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Burying the Bones: Pearl Buck's Life in China (Unabridged)
 
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Burying the Bones: Pearl Buck's Life in China (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

by Hilary Spurling (Author, Narrator)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Audio Download
  • Listening Length: 9 hours and 13 minutes
  • Program Type: Audiobook
  • Version: Unabridged
  • Publisher: AudioGO Ltd.
  • Audible Release Date: 3 Dec 2010
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B004F7TDZW
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

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Product Description

Pearl Buck was the first person since Marco Polo to open China up to the West. She recreated the lives of ordinary Chinese people in The Good Earth, a worldwide best seller in 1932 that won her the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Pearl foresaw China's future as a superpower long before anyone else. She witnessed the first stirrings of Chinese revolution as a teenager, and narrowly escaped being killed herself in the subsequent battles between Communists and Nationalists.

Pearl grew up in an imperial China unchanged for thousands of years. She was the child of American missionaries, but she spoke Chinese before she learned English, and her friends were the children of Chinese farmers. She took it for granted she was Chinese herself until she was eight years old, when the Boxers' terrorist uprising forced her family to flee for their lives. Flood, famine, drought, bandits, and war formed the background of Pearl's life in China.

Spurling explores with elegance and insight the hair-raising family life, the traumatic disruptions, and revolutionary ferment that shaped a powerful and prophetic imagination.

©2010 Hilary Spurling; (P)2010 AudioGO Ltd
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I read Pearl Buck's 'The Good Earth' twice over 40yrs ago, so fascinated was I by her knowledge of her adopted country and her own indomitable character. Hilary Spurling's 'Burying the Bones' is an amazing account of Buck's life in China, her uneasy relationship with her father Absolam and Lossing her husband. Most of all, it gives an insightful look into the character of Pearl Buck as well as the bloody history of China at that time.

Spurling has brought both author and country to life in this fascinating book. Sadly, China & its ruthless tyranny of its own people and distrust of 'farangs' seems little improved in the years in between. I urge anyone interested in China and its long & bloody history to read this remarkable book.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Unven bones 17 May 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have enjoyed Pearl Buck's books for many years, so welcomed the opportunity to find out more about the woman behind the stories. I found the first chapter of this biography to be quite clumsy, as if Hilary Spurling was uneasy with Pearl's early years. However she seemed to become more confident in subsequent chapters. The book is unbalanced in that the first 5 chapters deal with Pearl's life until her mid 30s, the final two chapters and afterword then deal with the next 35+ years. A fascinating story, with I suspect many more facets to Pearl to be unearthed (or not). Some flesh has been put on the bones and the historical background was fascinating. Worth the read.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Pearl Buck was almost unique for a westerner who could write about early 20th century China with sympathy and understanding. Spurling's book captures this wonderfully and also the appalling character of the American missionary community. Pearl's husband is a representative of one strand of westerner who did something useful without too much sanctimonious snideness. Unhappily he neglected Pearl but probably released her for a much more important mission; to let the outside world know what had happened to one of the world's oldest and most illustrious civilisations and how it was humbled by outsiders, bad governance, misfortune and sheer ungovernable numbers. The book is a marvel; easy to read, well balanced and very important.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A wonderful book
I'm reading this book at the moment and can't wait to go to bed each night to enjoy more pages. I have a great personal interest in China and have built up quite a library of... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Laughing Chicken
exemplary
I remember as a child in the 1950s visiting the public library very regularly and seeing many books by someone called Pearl S. Buck, notably one entitled The Good Earth. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Stephen
A beautifully written biography of a fascinating woman....
I have been fascinated by the books by Pearl Buck that I have read.....especially The Good Earth which paints such a vivid picture of peasant life in China. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Wynne Kelly
burying the bones
I bought this as a gift, it was a great prices for a book that was impossible to find on the high street and it was delivered on time!!!
Published 14 months ago by Anna
A timely resurrection of Pearl S. Buck
Hilary Spurling sold out her talk at the Bookworm in Beijing last night; I was there. She came across as self-possessed and erudite, with a flawless recall of Buck's life, and a... Read more
Published 14 months ago by LittleMoon
Burying the Bones Hilary Spurling
This is a lively and engaging book. The picture painted of China in the early 20th century is illuminating, often shocking. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Sheila
Excellent book
I thoroughly enjoyed this book about Pearl S Buck. I knew nothing about her or her life and the insight provided by Spurling of Buck's early life in China is extremely interesting. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Beeja Butler
Burying the Bones
Remember readin g her books as a teenager and so facinating to read her biography -what a life. I found it a facinating book .
Published 18 months ago by Drumfern
An Excellent Book
This is an excellent book, placing Pearl Buck squarely at the centre of the mid 20th Century growth in understanding of China. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Henry Reddaway
Burying the Bones:Pearl Buck in China
The book would have benefitted from being edited to about half its length. It was interesting in parts and very informative. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Mrs. Esther Ann Hitchcock
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