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My Several Worlds: A Personal Record Kindle Edition

by Pearl S. Buck (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 221 ratings
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A memoir from the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. “Not only [Buck’s] most important book, but—on many counts—her best book” (Kirkus Reviews).
Often regarded as one of Pearl S. Buck’s most significant works, My Several Worlds is the memoir of a major novelist and one of the key American chroniclers of China. Buck, who was born to missionary parents in 1892, spent much of the first portion of her life in China, experiencing the Boxer Rebellion first hand and becoming involved with the society with an intimacy available to few outside observers. The book is not only an important reflection on that nation’s modern history, but also an account of her re-engagement with America and the intense activity that characterized her life there, from her prolific novel-writing to her loves and friendships to her work for abandoned children and other humanitarian causes. As alive with incident as it is illuminating in its philosophy, My Several Worlds is essential reading for travelers and readers alike. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Pearl S. Buck including rare images from the author’s estate.
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  1. Print length
    603 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Open Road Media
  5. Publication date
    May 21, 2013
  6. File size
    7008 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
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  9. Enhanced typesetting
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From the Publisher

From the Illustrated Biography

pearl s. buck, pearl s. buck painting

pearl s. buck, pearl s. buck in korea, pearl s. buck speech

pearl s. buck, pearl s. buck and family

Portrait of Pearl S. Buck

Johann Waldemar de Rehling Quistgaard painted Buck in 1933, when the writer was forty-one years old-a year after she won the Pulitzer Prize for The Good Earth. The portrait currently hangs at Green Hills Farm in Pennsylvania, where Buck lived from 1934 and which is today the headquarters for Pearl S. Buck International. (Image courtesy of Pearl S. Buck International.)

Buck Addresses Poverty in Asia

Buck addresses an audience in Korea in 1964, discussing the issues of poverty and discrimination faced by children in Asia. She established the Orphanage and Opportunity Center in Buchon City, Korea, in 1965.

Buck and Family

Buck with her husband, Richard J. Walsh, and their daughter, Elizabeth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“On many counts her best book . . . Don’t miss it.” —Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) was a bestselling and Nobel Prize–winning author. Her classic novel The Good Earth (1931) was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and William Dean Howells Medal. Born in Hillsboro, West Virginia, Buck was the daughter of missionaries and spent much of the first half of her life in China, where many of her books are set. In 1934, civil unrest in China forced Buck back to the United States. Throughout her life she worked in support of civil and women’s rights, and established Welcome House, the first international, interracial adoption agency. In addition to her highly acclaimed novels, Buck wrote two memoirs and biographies of both of her parents. For her body of work, Buck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938, the first American woman to have done so. She died in Vermont. 

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00CLVB9II
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media (May 21, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 21, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 7008 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 603 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 221 ratings

About the author

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Pearl S. Buck

Pearl S. Buck

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Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker was born on June 26, 1892, in Hillsboro, West Virginia. Her parents were Southern Presbyterian missionaries, most often stationed in China, and from childhood, Pearl spoke both English and Chinese. She returned to China shortly after graduation from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1914, and the following year, she met a young agricultural economist named John Lossing Buck. They married in 1917, and immediately moved to Nanhsuchou in rural Anhwei province. In this impoverished community, Pearl Buck gathered the material that she would later use in The Good Earth and other stories of China.

Pearl began to publish stories and essays in the 1920s, in magazines such as The Nation, The Chinese Recorder, Asia, and The Atlantic Monthly. Her first novel, East Wind, West Wind, was published by the John Day Company in 1930. John Day's publisher, Richard Walsh, would eventually become Pearl's second husband, in 1935, after both received divorces.

In 1931, John Day published Pearl's second novel, The Good Earth. This became the bestselling book of both 1931 and 1932, won the Pulitzer Prize and the Howells Medal in 1935, and would be adapted as a major MGM film in 1937. Other novels and books of nonfiction quickly followed. In 1938, less than a decade after her first book had appeared, Pearl won the Nobel Prize in literature, the first American woman to do so. By the time of her death in 1973, Pearl had published more than seventy books: novels, collections of stories, biography and autobiography, poetry, drama, children's literature, and translations from the Chinese. She is buried at Green Hills Farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
221 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

S. Schrock
5.0 out of 5 stars Buck at her Best
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2023
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I loved this book! It filled in so many details of Pearl Buck's personal life and personality and made me wish she was still alive so I could actually meet her. I was a little bit disappointed that she didn't say more about her first marriage but I can understand why she didn't and can respect her for that decision.

Since I've read so many of her books about China, I didn't think there was much more I could learn but this particular book was enlightening in ways some of the others were not, probably since it was written from the perspective of an American rather than a native Chinese.

Really, really good. So glad I read it.
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TucsonVic
5.0 out of 5 stars My first, not the last, book by Buck.
Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2022
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I had heard of her, but had never read her works. Her writing style captivated me early on. This will not be the last of her works I will read. She can make the most mundane beautiful and interesting.
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TBP/Rock/Va
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, but it drags on a bit
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2022
Verified Purchase
This is a rather undocumented part of WW 2. This fills in some blanks and after reading it, you have to wonder how the UK hung in there until Dec 7 with some of the boobs in their Government - excluding Winston. Vera Atkins should have received a lot more recognition - she gave so much and received so little.
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Diane Secchiaroli
5.0 out of 5 stars Pearl Buck
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2019
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This autobiography covers her childhood, adolescence, and young womanhood growing up in China as well as her eventual return to America. The stories she wields are entertaining and insightful. This book makes you want to read all her novels of which I have made a good start. She constantly conveys her insights into people she has observed weaving them as examples of her philosophy on various matters. She is a complex woman with much to expound upon. Her philosophy is surprisingly current. She was a truly amazing woman who traveled the world learning about people. Her characters are well defined and interesting.
11 people found this helpful
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Olivertea
5.0 out of 5 stars My journey to different worlds
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2019
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Pear Buck's view of people she encountered in her life was keen, truthful with no partiality. Unfortunately she was treated unfairly by a country under changes of regime that she observed and knew profoundly more than its own people expelled her later in her life, perhaps because of pride or fear of facing the truth.
Most of all Pearl Buck's skillful writing made all characters in her stories come alive.
3 people found this helpful
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Lisa E. Kirkwood
5.0 out of 5 stars Reliable, quick, and professional service, quality products, and high customer satisfaction rate.
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2021
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Item arrived on time, as described by seller. Great product and service.
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JANET PETERSON
4.0 out of 5 stars Historical entertainment based on truth.
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2022
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I decided to read a classic and it didn’t disappoint
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Sharon Henderson
5.0 out of 5 stars My Several Worlds Revisited
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2016
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Prior to living among the Chinese, when I was a young woman, I read all of the books authored by Pearl Buck. Revisiting this book, now that I am about the same age, as Mrs. Buck, when she reflectively penned her life story, renews life lessons taught therein. The wisdom of taking time to understand one another, regardless of culture and any other differences, is paramount to our own knowledge of human nature.
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Jacqueline Parser
5.0 out of 5 stars amazing women
Reviewed in Canada on March 17, 2023
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Amazing insights into Asia history and the Chinese people. A brilliant woman who contributed greatly to our understanding of China
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