La perla de China / Pearl Of China

from DeltaQueen50

Born of missionary parents, raised in China during the early years of the 20th century, author Pearl Buck is the Pearl of China in Anchee Min's semi-biographical story. As seen through the eyes of Willow, her childhood friend, we learn how this blonde American comes to see herself as "totally Chi...

from ElizaJane

Reason for Reading: I am a huge fan of Pearl S. Buck, having read almost all of her books. The book purports to be the fictionalized story of Pearl Buck's life in China told through the eyes of a lifetime Chinese friend. Pearl's mother went to the US to give birth to Pearl after losing several ba...

from itbgc

This is a novel about Willow, a fictionalized, close friend of the famous author, Pearl Buck, and what it was like living in China from about 1890 to 1976. The story begins as Willow and Pearl become acquainted as young children. Pearl's father is an often-fanatical Christian missionary who is tr...

from schwager

What I enjoyed the most about this book was the picture of China during different political climates that the author portrays. So often in historical fiction the reader either must possess a great deal of background knowledge, or the flow of the story is impeded by the author providing that backg...

from goldnyght

I wanted to like this book, and for the most part I did. Anchee Min is an excellent author in her other books and she was excellent here. The only problem for me was that it was so focused on Pearl Buck's friend Willow that it lost Buck for long periods of time altogether. It wasn't so much a fla...