The Mother: A Novel

Pearl Buck's books are all fascinating. What life is really like, mostly in farm country, in Asia. Their customs, food, family ties. I love all of her books because they take me to another time and place.

In the tradition of the classic Pearl Buck, this one does not disappoint. Much like her best known novel, The Good Earth, The Mother tells of the hardships the Chinese women endure as they live their roles of wives, mothers, daughters-in law, mothers-in-law and friends. They sacrifice out of love and duty. The reader may not understand her actions, her motives, but will respect her strength and endurance.

Sue

Bearl Buck never ceases too amaze. Her novels of China are so full of color. I have read everything she has written and have read the Imperial Woman and The Good Earth twice. Though The Mother was a truely sad tale, you felt as though you were right there experiencing the heartbreak.
Even so, I loved it.

this book was helpful in understanding the culture and as a result have deeper feelings for the people as individuals when you meet them.this contributes to being a peace maker and not a trouble maker in this world; and we need peace more than ever.

Fascinating look into the poverty and hardships of rural Chinese. While it was difficult to read so many depressing things lived through by the Mother, it was inspiring to experience her strength and perseverance.

I've read many of Pearl Buck's books years ago and enjoyed them, and as this was one which I hadn't read, I thought it would equal her previous stories.
I found it disappointing as it revolves around the life of a very poor Chinese woman, who lives a life of drudgery, working as a farmer in the countryside, at the time of the communist revolution. She has barely ever left the village in which she lives. Her husband has left her and she has to bring up her children alone. Nothing ever really comes of her life, and she dies in the end. It left me feeling rather depressed and sorry that I had not chosen a more uplifting book to read!

i am a fan of mrs buck but this book was not my favorite. altough i know and accept she has a formula, neither the plot nor the characters felt special this time. the good earth series was a marvel and i'm starting to suspect she put all she had in that one. again we are introduced to an overcrowded farming family, the young ones, the old one, hard working husband and wife are all there. times are hard, taxes are high, farmers are poor tax collectors are rich.the poor try to live happy and content but misery finds them and claims their speck of happiness. but guess what, at the end there is new life and there is hope. family (no matter how dysfunctional) is the source and the means and the end - as always is in her books.

This is a very short book and I finished it in a couple of days. The main character, the mother of the title, is never identified by more than that title. The novel depicts the struggles of a woman's struggles in a changing society (as it says in the description on this web site. At the same time there is much that is universal. The mother of the title is a very ordinary woman with very ordinary faults as well as virtues. She succumbs to temptation. She is blind to the faults of one of her children and puts off doing something she knows she needs to do for another child because of the pressures of every day life and the crisis brought on by her husband's desertion. At the same time she is hard working and kind to her elderly mother-in-law.

Pearl Buck's books of the 1930s and 1940s were among the first to introduce Americans to the Chinese way of life. In "The Mother," Ms. Buck takes an in-depth look into the life of a peasant woman who lives in a poor hamlet at the dawn of the communist era - when ancient and modern Chinese ideals collided. Her life is fraught with hardship, and her views are tainted by centuries-old patriarchal tradition. Her few joys are simple - a love of food and the longing for male grandchildren sustain her through days of drudgery. Her life is touched by the consequences of both "old" and "new" Chinese culture in ways I will not reveal here, as I don't want to ruin the story.
While the book's prose has, on occasion, been criticized for its archaic style, Buck merely presents her story in language that mirrors the peasant colloquial of the day. This use of language and Buck's wonderful descriptive abilities transport the reader to the nameless mother's home, and open a window into the thought processes that governed her daily travails and simple pleasures. Buck's gift for storytelling is once again in evidence in "The Mother," and her elegant writing style evokes vivid imagery. All of the book's characters remain nameless throughout the novel - an effective convention used by the author to emphasize the fact that this story could be applied to any of millions of "faceless" Chinese peasant families. It also references the way peasant women may have felt about themselves - faceless servants at the will of their husbands, families, and circumstance. There is a subtle political message within the story as well - it isn't difficult to discern how Ms. Buck felt about Communists and the role of the peasant class in Chinese society.
"The Mother" is an excellent story - this quick read will leave a lasting impression on you.

Novel about a woman living in early 20th century China, always referred to by the author as "the mother", a poor woman who endures many hardships during her lifetime. The writing style took some getting used to, but after reading a few pages, I enjoyed it very much. I would like to read more books by this author. I highly recommend this book, especially for a book club reading. There are a lot of things in this book that are good discussion material.

For any woman who's feeling a bit put-upon, a bit hard done by, "The Woman" would soon shake her back into perspective.I know that this has ever been the lot of women in poor farming communities in third world countries, but it's frightening to realise just how little things have changed since these long past times of the beginning of the beginning of communism in China.We never learn the mothers name as she is simply that--the mother of the children of a poor farmer, a co-worker in the fields and the carer of his elderly mother. It's a hand to mouth existence with only the hope of enough food to sustain them on a daily basis and enough money from the crops that they can spare to be sold, to pay the rent of their fields. When her husband runs off in search of a more exciting life, the mother is left with the care of the family and is forced to work like a beast of burden in order to exist. Only her indomitable spirit sustains them ,even though her life is shattered by a series of events that would break a lesser woman.

If you like The Good Earth, you will love this book - written in a similar style, which some have called mechanical, but is, in actuality, an archaic form of language - I always feel like I'm reading a story from the Bible or some other ancient text. This is the way the Chinese language of the people would be translated into English - the language of the book moves along gracefully and strikes a chord deep within you. This is not just the story of one woman, but of many. Buck's characters have the feel of archetypal beings - not at all "cardboard", as some have claimed, but types that everyone can recognize, whatever the culture they live in.
Yes, the Mother has her faults - and you may not always sympathize with her decisions, such as when she decides to end a pregnancy- however, the way in which the writer delves into the mind and heart of her character, you can at least see WHY she makes her decisions, and this makes one less judgmental, more compassionate. It made me think of all the women in the world who have had to make the decisions the Mother had to make, about her life, her marriage, her children, her pregnancies, her family honor. You really do feel for this character: When, in the end, she rejoices, you rejoice with her. I definitely recommend this book!

The Mother had so many hurts that she endured while doing a man's labor while working the land. No matter what the land had to be tended for that was their lifeline to survival. Starting with the abandonment of her husband her life continued to be a heartbreaking struggle that she always rose to the challenge and succeeded. Failing was not an option. The land and family was. The only importance in the woman's life.

This book certainly gives a clear picture of the trials and tribulations of a poor woman in China: the arranged marriage, the terrible poverty, the problem of lost vision due to lack of medical care, the social mores that required respect for the elderly. I was amazed at the ingenuity of the mother in coping with her problems. It is not a happy read, but an enlightening one.

Pearl S. Buck, The Mother (Pocket, 1934)
It is hard to know what to make of this early novel (her fourth) by Pearl S. Buck, who had won the Pulitzer Prize the year before for The Good Earth (her second) and would, in a few years, be a Nobel laureate. Hard because it is difficult to reconcile such a widely-acclaimed author with a novel such as this.
In her autobiography, Buck mentions that she almost destroyed the manuscript of The Mother, fearing it wasn't as good as her previously published novels. In this, she was correct. The Mother is not so much a novel as it as a combination of character study and morality play. Other reviewers have commented on the Biblical nature of the events herein, which is likely as apt a description as one is likely to find. The story revolves around, of course, a mother. She is never named, nor are any other members of her family (her husband's last name is mentioned once in the book's two hundred pages, but in such a way as to make it as forgettable as possible). One assumes this is an attempt to give the characters an "everyman" quality. The mother and her family have a hard life, and the mother's life gets harder as time goes on. The crux of the story happens about halfway through the novel, when she is forced to make a decision she ends up regretting for the rest of her life; she blames her hardships from there on out on that decision, forgetting that the hardships that came before put her in that position. (In other words, this is not a criticism of the novel so much as of the character; it is entirely possible Buck meant the character to be erroneous in her judgments, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.) In essence, the novel becomes the chronicles of the hardships of one person, a relentless, depressing catalog of failures unleavened by any successes whatsoever.
Other reviewers have also commented on the universality of the character. I pity them, and anyone else who overidentifies with the mother here. Anyone who has truly suffered this much hardship without the slightest glimmer of joy has been dealt the worst of lots in life, and need all the escapism they can get. It is probable, however, that the majority of readers do, at least, have a few moments of happiness, or at least contentment, now and again. They are rather more likely to question the tunnelvision of the character, and perhaps that of the author as well. Rightly so. * ½

In Pearl Buck's autobiography, "My Several Worlds," she reveals that she almost destroyed the manuscript of "The Mother", feeling that it was not worthy of publication. Had this happened, literature would have suffered a great loss. The characters that Ms. Buck created here - the tragically blind daughter, the grandmother who wears her own shroud in anticipation of death, and especially the mother - are exquisitely drawn and memorable. The suffering of the mother, whose life after the strange disappearance of her husband seems an endless series of heartbreaks, is almost unbearable for the reader. But ultimately the mother is comforted, as is every mother, by the birth of children and grandchildren. This is the story of a seemingly insignificant woman, worlds away from me, whose dreams and longings and difficulties are not so very different from my own. This book is definitely and very enthusiastically recommended.

Wonderful book. Makes you think that as a mother to love all your children and treat them the same
You should not always feel sorry for yourself as it only makes you bitter. Think positive thoughts. Every one has something to be happy about.

I normally read horror books but another reviewer who made the remark, something to the effect, "any woman who thinks she has it hard should read this" just grab my attention. I loved this book. It was insightful, delightful and informative all in one. So for me, as a avid horror fan, can delight and other emotions in reading this book, all I can say is you will not be disappointed.

A very sad story with lots of poverty, abuse, etc. I have not read Buck's The Good Earth, which my friends really liked. I wish I had read it first as this book turned me off on her books. I don't recommend it.

The story was interesting but slow. The mother was cruel and I felt no sympathy towards her. She created her own problems, but she never quite saw it that way. My problem with the book was that I never connected with the
charaters. It was as if I was on the outside looking in, watching the story evolve, but not really caring. I like to get
involved in a story.

No stars. I downloaded the book. Started to read it placed a book mark closed the book.I came back and can't bring the book back up.it acts like the book has a virus. Different font no letters...just symbols. No chapters nothing and the book wasn't free

The Mother reads like a Chinese fable in which simplicity reigns supreme. Pearl Buck, the ever grand storyteller, weaves this dark tale of a woman's wretched life. The reader may thoroughly be entertained by the story but one never truly enters the story with a deep knowledge of any of its characters except the mother. No one is given a name. It's always elder brother, younger brother, old mother, first cousin's wife, etc.. The mother is not a particularly likeable character though she starts off as a positive figure. Eventually she makes enough mistakes in her life that you can't help but come to believe she's an exceptionally inadequate mother. I believe the title of the book leads you to believe she is inherently good. The fact that she favors one child over the other two is abominable. Why Pearl Buck often describes the mother as a dog in heat also strips her of any dignity. I would recommend the book to American women because it's an excellent reminder of the life some women still have to live in this day and age. They don't have the privileged life of gym memberships and treatments at the spa! The story is actually refreshing in a strange way because it lacks any type of technology. It's a story about relationships, but first and foremost, it will read like a "once upon a time..."

I really enjoyed this book. As a parent myself you only want what is best for your child.Sometimes you make choices as mother did with her daughter that you cannot forsee and in your own heart you cannot forgive.Life for mother was a hard and painful at times yet she found the good too.

I loved Pearl Buck and this is great... The story of a mother whose husband left her with nothing but the children to raise. It is the story of a very human woman who has problems just as we all do, and how she dealt with it. I think one reason I loved this story is that no matter what culture or time period, we all are human and have these things to deal with. Basic human nature is pretty universal, and this story shows it.