Monday, May 7, 2012

No Bucks

I never have read any of the books of Pearl Buck so I really have no idea why so much fanfare is made of the novelist who was raised a Presbyterian missionary kid in China and who used some of the knowledge and experiences gained in her youth and childhood to place her fictional characters in a Chinese setting. My grandmother also was an MK raised in China but under very different circumstances and background. I have no awareness of any personal connection between the novelist Pearl Buck and my relatives in China or in the U.S. Those Presbyterians traditionally are not aware of Pentecostals like us so we really would not expect much if any acknowledgement or recognition from them. If my grandmother did read some of the novels of Pearl Buck, and I do think she did have some there in the bookshelf, I am sure that the China connection would make the books very meaningful to her in a way, having lived herself in China in her childhood, even if there was no personal acquaintance with the author that I know of. I really have nothing to say about Pearl Buck and her novels, which are only fiction anyway so obviously would have nothing useful to say about us.