House Divided

Product Description A House Divided, the third volume of the trilogy that began with The Good Earth and Sons, is a powerful portrayal of China in the midst of revolution. Wang Yuan is caught between the opposing ideas of different generations. After 6 years abroad, Yuan returns to China in the middle of a peasant uprising. His counsin is a captain in the revolutionary army, his sister has scandalized the family by her premarital pregnancy, and his warlord father continues to cling to his traditional ideals. It is through Yuan's efforts that a kind of peace is restored to the family. Review A House Divided is built around China in revolution and the conflict between the young and old generations…..a rich and illuminating book.—The New York Times "The House of Earth trilogy, which starts with THE GOOD EARTH, is Buck’s powerful portrayal of early twentieth-century China. This book ends the trilogy with the story of Wang Yuan, the grandson of the couple in the first book. The book stands on its own but would certainly be more meaningful after hearing the first two books. Yuan represents a young man of privilege as the Chinese culture is transforming due to the Western influences and political events of the 1930s. Adam Verner uses a clipped accent for the speech of the Chinese characters; for the character of Yuan he makes that accent a bit stronger. Further, he delivers Yuan’s convictions as if they were his own. As a narrator, Verner sounds fully engaged in the story’s events and the questions it poses." J.E.M. © AudioFile Portland, Maine About the Author Pearl S. Buck recreated the lives of ordinary Chinese people in The Good Earth, an overnight worldwide best-seller in 1932, later a blockbuster movie. Buck went on to become the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Long before anyone else, she foresaw China’s future as a superpower, and she recognized the crucial importance for both countries of China’s building a relationship with the United States. As a teenager she had witnessed the first stirrings of Chinese revolution, and as a young woman she narrowly escaped being killed in the deadly struggle between Chinese Nationalists and the newly formed Communist Party. From AudioFile The House of Earth trilogy, which starts with THE GOOD EARTH, is Buck's powerful portrayal of early twentieth-century China. This book ends the trilogy with the story of Wang Yuan, the grandson of the couple in the first book. The book stands on its own but would certainly be more meaningful after hearing the first two books. Yuan represents a young man of privilege as the Chinese culture is transforming due to the Western influences and political events of the 1930s. Adam Verner uses a clipped accent for the speech of the Chinese characters; for the character of Yuan he makes that accent a bit stronger. Further, he delivers Yuan's convictions as if they were his own. As a narrator, Verner sounds fully engaged in the story's events and the questions it poses. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine