Kinfolk (1950)

Is this novel how Pearl Buck supposed China would recover after World War II? It seems so. The message is plain and simple: respect for tradition while making way for modern science and technology. Written before the Communist victory and ouster of Chiang Kai-shek from the Chinese mainland, Kinfolk and Buck underestimate the ferocity of the forces of revolution that would sweep away her beloved traditions forever. Against the backdrop of the current year, 2018, such seems even more true.

Again, as with all Buck novels, the story is intriguing. But Kinfolk revealed a side of her I had never encountered before. For in it, she displays a mastery of comedic banter among the Liang family that counterpoints the very serious social developments molding and, in some cases, whisking away individual lives. So strong was it at times that I began to have a nagging feeling that I had seen these characterizations work within a dramatic plot before. Then, it hit me. I swear that Kinfolk at times resembles a Charlie Chan movie (I like Charlie Chan, for what it's worth). The elder Chinese patriarch forever quoting Confucius, while his Americanized children, especially Number One and Number Two Sons, seem determined to express their American manners and ways of speech ever more aggressively. The same even happens with Charlie's daughters. At any rate, the comedic tone of the novel is given free rein, so much so that the one notable death is almost treated dismissively.

How much of Chinese culture and society do we understand from Buck's novels? I'm not sure. I do know we come to quite a clear understanding of Pearl Buck's understanding of Chinese culture. Yet no matter how much Buck wished otherwise, she was always an outsider, someone who did not and could not belong. Her zealotry in "converting" the Chinese to her way of thinking reflected all too American values that simply were misplaced in China. Her dreams of emancipated women, elevated peasants, and widespread freedom within a traditional collectivized family oriented culture were just not fated to work. For all of the appeals of Kinfolk and Buck to the contrary, there will never be a bridge of unity between East and West. The reality is there to see, today. Oddly enough, it is the Japanese, whose civilization Buck excoriated in Dragon Seed, who have come closest to meeting her ideal of the future. ( )

I think I read this a really long time ago. Now that I'm an adult and more knowledgeable about Chinese history and human relationships I can value the strength in the writing. ( )

B

Dr. Liang, fed up with the Chinese government's restrictions on intellectuals, moved his family to New York. Twenty-some years later, he is more concerned with teaching his students the ideal of what China used to be than what it actually is. His wife misses her homeland and has not adjusted to America. Their oldest son, James, has just graduated medical school at the top of his class and goes back to the rural ancestral village in China to help the people against his father's wishes. Daughters Mary and Louise follow James to China to keep Louise away from American boys, and younger son Peter accompanies his sisters against his will and becomes convinced that the revolution encouraged by the growing Communist party is the only way to force the Chinese people to change for their own good. None of the children find China to be what they expected, but they all find something to devote their lives to there.

Pearl Buck does an excellent job of portraying a family that has lived their lives torn between two countries and unable to really be a part of either. I had a bit of trouble getting into this novel, however, because as long as it was, it seemed to meander most of the time without going anywhere. She still paints a beautiful portrait of her characters, though; this just isn't the best book I've read by her. ( )

Excellent characters and a nice in-depth look at contrasting experiences, loyalties, needs and perceptions of the Chinese-American children of a traditional Chinese couple living in New York after WWII. The way the different children react to the reality of China made this a very interesting read. ( )