Growing up, my reading choices were mostly limited to the books in my house, primarily my mother's collection of bestsellers from the previous generation. Among these were several titles by the 1938 Nobel laureate Pearl S. Buck. Though my memories of them are now somewhat hazy (except for indelible images like women's foot binding and men cutting off their queues), I've long wanted to revisit some of her works, perhaps in more modern translations. Dragon Seed is a historical novel centered on t...

Ling Tan is a Chinese farmer, living with his family and working the land just outside a city that remains unnamed, though it's clearly Nanking. "Dragon Seed" begins with a picture of their peaceful existence, shattered by the sudden intrusion of war. These peasants, who've never seen airplanes or bombs, are thrust into a brutal new reality. The invading soldiers demand their livestock and crops, forcing the family to hide some pigs in a remote location. Hardship becomes a constant, and the inva...

I'm getting into listening to Pearl S. Buck's books lately. She mainly wrote historical fiction set in China during the first half of the 20th century. She explores the lives of ordinary families, their traditions, and how they embraced the novelties of the century. This book, specifically, is about the Japanese invasion during WWII and follows the fates of a typical farming family and their community as a whole. The characters undergo a massive transformation. From:"I only need not resist. And ...

"Dragon Seed" tells the story of a rural family, primarily involved in agriculture. With the onset of World War II and the occupation of China, the lives of this family and other villagers are thrown into turmoil. Pearl S. Buck vividly portrays the daily and personal lives of the family members, along with the struggles of the Chinese people. She uncovers their secret resistance, the famine and starvation, the betrayal, corruption, prostitution, and other negative consequences of the war... A po...

"Dragon Seed" tells the epic story of Ling Tan and his rural family in China during the years of World War II. For the Chinese, the dragon is not an evil creature but a god, a friend to humans who revere it. It "holds prosperity and peace in its power." Ruler of the waters and winds, it sends good rain and is therefore a symbol of fertility. In the Hsia dynasty, two dragons fought in a terrible duel until they both disappeared, leaving only a fertile foam, from which the Hsia offspring arose. A...

What a grand novel to start the year with! A truly captivating read.Characters:Ling Tan: the fatherLao Er: 2nd son, Jade: his wife, with childLing Sao: mother and Ling Tan’s wifeWu Lien: husband of eldest daughter Orchid: married to eldest sonPansiao: youngest daughterLao Ta: eldest sonMr. Wei, Mayli: daughter to marry youngest son, Lao SanDragon Seed is the story of Ling Tan, a farmer in bucolic China, working the land of his forefathers and providing a home for his sons, daughters, and grandch...

There are so many reasons why I should have liked this more than I did. The book was published in 1941. The Second World War had not yet ended. The Nanjing Massacre and the subsequent occupation by the Japanese is the central theme of the book. In 1948 the International Military Tribunal for the Far East estimated that over 200,000 Chinese were killed in the *six weeks* of the massacre, beginning on December 13, 1937 when the Japanese captured Nanjing. Other estimates set the death toll to 350,...

For a while now, I've been curious about what life was like for farmers and people in remote areas during wartime. While major battles raged in cities and huge armies clashed, what did these other folks experience? How did the war impact them?Pearl S. Buck explores this very situation in the context of the Japanese invasion of China in the 1930s in *Dragon Seed*. She centers on the Ling family, who have lived on their land for generations, enjoying peace and prosperity for decades. Buck vividly ...

Pearl S. Buck tells the story of the Japanese invasion of China during WWII in *Dragon Seed* from the perspective of peasant farmers outside Nanking. The city is never named, and the Japanese are simply called the East-Ocean people. The book's language is simple, as if spoken by a Chinese farmer. Yet, the thoughts and feelings are beautifully expressed. Some parts are tough to read, but the story is told without the graphic details we often see today. Don't expect modern, liberated women here; ...

Very few books pack the emotional punch that *Dragon Seed* does. I've read it at least three times, and while I'm a huge Pearl S. Buck fan and have devoured over a dozen of her novels (by the way, she originally wrote her Asian novels in Chinese, which were then translated into English, explaining their incredible authenticity!), I always recommend *Dragon Seed* first, even before *The Good Earth*. It's a relatively short read, but incredibly powerful, and despite the horrors of war it portrays,...