This book starts out on Madame Wu turning 40. She's sick and tired of having intimate relations with her husband, so she forestalls his objections by buying him a concubine.

She was smarter than her husband, and from the time she came to live with her husband's family, she was close to her father-in-law, a widely-read, intelligent man.
Madame Wu's father-in-law:
" 'This matter of intelligence - it is so great a gift, so heavy a burden. Intelligence, more than poverty and riches, divides human beings and make them friends or enemies. The stupid person fears and hates the intelligent person. Whatever the goodness of the intelligent man, he must also know that it will not win him love from one whose mind is less than his.' " P.61

On Madame Wu's 40th birthday, a huge party took place. During the party, something happens, that gives an example of why, at first, I didn't like the characters' culture:
"The court was lit with red - paper lanterns, and these drew the moths out of the darkness. Many of them were only small gray creatures, Dusty wisps. But now and again a great moth would flutter forth with pale green - tailed wings, or wings of black and gold. Then all the women cried out, and none could rest until it was imprisoned and impaled upon the door by a pin where all could exclaim at its beauty while they sat in comfort and ate their sweetmeats. Old lady [Madame Wu's mother-in-law] especially enjoyed the sport and clapped her hands with pleasure.
"Now, as they were all looking at the new moth, she, too [Second Wife], went to look at it. It was a creamy yellow color, like the yellow of the lemon called Buddha's hand, and it had long black antenna. These quivered as it felt itself impaled. The wide wings was flattered and dark spots upon them should green and gold for a moment. Then the moth was still." P.131

A foreign Anglo missionary, Little Sister Hsia, makes her rounds frequently, preaching her religion. She talks bad about an Italian priest who takes in Little girl-babies, who are thrown over the city wall because they're girls, and runaway girl slaves, and cares for them. He pays no mind to Little sister Hsia, and this irks her.
"Little sister Hsia's fingers were knotting themselves. 'I do not know how we came to talk about all this,' she said. 'I came here to ask you something - really, I forgot what it was, now.'
'You have forgotten because it was not what was really in your mind,' Madame Wu said kindly. 'I will answer you. No, little sister Hsia, you must leave brother Andre alone. I assure you he is like a great high rock, hard because it is high. You must not beat yourself against that Cliff. You will be wounded, your flesh will be torn, your heart will bleed, and your brains will be spilled like curds, but he will not know it. Occupy yourself with your own God - I advise it.' " P.162

Madame Wu asks the priest, Brother Andre, to teach her son Fengmo some English, so that he can get along better with his wife, who was educated in Shanghai. She sits alongside them during their lessons, and eventually comes to regard Brother Andre as her own teacher. Here she explores her feelings of guilt about turning away from her husband with Brother Andre:
"She was angry at this in her fashion. A gust of sharp temper flew like a sudden small Whirlwind out of her heart.
'Now you speak like a priest,' she said maliciously. 'You can have no understanding of what it is to be compelled to yield your body to a man year after year, without your will.' She felt in herself a strange desire to make him share her unhappiness, and she went on, sparing him nothing. 'To give one's delicate body to indelicate hands, to see lust grow hot and feel one's own flesh grow cold--to feel the heart grow faint and the mind sick, and yet to be compelled, for the sake of Peace in the house.' " P.205

Brother Andre was killed in the street by a gang of hooligans, as he was leaving Madame Wu's compound, after they had spent time together in conversation. His loss of life made her realize her true feelings about him:
" 'I should like to have seen him when he was a young Giant,' Madame Wu thought. She sat at perfect peace, and complete stillness, her hands folded one upon the other, and her rings gleaming softly on her fingers. Yes, Andre as a young man must have been a good sight for a woman. He was handsome even in his middle age, but young he must have been himself a god. Then she felt sorry for that woman whom he had rejected. Now she was married doubtless and perhaps she had many children, for women do not die because a man will not have them, but somewhere in her heart she still thought of Andre, with love or with hate. If she were a woman of little heart she would hate him, and if she were a great heart she had not blamed him and so she loved him still. Or perhaps she thought of him no more. It might be perhaps she was simply tired and past any feeling, as women can grow to be when their hearts and bodies have been too much used. It was the weakness of a woman that heart and body were in it together, warp and woof, and when the body was too much used the heart, too, became barren, unless it had love, such as she now felt toward Andre. Death had relieved her of his body. Had he lived they might have lost their souls in the snare of the flesh. She was surprised to feel at this moment a sudden Rich flesh of the blood into her vitals." P.215

Brother Andre carried his Bible with him when he came for their talks, and he would at times read her a passage. She distrusted this book:
" 'Love thy neighbor as thyself,' he read slowly.
'Love!' she had exclaimed. 'The word is too strong.'
'You are right,' he had said. 'Love is not the word. No one can love his neighbor. Say, rather, "know thy neighbor as thyself." That is, comprehend his hardships and understand his position, deal with his faults as gently as with your own. Do not judge him where you do not judge yourself. Madame, this is the meaning of the word love.' " P.270-1

This book makes you grow to love it, at first disliking the characters for their strange (to this reader) culture and ways, and seeming coldness. But the protagonist grows with the reader, in understanding, until at the end, you are loath to say goodbye. ( )

This is the story of the upper class Chinese pre WWII. The story centers around Madame Wu, who at the age of 40, leaves her marriage bed and gets her husband a concubine. She does this for "freedom." This action causes great confusion and problems within the Wu household. Madame Wu speaks often with Brother Andre, a foreign priest and he greatly affects her and her idea of freedom. "You are free when you gain back yourself,” Madame Wu said. “You can be as free within these walls as you could be in the whole world. ......" Let him go free, and you will be free." During the first half of the book, while Madame Wu appeared to be gentle and timid, she really was a manipulator. After she came to understand what freedom really is, she was still a manipulator, just a kinder, gentler one! Not the best Buck, but quite enjoyable. 312 pages ( )

Wonderful story of a middle aged Chinese woman who, after years of devotion and duty to her family, discovers a higher kind of love. ( )

Wonderful read. I really enjoy the writing of Pearl Buck. Takes place just before WWII in China and describes the lifestyle of a rich traditional family. Strong female character. ( )

Wonderful read. I really enjoy the writing of Pearl Buck. Takes place just before WWII in China and describes the lifestyle of a rich traditional family. Strong female character. ( )