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A review by cat_book_lady
Dragon Seed by Pearl S. Buck
4.0
4**
Next to The Good Earth, this has to be one of Buck’s most excellent reads, bringing in the tension of progress against tradition through unspeakable war. Never does she name the countries, the enemy, the leaders, nor the actual war because she doesn’t need to. The “enemy” is always those going against you, invading you, destroying your way of life, and as such, the concept of “evil” belongs to all of humanity.
What I found so interesting, too, is how Buck showed the response of a family once their country was occupied - deal with the enemy in order to survive but be branded a traitor? Employ passive resistance by sneaky, target attacks to undermine them? Assume that the occupiers were their fate and thus accept brutal torture? The best course of action is never black and white, and the grayscale that Buck paints is so vivid amidst conflicting ideas.
Most fascinating is the idea that books were evil - that they poisoned a mother’s milk if she read while nursing, that only evil people read, that knowledge was destructive, and knowing history didn’t mean you were doomed to repeat it because men were always going to be cruel, greedy beings whose nature is to suppress and oppress others. Books just gave them the know-how on how to do it more efficiently.
I will forever love Pearl Buck’s novels, and this one just cemented my opinion of a brilliant author who never disappoints.
Next to The Good Earth, this has to be one of Buck’s most excellent reads, bringing in the tension of progress against tradition through unspeakable war. Never does she name the countries, the enemy, the leaders, nor the actual war because she doesn’t need to. The “enemy” is always those going against you, invading you, destroying your way of life, and as such, the concept of “evil” belongs to all of humanity.
What I found so interesting, too, is how Buck showed the response of a family once their country was occupied - deal with the enemy in order to survive but be branded a traitor? Employ passive resistance by sneaky, target attacks to undermine them? Assume that the occupiers were their fate and thus accept brutal torture? The best course of action is never black and white, and the grayscale that Buck paints is so vivid amidst conflicting ideas.
Most fascinating is the idea that books were evil - that they poisoned a mother’s milk if she read while nursing, that only evil people read, that knowledge was destructive, and knowing history didn’t mean you were doomed to repeat it because men were always going to be cruel, greedy beings whose nature is to suppress and oppress others. Books just gave them the know-how on how to do it more efficiently.
I will forever love Pearl Buck’s novels, and this one just cemented my opinion of a brilliant author who never disappoints.