The manuscript for this novel; Pearl's last book, was found after 40 years. It is what you would call an imperfect novel, as it wasn't "finished" --if you will-- However, it is one of the best books I've read in a very long time. The story of Rann was truly mesmerizing and gave me a "Book hangover".
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I was waiving between 4 & 5 stars until the ending, which made me want to rate this only 2, so I settled for 3 stars. ( )

I loved 'The Good Earth,' when I was a kid. For some reason I never really pursued her other novels - one of those 'always meant to, but never got around to it' things.

So - I was quite excited to get this from Goodreads' First Reads program. (Thank You!)

Unfortunately, this is not a good book.
The introduction (written by Buck's son and literary executor) makes it clear that he's aware of that. I got that feeling that,after having paid to retrieve the manuscript, which was apparently stolen from the dying Buck's bedside, or something, it was going to be published no matter what. And after all, she is a famous, Nobel-Prize-winning author, and it's good to have it available for literary completeness.

Reading this book is like listening to a well-meaning, good-hearted, but hopelessly behind-the-times elderly person ramble on. Although it was probably written in the early 1970's (Buck passed away in 1973), the 'feeling' and concerns of the book are more what I'd think of as coming from the 1940's. And - it really lacks plot structure.

It's the story of Randolph - or "Rann," who's a child prodigy/genius. But - his supposed genius IQ doesn't really inform the story in any way, which is odd. A huge chunk of the beginning of the book is devoted to his being in the womb, and being an infant - which, I suppose, gives us an insight into Pearl Buck's ideas about child development, but is extremely boring.

We move on, following Rann through life.
At an early age, his father dies, leaving him with a tragic background.

He gets molested by one of his professors, which is an opportunity for Buck to give us her rather peculiar ideas about gay people. (The ideas in this section are strikingly outdated to any modern reader).

Then he moves on to have a relationship where he gets taken advantage of by a wealthy older widow.

Then he moves on, and falls in love with a young half-Chinese woman. Buck was a huge activist for the rights of mixed-race individuals, but again, her efforts here to describe the plight of this woman and others like her is: first - overblown to a nuclear degree, and second - again, feels way out of touch with the decade that she was writing in. The events of the story don't really work, either in the way that I suspect she intended them to, or in any other way.

Then, the book ends, just sort of randomly, leaving the reader with the feeling of having been presented with a string of unrelated events, rather than a crafted story.

I'll really have to read something else by Buck.

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La prefazione e la lettura dei primi capitoli creano un grande senso di aspettativa e anche di appagamento nel lettore, poiché la bravura dell'autrice sta soprattutto in questo, trascinare dentro le scene, proprio accanto ai personaggi. Man mano che la lettura prosegue, tuttavia, il romanzo diventa soffocante, tutto ruota attorno a Rann, l'intero universo è suo, non vi è vicenda, sfondo, contesto. Vi è solo un palcoscenico, il suo; vi sono altri soggetti, ma non vivono di vita propria, sono costruiti per compiacerlo o disgustarlo. Alla fine del romanzo si ha l'impressione che la Buck abbia bruciato una grande occasione, quella di raccontare la capacità di stupirsi. A mio avviso ha scelto il modo sbagliato, ha costruito una figura di superuomo, contraddicendosi. Non sappiamo quale autentico destino attendesse l'opera, rimasta inedita per quaranta anni, il cui manoscritto fu trafugato dopo la morte della scrittrice e dimenticato in un magazzino insieme a mobili e vecchie cianfrusaglie. Forse era stata rinnegata dalla stessa Buck? E ad ogni modo avrebbe necessitato di abbondanti revisioni, se non addirittura di una pesante demolizione e ricostruzione. La sua pubblicazione ahimè suona tanto come una fin troppo facile operazione commerciale degli eredi, ma a danno di una scrittrice comunque interessante nel vasto panorama letterario americano. ( )

The Eternal Wonder by Pearl S. Buck (Open Road Integrated Media, Inc., 2013) is the story of finding one's purpose in life. The reader follows this pursuit through the eyes of Rann Colfax, from birth to young adult. For those that have read previous works by Buck, her ease of story telling is instantly recognized. As with The Good Earth, The Eternal Wonder is centered around a male character and Buck does a wonderful job with the perspective, bridging the divide between the sexes. Read more at http://thekeytothegate.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-eternal-wonder-by-pearl-s-buck.h... ( )