Dear Shadow Mountain Bookclub Ladies,
We met last Thursday at Karen Noel's beautiful new home..cozy around the fireplace and had a great time. Not sure, but I think Karen locked her husband in the office... but not counting him, we had the largest turnout so far. The book The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck brought out many issues... the turbulent history and poverty of China from 1880-1930...the culture of marriage and concubines.... man's relationship to the land... and the treatment of women in general, including footbinding of young girls. Lots of springboards for lively opinions... especially around the incident of O-Lan stealing the jewels... was it right or wrong? was is justified? Did it bring her more land or did it bring her own downfall? ---both sides supported their argument well.
In general I think we came away with gratitude for 1) living in America, 2) having rights as women and being valued in our society, and 3) having the gospel---which was not available to them. Also, a major theme in the book is the cycle of humility/love for the Lord --- then gaining wealth /becoming decadent and the rejection of the commandments--thus poverty and misery again. Humm.... Nephites and Lamanites....
Wang Lung and his wife O-Lan were most satisfied when they were working directly with the land. When Wang Lung became idle his troubles began....
Next book... The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
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