"The Townsman" by Pearl S. Buck--Book Review

Pearl S. Buck wrote and published five novels under the psudonym "John Sedges" during her lifetime after she had returned to America from China.  At the time, her publishers thought that she was being viewed primarily as a Chinese or Asian centered 

writer and that the reading public would be reluctant to buy American centered books by Buck. "The Townsman", "The Long Love" and "Voices In The House" were all published in 1944 and were well received despite the wartime environment which was naturally depressing book sales nationwide. The sales of those two novels under the pseudonym eventually led to the publication of "The Long Love (1944)", "Bright Possession (1952)", and "The Angry Wife (1947)" under the John Sedges pseudonym.  But as Buck is quoted in the foreword  to "American Triptych" a collection of three of the John Sedges novels, eventually someone who knows will talk in such situations and the pseudonym was common public knowledge and no longer used.  

In an earlier blog post, I wrote about a single quotation from "The Townsman" about the American presidency which is suffering from its worst crisis today because of the current Russian Owned occupant of the White House and his inherent incompetence and willingness to destroy the country he betrayed in cooperation with Vladimir Putin and Russia.  You can bet that a book which is good enough to merit a full article

about a single quotation it contains is well worth reading.  "The Townsman" is one novel in "American Triptych: Three John Sedges Novels" and that is the best way to buy it since I do not know of a recent publication of the book.  But it can be found on the customary used book sites such as Alibris and others. Buying it in that format will allow you to enjoy three Pearl S. Buck books for the price of one.  I have to admit I have not yet read the other four John Sedges novels but I fully intend to based on my highly favorable impression of "The Townsman".  This is a long novel of more than four hundred pages but it is well worth the time to read.  The protagonist is Jonathan Goodliffe who, at the beginning of the book, is a teenaged English boy in a large poor family with a hardworking, overburdened mother and a somewhat shiftless father who has big dreams but never fulfills them.  Eventually, the father, Clyde Goodliffe, decides to emigrate to America and the family takes up residence in a brand new, tiny hamlet in the plains of Kansas.  Clyde Goodliffe accomplishes just as little in Kansas as he had in England and as he matures Jonathan becomes the head of the family by default since Clyde leaves all except his favorite son to traipse across Kansas to homestead land.  

As the novel progresses, Jonathan meets and falls in love with the daughter of an itinerant preacher who jilts him to run away with his best friend.  This is a novel of unrequited love; good, solid working class people; and fulfillment of personal commitments by numerous characters including Katie, the woman Jonathan eventually marries and spend his life with.  Jonathan becomes the central figure in the little Kansas town which he nurtures, grows, and keeps in accordance with his beliefs about right and wrong.  The novel serves to espouse many of Pearl S. Buck's own personal beliefs as in the aforementioned quotation about the American presidency, her personal opinions about the equality of the races, and right and wrong.  A set of important figures in the book are a family of former slaves, the Parry's, who have a brilliant eldest son whom Jonathan assists in achieving his dreams.  The Parry parents also play diminished but important roles in the life of the town as a carpenter and a midwife, herb doctor.  

The book is well worth reading as is everything I have ever read by Pearl S. Buck.  I would repeat that it is best bought in the "American  Triptych.." form since you can also enjoy two other John Sedges novels in that format.  Enjoy the book!  It will keep you busy at home for a while as we fight to win against the Corona Virus. 

"Silas Marner" by George Eliot--Book Review

This has always been one of my favorite novels ever since I read it in my teen years, more than half a century ago.  It has been absolutely timeless and has been published in dozens of different editions from nearly every publisher which sells classic fiction.  You can find it in any decent bookstore from coast to coast. I recently reread this little classic with my wife and it was just as wonderful an experience as it was the first time all those decades ago.

George Eliot was the pen name of an English woman named Mary Anne Evans who published at least seven novels in the late nineteenth century.  "Silas Marner" was Eliot's third published novel in 1861.  It is frequently found in high school and college literature courses; in some abbreviated form in text books of both English and world literature; and, is one of the best known early novels by women in English.  But "Middlemarch" is generally considered to be her masterpiece.  If it is that much better than "Silas Marner", then it truly is a masterpiece.  I have never read "Middlemarch" but I assure you I will manage to do that in the near future and I already own a copy.  I would love to read all her published works if I had unlimited time.  I cannot recommend her work more highly.

This wonderful story of a lonely, miserly bachelor who is robbed of all his money and then saved, both emotionally and morally, by the sudden appearance of an orphan two year old girl on his doorstep upon the winter death of her drug addict mother is a tale which is priceless in its ability to give pleasure to both the ordinary recreational reader and the advanced student of great literature.  Eliot's combination of long, complex sentences and interspersed short sentences of only three or four words is a type of writing which was not common at the time in which the author lived.  Her skill set was unusual and unusually advanced for the late nineteenth century.  The story is brief, only 175 pages in the edition which I just read from Arcuturus, an English publisher.  But the story it tells is one that leaves strong, positive, enlightening, and educational impressions.  This is a novel which no reader of great literature should ever pass up.  The plot is direct but complex with strong characterizations of Silas Marner, the adopted daughter Eppie, and her secretive biological father who also lives nearby and is a major factor in the life of the community.  Read this story!  Enjoy it! Relish it!  This is a book which you will never regret coming to know.