East Wind: West Wind [Hardcover]

Pearl S. Buck (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 277 pages
• Publisher: John Day Co (1958)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000I2BVWG
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,934,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker was born on June 26, 1892, in Hillsboro, West Virginia. Her parents were Southern Presbyterian missionaries, most often stationed in China, and from childhood, Pearl spoke both English and Chinese. She returned to China shortly after graduation from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1914, and the following year, she met a young agricultural economist named John Lossing Buck. They married in 1917, and immediately moved to Nanhsuchou in rural Anhwei province. In this impoverished community, Pearl Buck gathered the material that she would later use in The Good Earth and other stories of China.
Pearl began to publish stories and essays in the 1920s, in magazines such as The Nation, The Chinese Recorder, Asia, and The Atlantic Monthly. Her first novel, East Wind, West Wind, was published by the John Day Company in 1930. John Day's publisher, Richard Walsh, would eventually become Pearl's second husband, in 1935, after both received divorces.

In 1931, John Day published Pearl's second novel, The Good Earth. This became the bestselling book of both 1931 and 1932, won the Pulitzer Prize and the Howells Medal in 1935, and would be adapted as a major MGM film in 1937. Other novels and books of nonfiction quickly followed. In 1938, less than a decade after her first book had appeared, Pearl won the Nobel Prize in literature, the first American woman to do so. By the time of her death in 1973, Pearl had published more than seventy books: novels, collections of stories, biography and autobiography, poetry, drama, children's literature, and translations from the Chinese. She is buried at Green Hills Farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Going Against Traditional Ideas, October 29, 2001

By 

"[e-mail]" (Lyons, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: East Wind: West Wind (Oriental Novels of Pearl S. Buck) (Paperback)

Pearl S. Buck's "East Wind: West Wind" tells the life story of a traditional Chinese woman through her inner thoughts and feelings in an interesting manner. The woman, who was betrothed to a Chinese man before birth, later finds herself married the man, who has studied in America to become a doctor. Throughout the book, the woman represents stiff Chinese traditions while the man represents more modern and western beliefs. Relying on her traditional upbringing, the women attempts to please her husband by being his servant. However, he tries to change her view of what marriage should be: an equal partnership and not a servant and master relationship. Throughout the book, the couple strives to overcome various trials and ordeals that deal with changing traditions. In my opinion, "East Wind: West Wind" attempts to tackle the implicit battle between old, established traditions and more modern ideas; it also shows the conflicts between Eastern ideology and Western ideology. Overall, the book is a wonderful insight into the ancient cultural practices of China and how well they do or do not mingle with modern culture. "East Wind: West Wind" is a delightful and easy book to read, and it can be considered on of Pearl S. Buck's best works.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A short but meaningful story presented in an innovative way, September 3, 2000

By 

Eric Lu (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: East Wind: West Wind (Oriental Novels of Pearl S. Buck) (Paperback)

East Wind: West Wind Why is there a colon in between? The story is presented like a monologue. The wife in the story, who is a traditional Chinese woman, speaks out her innermost feelings. She is betrothed before her birth to a Chinese man who has gone abroad to study. The woman, representing old Chinese ideas and the man representing Western ideas thus have come together to solve their conflicts. The woman's brother also goes abroad and he intends to marry a western woman, which is strictly forbiden in ancient Chinese culture... After much this ado, it is a battle of East Idea and West Idea. The book ends with the well-mingled culture -- a combination of good East and West culture. The book is printed in very big fonts and are easy to read. It does not take a long time to read, but it tells a wonderful story. In some way, I value this higher than Pearl's most famous work The Good Earth. A book suitable for people who are curious about ancient Chinese culture. (Note, nowadays we Chinese no longer do such things as binding feet or kneeling down before elders and so on) Enjoy your reading!

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and romantic..., June 2, 2003

By 

momwith2kids (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: East Wind: West Wind (Oriental Novels of Pearl S. Buck) (Paperback)

This was a quick and easy read told in the first person through the eyes of a Chinese woman. Also it's clear that the writer's own loyalty to the Western thought of romantic love is all over this story. It is this notion that ultimately drives the narrator to give up her old ways and accept the new.

Buck describes how difficult it is for one to accept change in age-old rituals. Although many of the traditions are seen as unnecessary, foolish or just plain sadistic, it's difficult to question them after growing up in a culture where these traditions have been practiced for thousands of years. The narrator is a good vehicle to show how upsetting, confusing and frustrating it can be to incorporate these changes into one's life. Time and time again the theme of the generation gap is revealed, showing how many people simply cannot be changed.

Although many of the following issues came into strong play in this novel, it wasn't so much a search for better opportunity, nor political freedom, independence, nor education, that was the big catalyst for change, as was the simple concept of romantic love.

This was a lovely, bittersweet story with a seemingly very realistic portrayal of how a family rooted in tradition would react to their children, who want to break from tradition. A classic issue, regardless of what era or culture in which one lives.