PAVILION OF WOMEN

by Pearl S. Buck ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 21, 1946

Mrs. Buck has turned to another aspect of Chinese life in this new novel. We glimpsed the sort of establishment she pictures in Nora Waln's House of Exile, but there it was seen by an American, a visitor in a Chinese home. This is the story of just such a household, with successive generations added as sons bring their wives, and distant cousins and near, are assigned their courts. It is the story chiefly of Madame Wu, who at forty decides to cut herself off from the husband, father of her sons, and find for him a second wife to take over her wifely concerns. The decision rends the household -- even after the new wife is chosen and installed, the widening ripples affect the lives of the sons and breaks come, first here, then there. Finally, with the entry of a foreign devil, a priest brought in to tutor a younger son, Madame Wu finds herself caught up in a world she had only glimpsed. At the end, with the priest's death, she realises she has loved at last, and that love enriches her life, and makes her give of her inner self to others, even to the waifs whom he had sheltered....As a character piece, the book seems static, surface. One is never convinced of reality. The figures never take on the emotional values that made her Good Earth so poignantly moving. But as a beautiful stage set, with successive pictures of Chinese life, the novel leaves a vivid impression on the mind. The story moves along, paced by the slow tempo of her characteristically studied style.

Pub Date: Nov. 21, 1946

ISBN: 155921287X

Page Count: -

Publisher: John Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1946

Categories: FICTION