The Good Earth

The Good Earth earns a 5/5 for its dive into early 20th Century Chinese culture. It follows Wang Lung, born a poor farmer's boy, from his early adulthood up until his death, detailing a lifestyle completely foreign to me; the novel begins with him retrieving his never-before-seen wife-to-be, a slave purchased by his father, from her master's palace.

It's difficult to root for Wang at times. He hurts and endangers people close to him in ways that are reprehensible by modern standards. At the same time, he's an intensely moral person - he's just playing by a different rule book. It's an interesting thought exercise to think about the things that Wang does (and we do) just to belong to a part of larger society, and how much a person's life and personality can vary based on the time and place they inhabit.