Review: The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

By brief way of introduction, this book contains 26 'poetic essays' by the Lebanese poet, Kahlil Gibran.  Wikipedia has a good synopsis, so I'm shamelessly plugging it in here:

The prophet, Al-Mustafa who has lived in the foreign city of Orphalese for 12 years is about to board a ship which will carry him home. He is stopped by a group of people, with whom he discusses many issues of life and the human condition. The book is divided into chapters dealing with love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, houses, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death.

When I started reading this work, I felt incredible compelled by the depth and messages contained within the book.  Certain passages spoke to my soul, and despite the short length of the work I found myself continually writing down quotations that made an impression - such an impression that I felt that some of the insight could stick with me throughout the rest of my life and would evolve with my thoughts as I continue on the journey that is life.  I envisioned taking this book with me when I travelled so I could reflect upon the passages in hopes of even greater understanding and the evolution of the messages contained within.

That said, some of the passages felt too abstract and did not speak to me as if they were a truth (not THE truth), but rather thoughts intended for their poetry and not for anything contextual.  I can only wonder if I would feel this way if I re-read the passages later in life - perhaps they did not penetrate because I was at this time, impenetrable.  I doubt this is this case, but one can only guess because one can never escape one's own perspective.

Some quotations that I enjoyed:
"And shall it be said that my eve was in truth my dawn?" 5

"And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation." 8

"In your aloneness you have watch with our days, and in your wakefulness you have listened to the weeping and the laughter of our sleep." 10

"When love beckons to you, follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep.  And when his wings enfold you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.  And when he speaks to you believe in him, Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden." 11

"For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.  Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.  Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.  Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.  He threshes you to make you naked.  He sifts you to free you from your husks.  He grinds you to whiteness.  He kneads you until you are pliant; And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast." 11-12

"But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor, Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears." 12-13

"And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course." 13

Yeah, that's just a couple of parts of the first 13 pages.  I have a ton more quotes and I think they get particularly interesting in the sections on marriage, work, reason & passion and friends.  Maybe I will eventually quote them all out, but above gives you a small sample.

Review: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck



The Plot & The Context

The Good Earth is about a rural Chinese family centred around Wang Lung, a local farmer.  The book depicts life on a small piece of land, the trials and tribulations of poverty and also of success.

I imagine that in 1931, Westerns knew much less about China than we do today - even those of us (myself included) that are largely ignorant to their way of life and culture of their society.  However, in today's age, this book does very little to teach me anything I don't know and the historical backdrop in which the novel is presented is hazy at best.

The novel doesn't delve much into what is happening with wars in China; perhaps this is to keep us as ignorant as the Wang family in such matters.  This seems to be the antithesis of the scope of 'War and Peace' - which Tolstoy chronicled to such lengths to show us in macro what was going on in Russia.  Buck chronicles the life of Wang family in macro (centred around Lung) but barely skims the surface of the rest of China.

The book reaffirms the importance of a social hierarchy in Chinese culture, as well as familial structure.  It discusses at length the existence of concubines, slaves and arranged marriages.  It details the struggles of life - which do not get easier as one becomes richer.  It discusses poverty, superstition, religion (only lightly), drug use, mental retardation, and infanticide all within the Wang family.  The familial scope is vast, but that's really as far as this book goes.

The Title 

The land was the most important thing in Wang Lung's life at first, but eventually it became mixed with living a peaceful existence.  The only peaceful existence he seemed to have was in poverty - and frankly, being alone in the fields.  If Wang Lung would have decided to become a hermit, I'm sure he would have been able to live the peaceful existence that he wanted - each relationship he had seemed to bring out the evil in him, other than the relationship with the land.  While he struggled in his life to become wealthy and respected, his very essence and charm escaped him.

The Point

What I take away from this is similar to that of of Voltaire's "Candide" - the secret to life is to self-sustain on a farm and only through life's journey can one figure this out.  While Candide came to this conclusion at the end of the novel, Wang Lung had a difficult time focusing on what was really important in his life and instead seemed to just go through life like checking off items on a 'to do' list - things that he thought he needed to do for his family and his family name. 

The Prose

There are no memorable quotations, the language is far from beautiful and the prose is only so-so. While this book was the best selling novel in 1931 and 1932 in the United States, I find that it loses something in today's time - dissimilar to many of the classics that I generally read.

The Final Judgement

I don't regret reading this novel, but I must say that I did not get very much out of it. The prose was easy to read, the characters were interesting (it was easy to like O-Lan and dislike 'Wang Lung' for me) and I would wager that I take very little from this book over the course of my life.