Publication
Imprint: Wakefield, Rhode Island ; London : Moyer Bell, 1995, c1963. Context: Originally published: New York : John Day, 1970. Responsibility: Pearl S. Buck. Physical: Text : 1 volume : 361 pages ; 21 cm.
Call number
Fiction / Buck
ISBN
1559210370 / 9781559210379
Original publication date
1970
Collections
CSS Library Notes
Description: Set during the years of India's transition to independence, a man stripped of his title and most of his wealth searches for the spirit of his dead son at the urging of his wife. Prince Jagat meets an American woman and begins an illicit romance with the beautiful, and also married, Brooke Westley. The attraction between East and West plays out in the love affair.
FY1996 /
FY1996 /
Physical description
361 p.; 21 cm
Description
News reaches the couple [Maharana Prince Jagat and his wife, Moti] that their only son, Jai, has been killed by the Chinese in a border skirmish, an inconsolable Moti send Jagat out to bring the boy's spirit home. On the journey, the prince becomes involved with a beautiful and mysterious young American woman. Thus begins the fatal attraction between Eastern and Western ways, one bound by rigid custom, the other temptingly ripe with freethinking.
Language
Original language
English
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User reviews
LibraryThing member hadden
Like many of Pearl S. Buck's novels, this one is mainly a character novel, showing different personalities in a common setting in a foreign land. The plot meanders a bit, showing an Indian high caste and noble family in the days shortly after their nobility is reduced. The family has to deal with
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reduced income and lands, while still supporting the local communities, servants, improvident relations and expensive homes. Prince Jagat, his wife, his son and daughter are shown trying to deal with complexities of the New India. The son feels pressure to show his nobility by enlisting in the army to fight the border incursions of China, and is killed. The daughter becomes attracted to an American hotelier who is hired to change a lake palace into a modern hotel. Regretfully, she is also engaged in an arranged marriage with another prominent Indian. The wife is a traditional Hindu, who becomes enamored with an English Catholic priest. Prince Jagat becomes attracted to an American heiress and wandering traveler whom he meets, and invites to stay at his new hotel. The story is not well developed, and the characters show uneven development in the novel. However, the difficulties India experienced in the early to mid 1960s is well expressed, as it tries to change from a British colonial possession into a modern and independent state. Pearl S. Buck knows the country well, and interprets the nation and people to those who are not familiar with India. However, this is not at the same level as her novels of China, but is a good back porch read on a lazy summer afternoon. Show Less
LibraryThing member angela.vaughn
This was a classic Buck novel. although it was not set in her beloved China, she does a fantastic job bringing the reader into the story. It is so easy sometimes for we Americans to forget and truely cherish the ways of other countries. I liked the insightful religious ties that bind us all and
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separate at the same time. There were many great quotes that I will keep close to heart. Show Less
LibraryThing member MrsLee
I was excited to find a Pearl S. Buck book set in India, having enjoyed many of her other books set in China and Korea. I was hoping for some insight into the Indian culture and history. Somehow, I don't feel that this book is it. It felt very much like a Westerner looking into and interpreting the
Many of the characters and situations felt as though they had been recycled from other Buck stories and stuck into India. If I never hear the words antipathetic, sympathetic and staccato again, I will be happy.
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culture of India. Perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps I was put off by the long dreary "romance" aspect of the story.Many of the characters and situations felt as though they had been recycled from other Buck stories and stuck into India. If I never hear the words antipathetic, sympathetic and staccato again, I will be happy.
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