The Eternal Wonder by Pearl S. Buck

About the Book: A recently discovered novel written by Pearl S. Buck at the end of her life in 1973, The Eternal Wonder tells the coming-of-age story of Randolph Colfax (Rann for short), an extraordinarily gifted young man whose search for meaning and purpose leads him to New York, England, Paris, on a mission patrolling the DMZ in Korea that will change his life forever—and, ultimately, to love. Rann falls for the beautiful and equally brilliant Stephanie Kung, who lives in Paris with her Chinese father and has not seen her American mother since she abandoned the family when Stephanie was six years old. Both Rann and Stephanie yearn for a sense of genuine identity. Rann feels plagued by his voracious intellectual curiosity and strives to integrate his life of the mind with his experience in the world. Stephanie struggles to reconcile the Chinese part of herself with her American and French selves. Separated for long periods of time, their final reunion leads to a conclusion that even Rann, in all his hard-earned wisdom, could never have imagined. A moving and mesmerizing fictional exploration of the themes that meant so much to Pearl S. Buck in her life, this final work is perhaps her most personal and passionate, and will no doubt appeal to the millions of readers who have treasured her novels for generations.

"For he came to perceive that since people were his study, his teachers, the objects through which he could satisfy his persistent wonder about life itself, his own being among others, where he lived for the moment, there was his home." (page 154)

My Thoughts
     The Eternal Wonder by Pearl S. Buck (Open Road Integrated Media, Inc., 2013) is the story of finding one's purpose in life. The reader follows this pursuit through the eyes of Rann Colfax, from birth to young adult. For those that have read previous works by Buck, her ease of story telling is instantly recognized. As with The Good Earth, The Eternal Wonder is centered around a male character and Buck does a wonderful job with the perspective, bridging the divide between the sexes.
     Rann is a highly intellectual child and is a voracious reader. He has a constant need to learn and understand everything around him and is encouraged by his parents to seek the answers for himself, to always wonder. His intellect sets him apart from his peers and he often finds himself alone, and discovers that he is most comfortable in solitude.  "He was often exhausted by this mind of his from which he could find  no rest except in sleep, and even his sleep was brief, though deep. Sometimes his mind waked him by its own activity. He envisioned his brain as being separate from himself, a creature he must live with, an enchantment but also a burden." (page 96). 
     Following the death of his father who was his greatest mentor, Rann's confidence in his path begins to wain and he is unsure of what he continue to pursue. He begins to think that if he has a better understanding of himself, then he will know what he is meant to do with his life. This journey of self discovery takes him around the world as he begins to travel, learns about love, and then joins the military where he serves in Korea. His time in Korea introduces Rann to his desire and love of writing and his career inadvertently takes off from there. Buck seems to be addressing her own thoughts on how writing impacted her life and the success that she found through creative expression.
     Published posthumously, one has to question if she felt The Eternal Wonder was complete. The ending of the book seems to move to quickly in an attempt to tie up all of the lose ends and feels disjointed as the theme shifts to exploring ethnicity and culture. Perhaps the flow of the book is a reflection of life. When we are younger, we think the days are long and we can't wait to grow up and free ourselves of childhood. But as we become adults, the days feel much too short and time passes much too quickly. The Eternal Wonder is a reminder that we should follow our passions and not fear failure for if you are doing what you love, happiness will find its way to you.

** To read the introduction of this book or a brief bio of the author, visit my post on Book Beginnings here.

Happy Reading,
Rebecca

Book Beginnings: The Blind Assassin

Today I am linking up to Book Beginnings hosted by Rose City Reader where readers share the first sentence of the current book they are reading.

The bridge

"Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge. The bridge was being repaired: she went right through the Danger sign. The car feel a hundred feet into the ravine, smashing through the treetops feathery with new leaves, then burst into flames and rolled down into the shallow creek at the bottom. Chunks of the bridge fell on top of it. Nothing much was left of her but charred smithereens."

Thoughts on Intro: The Blind Assassin starts with a very tragic and mysterious beginning that reels the reader in quickly. This book has been on my To Read list for quite a while and I am excited to finally pull it down from the shelf and dig into this 521 page book. The story does not flow chronologically which can often be challenging in keeping the reader's attention but will definitely impact the mystery of this story as it unravels.

About the Book (from wikipedia): The Blind Assassin is an award-winning, bestselling novel by the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. It was first published by McClelland and Stewart in 2000. Set in Canada, it is narrated from the present day, referring back to events that span the twentieth century. The work was awarded the Man Booker Prize in 2000 and the Hammett Prize in 2001. It was also nominated for Governor General's Award in 2000, Orange Prize for Fiction, and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2002.[1] Time magazine named it the best novel of 2000 and included it in its list of the 100 greatest English-language novels since 1923.

About the Author (from www.margaretatwood.ca): Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa, and grew up in northern Ontario and Quebec, and in Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master’s degree from Radcliffe College. Margaret Atwood is the author of more than forty volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction, but is best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1969), The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. Her newest novel, MaddAddam (2013), is the final volume in a three-book series that began with the Man-Booker prize-nominated Oryx and Crake (2003) and continued with The Year of the Flood (2009). The Tent (mini-fictions) and Moral Disorder (short fiction) both appeared in 2006. Her most recent volume of poetry, The Door, was published in 2007. In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination, a collection of non-fiction essays appeared in 2011. Her non-fiction book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth was adapted for the screen in 2012. Ms. Atwood’s work has been published in more than forty languages, including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic and Estonian.

Happy Reading,

Rebecca

A Poem: On Turmoiled Ground

On Turmoiled Ground

Child! Child! Rest your head upon pine bough drifts

Let moonlight guide dreams through rings of knitted web

Breathe a rhythm of lilac scented mourn

Awake! Wipe song of sorry gently from your parched lips

Child! Child! Dance swiftly across turmoiled ground

Haste not to greet the day unturned

Lay worries at bubbling river's bend

Sing! The heart beats for feathered friends

Child! Child! Hold tight to hope with fingers twisted

Remember youth from the depth of unfiltered sun

Place your bones in rocky soil upturned

Fight! For earth and reason are one

                                                     ~ R.L. Morgan


April is National Poetry Month! 
Check out 30 Ways to Celebrate at www.poets.org.

Happy Reading,

Rebecca

Book Beginnings: The Eternal Wonder by Pearl S. Buck

Today I am linking up to Book Beginnings hosted by Rose City Reader where readers share the first sentence of the current book they are reading.

"He lay sleeping in still waters. This was not to say that his world was always motionless. There were times when he was aware of motion, even violent motion, in his universe. The warm fluid that enfolded him could rock him to and fro, could even toss him about, so that instinctively he spread his arms wide, his hands flailing, his legs spreading in the sprinting fashion of a frog. Not that he knew anything about frogs- it was too soon for that. It was too soon for him to know. Instinct was as yet his only tool. He was quiescent most of the time, active only when responding to unexpected movements in the outer universe."

Thoughts on intro: 

     The first paragraph of this novel reads like a lullaby. The descriptions are very soothing yet there is something mysterious about the person or thing the author is describing. The reader is left to imagine for a brief moment.

     I have previously read Buck's "The Good Earth," which is an amazing novel so I am looking forward to this recently discovered work that was published after her death.

About the Book: A recently discovered novel written by Pearl S. Buck at the end of her life in 1973, The Eternal Wonder tells the coming-of-age story of Randolph Colfax (Rann for short), an extraordinarily gifted young man whose search for meaning and purpose leads him to New York, England, Paris, on a mission patrolling the DMZ in Korea that will change his life forever—and, ultimately, to love. Rann falls for the beautiful and equally brilliant Stephanie Kung, who lives in Paris with her Chinese father and has not seen her American mother since she abandoned the family when Stephanie was six years old. Both Rann and Stephanie yearn for a sense of genuine identity. Rann feels plagued by his voracious intellectual curiosity and strives to integrate his life of the mind with his experience in the world. Stephanie struggles to reconcile the Chinese part of herself with her American and French selves. Separated for long periods of time, their final reunion leads to a conclusion that even Rann, in all his hard-earned wisdom, could never have imagined. A moving and mesmerizing fictional exploration of the themes that meant so much to Pearl S. Buck in her life, this final work is perhaps her most personal and passionate, and will no doubt appeal to the millions of readers who have treasured her novels for generations.


 About the Author: Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) was a bestselling and Nobel Prize–winning author. Her classic novel The Good Earth (1931) was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and William Dean Howells Medal. Born in Hillsboro, West Virginia, Buck was the daughter of missionaries and spent much of the first half of her life in China, where many of her books are set. In 1934, civil unrest in China forced Buck back to the United States. Throughout her life she worked in support of civil and women’s rights, and established Welcome House, the first international, interracial adoption agency. In addition to her highly acclaimed novels, Buck wrote two memoirs and biographies of both of her parents. For her body of work, Buck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938, the first American woman to have done so. She died in Vermont.

Happy Reading,
Rebecca


 

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

About the Book (New York Times Book Review): Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art. As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love-and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

"But sometimes, unexpectedly, grief pounded over me in waves that left me gasping; and when the waves washed back, I found myself looking out over a brackish wreck that was illuminated in a light so lucid, so heartsick and empty, that I could hardly remember that the world had ever been anything but dead." (page 93).

My Thoughts: 
     The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (Little, Brown and Company, 2013) is an undertaking of great magnitude, both in length and subject matter. At approximately 775 pages, The Goldfinch is lead by narrator Theo Decker, a 13-year-old boy living in New York, and takes the reader on an incredible journey full of plot twists, emotions, and a dark world filled with precious art.
     Through an act of terrorism, Theo and his mother experience a bombing during a visit to the museum. Theo's mother does not make it out alive and Theo, in his confused and grief-stricken state of mind, makes it out with Carel Fabritius' "The Goldfinch," a renowned and valuable painting. What follows, is an unbelievable tale of suspense and tragedy as Theo attempts to find a place in a world that has abandoned him and obtain the love of a girl that mystifies him. Even at its length, The Goldfinch is a page-turner. It is a riveting story that brings Theo full circle and leaves him with little more than what he started with but stronger for the voyage and passing of time.
     Tartt brilliantly weaves together a cast of unique characters and unimaginable circumstances. The reader is jolted through each twist and turn with excitement due to Tartt's excellent writing. What might initially seem like a preposterous story becomes fascinating due to the author's expert descriptions of art and antiques.
     "What if our badness and mistakes are the very thing that set our fate and bring us round to good? What if, for some of us, we can't get there any other way?" (page 745) One poor decision leads to another followed by another, and Theo inadvertently endangers not only his life but those close to him. An erratic friendship plunges him further into a realm of lies, drugs, and even murder. But the question becomes "Was it all necessary in order to land where you were meant to be?" The Goldfinch is a sad but lovely tale of loss and love, losing it all yet discovering something along the way. At the heart of it all is art and the lure of the captured bird that has captivated the world.

To read more about the author Donna Tartt, click here.

Happy Reading,
Rebecca

The Giver by Lois Lowry

"After a life of sameness and predictability, he was awed by surprises that lay beyond curve of the road."

                                                                       Chapter 22, page 172

About the Book (from Wikipedia): The Giver is a 1993 USA children's novel by Lois Lowry. It is set in a society which is at first presented as a utopian society and gradually appears more and more dystopian. The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life. The society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to "Sameness," a plan that has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of "Receiver of Memory," the person who stores all the past memories of the time before Sameness, in case they are ever needed to aid in decisions that others lack the experience to make. The people in his community are happy because they do not know of a better life, and the knowledge of what they are missing out on could create major chaos. He faces a dilemma: should he stay with the community and the safe, consistent but shallow life it offers, or should he run away in pursuit of a life full of love, differences, choices, and knowledge, but also potentially full of danger? The Giver won the 1994 Newbery Medal and has sold more than 5.3 million copies. In Australia, Canada, and the United States, it is a part of many middle school reading lists, but it is also on many challenged book lists and appeared on the American Library Association's list of most challenged books of the 1990s. The novel forms a loose quartet with three other books set in the same future era: Gathering Blue (2000), Messenger (2004), and Son (2012).

"He forced his eyes open as they went downward, downward, sliding, and all at once he could see lights, and he recognized them now. He knew they were shining through the windows of rooms, that they were the red, blue, and yellow lights that twinkled from trees in places where families created and kept memories, where they celebrated love." Chapter 23, Page 179

My Thoughts:
     Although The Giver by Lois Lowry was written for a young adult audience, it appeals to readers of all ages with its presentation of complex issues. The reader perceives the setting and the characters through Jonas, a boy of twelve, and follows him as he enters this important age where his society appoints or selects his future role in the community for the rest of his adult days. When first introduced to the society, we learn that the disciplined and dictated life of the citizens creates an environment where there is no crime, poverty, vanity, or sexuality. The stereotyped societal roles of males and females is challenged as men serve as nurturers, responsible for the physical and emotional needs of children. There does appear to be judgment in the appointment of roles but the citizens consider each role in the society to be a critical instrument in the success of the community as a whole.
     The Giver explores free-will and how our fate is decided with no ability to choose or guide our outcomes. Society decides who will succeed and who will live. While all roles in the community are respected, they also understand that intelligence and ability dictate their future. Throughout the story, the reader is reminded of the importance of language. Citizens are thoughtful in their selection of words, understanding that a slight difference in the vocabulary they use can alter the entire meaning of their message. This is a practice that would serve each of us well today- to think before speaking in order not to be misinterpreted or inconsiderate.
     It is a story of unknowns. What we do not know, cannot hurt us. Therefore, the past isn't in memory. The citizens have no sense of history. All they know is their own life and they accept it as chosen for them. The question becomes- would they think and feel the same if they knew that that they had a choice. Jonas is selected as the Receiver of Memory, a powerful and respected position that also bring much anguish into his world. As the Receiver of Memory, Jonas is the only citizen provided with information and images of the past and world history. The previous Receiver becomes The Giver as he gives Jonas the memories to possess. Jonas is suddenly aware that there is much more to life if given the opportunity to experience it.
     While they live a life without pain or past, it is also a life without color and love. Imagine a world where your government decided your fate based on how you performed before age twelve. Where you did not have the ugliness of pain, death or war in your memory but you also could not see the sky as azure or to feel the tingle of snowflakes as they melt upon your skin. You are void of senses and feelings. Your heart is never broken but it also never knew the warmth of love. Jonas battles with the conflict of choice as receives the memories, both painful and joyful. The reader takes this journey with him, forever questioning our ability to defy the odds and control our own destinies.

Happy Reading,
Rebecca