The first time I read THE GOOD EARTH, I was a junior in high school, in 1957, and it was a "writing style" research assignment from my English and Journalism instructor, Miss Swaffer, at Rancho High School (in Las Vegas, NV). I could write volumes on what that Dear Lady taught me, but that's another subject for the Struggling Authors pages.
THE GOOD EARTH was available in quantity at our school library back then, so it was easy enough to find. But not so easy to return when it was due.
I struggled for two weeks to read it that first time.
My reading periods were chaotic minutes stolen during the bus rides to and from school. Sometimes snatches of page between chores, and before and after meals. And many times I read the same pages over again before bedtime because I was so engrossed in the story I didn't want to miss anything.
During the course of that year in Miss Swaffor's English class I was assigned that same title to read three times. She was glad to hear the story had made an impression on me, but she wanted me to also study "the work" -- the way words went together to make sentences and paragraphs, and from paragraphs to pages and chapters. She was introducing me to the fine art of dialog and rhetoric, but I just couldn't stop enjoying the STORY long enough to see it.
When I checked out THE GOOD EARTH for the second time, I had every intention of doing my assignment as she asked. But then I got caught up in the story again, and, well now you know why it was assigned to me for a third time.
If you're in the mood for a great escape of a read, or if you have a daugher, granddaughter, or niece and want to expand their horizon, purchase a copy (available through our link above), and give it to her as a gift.
THE GOOD EARTH is the kind of story, and written in the kind of style, that opens the mind to a whole world waiting to be experienced between the covers of a good book.
