Claire G

I was looking forward to reading this book about the conflict between science and religion. There are some interesting ideas presented but I ultimately found it confusing and fragmented. It is an ambitious attempt to ponder the beginning of life and it's origins through an alternative narrative of the book of Genesis. I never fully appreciated the connection with that and the life in the garden of Eden with Adam and Lucy. I did enjoy the descriptive quality of the writing and the relationship between these two people. Somehow though I am left wanting for more but I'm not sure for what. I felt I just wasn't getting the message the author intended. All in all a very interesting novel. I look forward to reading more by this author.

I chose this book because I really knew nothing about Pearl Buck and her life in China. It follows the lives of two girls, Pearl and Willow growing up in rural China as it evolves through to the Cultural Revolution of Mao. The details of the girls lives are fascinating. You get pulled into how life is in the small Chinese town of Chin-Kiang. It is fascinating to read how a missionary Absalom Sydenstricker, Pearl's father, brings Christianity into the villager's lives. The narrator of the story is Willow and we follow her struggles to exist and how much she was influenced by Pearl. This novel is filled with colorful detail and weaves a tapestry of images that are compelling. It made me want to read the Good Earth and to know more about China.