Customer Reviews

The hidden flower

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I first read this book when I contained my own "not so" hidden flower, I was a six months pregnant American woman married to a native Japanese. I was also young, in my early twenties. It touched me incredibly deeply. It is the story of young naive love, love that does not question if it chooses wisely. It is about passion without reason and the consequences of that love that cause great pain in the end. The young heroine chooses to love an American military man and marry him. He is enamoured with her, comletely taken and brings her home to be his bride only to discover that it is against the law to be married to a non-white. Indeed this law was changed only within my own lifetime. I can't imagine having to make the terrible choices the young woman was faced with once she found she was going to have a baby. The other interesting issue is the taste the American serviceman shows for the sexy exotic nature of his bride, but when it truly comes to the reality of life he easily discards her. ALthough he initially married her one can see the old saying emerge: "Asian girls are for fun, white girls are for marriage."

A touching and sad story, one that is hard for the younger generation to comprehend.

This book is one of the most intelligent, moving and open-minded statements on interracial love and relationships that I have ever come across. Buck's story of a star-crossed pair of East-West lovers set in post-War Japan explores the racial pride and prejudices of both the East and West. She also manages to tell a deeply moving human story that transcends race. And remember, she was doing this in pre-MLK America, when non-mixing of the races was a cherished American value. Few if any authors have handled this subject with more insight and even-handedness than Buck. And none with more genuine compassion. Should be required reading in any multi-ethnic society.

This is a captivating story of the unexpected love between an American soldier and an aristocratic Japanese student, set in WWII. They are together against the world - her parents in Kyoto-Japan, his parents in America, and the prejudices of the era against mixed marriages and the product of them, mixed children. 'The Hidden Flower' is one of Buck's masterpieces!

This is one of the best books by Pearl Buck. It is a story of inter-racial love and the challenges faced by a Japanese woman and an american soldier and the fate on an innocent child who is deprived of love and caring from both parents, thanks to the society we live in. Unfortunately, these situations are prevalent even today!
A great book which would appeal to every man and woman who have ever faced the demands of love!

I myself in a "inter-racial" relationship i completely understand where joshui was coming from. unfortuantely, this day in age it still happens.. oh well. I think she should've told the Allenn about the pregnancy, kinda disappointed that it just ended. :(

Overall, its a great, easy reading! n-joi!

It was advertized that the book was a "paperback." While that is technically true, I did not expect it to be a 1960, 4"x6" "Pocket Book," which sold for 35 cents. I paid $3.00 plus postage and handling, which made it pretty expensive for something that would sell at an average garage sale for no more than the stated price on the book -- 35 cents, and probably less. It is in good shape,but has very "yellowed" pages.