enrolled Willow's devious father as a deacon in the church he had built. Having been saved by Absalom Sydenstricker in several senses other than the religious one, Papa eventually becomes a pillar of the church after religion is banned as poison by the Mao (communist) dynasty.

Although often reading like the missionary-valorizing narratives that I checked out of my evangelical church's library as a child, there is more illicit (that is, extramarital) romance in Pearl of China than in those books, and a decided feminist sensibility with both Pearl and Willow chafing against the expectations of subservience on the part of their husbands. The literary merits of Pearl of China are in the same league as those uplifting Christian stories and in Buck's books other than The Good Earth.

Once Pearl is evacuated by gunboat in 1927 (the historical "Nanjing Incident" in which foreigners were murdered and in which the Sydenstricker were rescued by an American gunboat), the dramatic history in which Willow is involved is rushed through, slowing for Madame Mao's unsuccessful attempts to force Willow to denounce Buck as an enemy of the Chinese people, Nixon's visit, and Willow's visit to Buck's grave at Green Hills Farm near Perkasie, Pennsylvania.

I consider the book "chick lit," particularly for the middle part rivalry for the elegant celebrity poet. Though Buck's philanthropic activity, mostly on behalf of orphans in Asian country, is only mentioned in passing, it prompted me to read a bit more. I think that Buck perhaps received a Nobel Prize in the wrong category, that she should have received the Peace Prize instead of the one for Literature.

Min involves readers in the life of members of the Chinese underclass of the early 20th century, as Buck did. It seems to me that for Willow to have one famous playmate is enough ,without being in love with a Chinese poet who was the love of Buck's life. To also place her in the inner circle of the Maoist revolution and state and conversing with Richard Nixon exceeds my ability to suspend disbelief, crossing into Forrest Gumpland... though what happens to those who trusted in Mao's protection is more than credible.

Pearl Buck, although a Nobel Prize winner, has been nearly forgotten for a while, recently, with growing interest in China, there is a renaissance of her writings and herself.

Anchee Min's novel is a tribute to Buck as a strong woman, a writer, and an advocate of Chinese people. The story, narrated by Willow Yee, Pearl's childhood friend, encompasses many decades of the 20th century, so tempestuous time in Chinese history.

Willow recalls her (fictional) meeting with Pearl, but also paints a vivid portrait of the American missionary Absalom Sydenstricker, Pearl's father, so passionate about converting Chinese villagers to Christianity, that he did not have time for his own family, and his homesick wife, Caroline. From early childhood, Pearl, fluent in Chinese, wanted to identify with and help her neighbors.

After her studies in America (which Willow resented, because of their separation), married to the agricultural scientist, John Lossing Buck, Pearl returned to China (and her friendship with Willow continued) and struggled to become a recognized writer and make the social issues of the Chinese people a valid subject. Although unhappy in marriage and disappointed as a mother, Pearl did not lose het enthusiasm and passion for life.

When the Chinese revolution of 1949 approached, all foreigners were advised to leave China and Pearl followed this advice. From that point, the story concentrates on Willow's life in the communist China. Although the focal point has shifted, Pearl Buck is present in Willow's life memories and her neighbors follow her accomplishments as they can, knowing that she supports them, even though she is officially branded by Mao as an enemy of the Communist China... Will Willow, a loyal friend, meet Pearl again, like she desperately wishes?

Many characters, although hilarious and not ideal, are strong-willed, real people who fight for their freedom - and these people are the second, equally important, topic of "Pearl of China".

This beautiful story is written with compassion, skill and deep knowledge of both subjects: Pearl Buck and China. Anchee Min wrote a book, which should encourage the readers to become acquainted with Pearl Buck's novels.

A fictional account of acclaimed author Pearl S. Buck's life is the basis of Anchee Min's latest, Pearl of China. As a fan of both Anchee Min and Pearl Buck, I was eager to read this and was not disappointed. I've loved Pearl Buck since I picked up The Good Earth years ago, but I didn't know much about her. Yes, I could have Googled or Wikipedia'd her, but I didn't. I waited for someone to release a book about her and I'm glad I did.

To introduce us to Pearl, the author creates the fictional character Willow. The only child of a poor family in Chin-kiang, Willow initially sees Pearl and her family of missionaries as easy prey for food and money. Eventually the girls become best friends and so starts a friendship that lasts over sixty years.

Though this is a fictional account of the life of Pearl Buck, the history of China upon which it is set are not. The civil war between the Nationalists and Communists, as well as the rise of Emperor Mao were very real events that Pearl Buck lived through.

What did you like about this book?
I learned so much about Pearl Buck that I didn't know. Presented the way Anchee Min does makes it a much more enjoyable read than perhaps a regular memoir would have.

What didn't you like about this book?
There was a lot of Chinese poetry mixed in. While I would have welcomed some, it became a bit too much, especially as Buck's university days were explored.

What could the author do to improve this book?
Once Buck departed China the bulk of the story became that of Willow. I would have liked to have learned more about Buck's years in America after living in China for more than half her life.

Novelist Anchee Min's PEARL OF CHINA is a pivotal story about writer Pearl Buck's early childhood in Chin-Kiang during the period in which her father Absalom served as a Christian Missionary priest during the most historic periods in China's history. The books spans decades from China's transition at the end of the Qing dynasty, the country's move towards a political revolutionary era, early presence of Mao's China and conflict in Nanking, the publication of Buck's legendary Nobel Prize winning novel THE GOOD EARTH, and concludes during the Mao-Nixon era. While these events were occurring, Pearl fosters a memorable friendship with Willow, daughter of a servant who worked for Pearl's family.

Throughout the book the story paints a vivid picture of the Chinese landscape within the small town of Chin-Kiang as well as the turmoil that progresses within the cityscapes. Despite the unfortunate circumstances within China's political reality, the complex relationship between Communism and Christianity, though told through the fictional angle of a historic novel, the lens of a peaceful and hopeful China was possible as told through the eyes of Pearl, Willow, and their family members. Indeed, Absalom provides the symbolic meaning of how faith can possibly move mountains or at least show an inkling of hope within the harsh reality of turmoil.

PEARL OF CHINA is a beautifully written and extremely touching story that exhibits the sincere relationship that blossomed between Pearl and Willow from childhood when the two attended a performance of the opera "The Butterfly Lovers" and adulthood that intermingled with marriages, births, deaths, and separation amidst the historic ironies. But most importantly, the rich culture and customs that interweaves and bridges the understanding between East and West as told through the eyes of these two women and the families and faith they possessed that helped to shape and sustain the bond that lasted through turbulent times that was not at all romanticized.

'Pearl of China' vividly spans the tumultuous history of China from the late 19th century to the 1980's through the prism of the life of Pearl S. Buck, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature, and her Chinese childhood friend, Willow, a fictionalized device used to propel the story through the decades. Willow, a poor peasant girl befriends Pearl when her missionary parents arrive in Chinkiang at the very end of the 19th century. When we meet the friends they are ten years old. Pearl had been brought to China at only a few months old. She is almost as Chinese as Willow. She is fluent in Mandarin and many Chinese dialects, and prefers chopsticks to a knife and fork. Her parents are dedicated Christian missionaries, her father fanatically so. Yet Pearl's parents win the hearts and minds of the Chinese of the town. Pearl lives in China on and off for almost 40 years.

The play of great historical forces are portrayed through the lives of these two women - the Boxer Rebellion and China's attack on foreigners living within her borders, the Nangking Incident which causes Pearl to flee China, the Nationalist battles with the Communists, the assumption of power by Mao, the torture and deprivation of the Cultural Revolution and the opening of China to the West once again with the visit of President Nixon. The breadth of these events is both a strength and weakness of the novel. It gives the reader a vivid, albeit brief history of China, yet at times it feels strained because it must cover so much material in a mere 275 pages. Still the suffering of the Chinese people throughout these events is brought to life through the story of Willow who marries a higher up in the Communist Party, and Pearl who has a failed marriage and a mentally disabled child and goes on to write 'The Good Earth' and dozens of others novels of china.

Alway at the forefront of the novel is Pearl Buck's livelong love of China and all things Chinese. As was her wish, her gravestone has no words on it in English, only Chinese.

The fictionalized Willow is truly the protagonist in this novel. It is difficult to know how much of her story reflects the real story of Pearl Buck's friends. This is the problem with historically fictionalized characters in general. The story is a very easy read, flowing in simple prose. We do learn a great deal about Pearl Buck's early years in China but as the book progresses she is more of a distant shadow.Her life in America is barely covered. Her most famous claim to fame, The Good Earth, is merely a few sentences in the text. This was a disappointment for me. The history of China looms large in this novel and held my interest prompting me to read more about the Cultural Revolution. The novel is definitely worth a read, but fell short for me because Pearl Buck got lost in the latter part of the book, her story taking second place to that of a a fictionalized character.
The final letter that Willow burns at Pearl's Grave sums up a long saga of a China that reflects such dichotomy..........a land of intolerance and violence and a land of exquisite beauty and grace........a land that Pearl S Buck loved and held on to even in exile and death.!!

I chose this book because I've enjoyed everything else I've read by Anchee Min, she is a great storyteller and has an amazing talent of taking historical events of a culture that a lot of Americans know little about and making it come alive. In real life, Anchee Min was ordered by the Chinese government to denounce Pearl Buck who was thought to be a threat to China by writing the truth behind the lives of women in China.

This book started off a little slow...and what I mean by that is that it was more like several short stories divided up into chapters. Once it started flowing, the ending came too quickly as is typical with books I really enjoy :)

You'll love meeting the characters Willow Yee and Pearl Buck (who is actually a real person) and reading Min's version of Pearl's life growing up as an American in China as told from the point of view of her fictional best friend, Willow. It starts off with them as children in a small village in China, Willow the only child of a beggar/thief, Pearl as the oldest daughter of an American missionary and his wife. As they grow, their lives together weave in and out as Pearl travels to Shanghai to boarding school, then to the U.S. for college and Willow is sold off as a wife. They both find love, loss, joy, success and though the miles separate them eventually, they never forget one another.

Anchee Min illustrates a quite remarkable ability to spin a yarn of whole cloth by weaving the lives of the noted author Pearl Buck and her friend Willow Yee in a meandering tale that's as complicated as the Yangtze River in China. Admirable plot and sub-plot. Rich in history and perspective. Too bad this book in banned in China. Even today, when Pearl Buck not longer is consider a running dog imperialist, and is even deified in her home town of Zheng Jiang, Anchee Min still cannot be published. Silly. And sad.
After finishing this book, I'm determined now to return to The Good Earth and other books by Pearl Buck, a woman who clearly had her heart and head in two cultures.

Min clearly knows much about the era in China. She's a student of Pearl Buck. She has valuable insights into the roles of Mao and Madame Mao and others. But she should try her hand at a non-fiction version. In this book she turns what could be first rate political, social and literary commentary into a second rate novel. There is an extensive metaphorical account of how Mao purged his former supporters. Also insights into the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. It's better done by Henry Kissinger in "On China.' There is a very fanciful depiction of Pearl in childhood. Later there's a not very credible account of Madame Mao denying Buck the right to visit China with Nixon along with an incredible meeting of Min's narrator, Willow, with Nixon. The book ends with a visit of Willow to Buck's grave in America after a former war lord takes the place of Pearl's preacher father in China.

My father was a traveling executive, and he would stop in the airport bookshops and bring me a paperback book from his journeys. He started me on Pearl Buck at a very young age, and it's a love that continued throughout my adulthood. I read every book Pearl wrote before I reached 20 and have read them again since. This is an excellent biography which tells a lot about Pearl's early life and what made her the incredible woman she was. Her Mother was a tremendous influence in both Pearl's life and the entire community. If you loved Pearl's writings, you must read this book. Anchee Min captures the essence of China, and her stories of the revolution are well worth heeding. Don't be surprised if you need a box of tissues at the end.