The Good Earth - Pearl Buck

The story of a farmer in 1920s China, who begins as a small farmer, suffers abject poverty, and ends up building back up to becoming a rich man.

The story focuses on the family around him, both good and bad.

I loved it completely.

Particularly, I like the fine gradations of love that Buck draws - love doesn't mean one thing in the book; loves are romantic, familial, passionate, mixed with hate, sometimes pure.

I didn't previously know anything about Pearl Buck or China in the time period she's writing about. I would say that I don't feel I learned that much about 1920s China - the book is much more focused on the family dynamics than the society, though of course you get some of that too.

I picked it up on a whim at an excellent book store near my brother's house in Brooklyn and I'm glad I did.