PEONY (312 pp.)—Pearl Buck—John Day ($3).
Anyone who is curious about how bestsellers are put together might profit from a hard look at Peony. Here, in a neat economy package, are crammed all the formula-tested and cliche-ripe ingredients for which book-club members seem to have an insatiable appetite. (Peony, a Literary Guild selection, is Miss Buck’s tenth book to hit the jackpot with a major book club.)
Miss Buck relies for throb-appeal on a blend of the Abie’s Irish Rose and Cinderella themes. Peony is written in a soggy prose and stilted pidgin that suggest a kind of mimicry of Miss Buck’s previous work. Her heroine, pretty Chinese bondmaid Peony, is in the service of a wealthy Jewish family, the Ezras. As such she tends flowers, serves tea, and prepares the bed of her “young master,” David Ezra. It will surprise no reader to learn that behind Peony’s ornamental exterior beats the passionate heart of a woman wildly in love with David. How can she gain his favor? That she can never be his wife Chinese custom dictates; that she can ever be his concubine Jewish law forbids. Peony decides that she must divert David from Leah, the Jewish girl “fairer than any lily,” whom Madame Ezra wishes him to marry, and steer him to Kueilan, an empty-headed Chinese beauty. She succeeds; and the novel’s titillating climax comes as she prepares the gorgeous marriage bed for David and Kueilan.”Through this wedding night she would lie wakeful, her spirit in that other room, hovering over David.”
Peony has calculated well. After his initial pleasures with Kueilan, David finds her insufficient and turns to Peony for solace. At one point it seems as if the Jewish law is going to be violated. But Peony resists temptation and retires to a convent where she does many good deeds.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- L.A. Fires Show Reality of 1.5°C of Warming
- How Canada Fell Out of Love With Trudeau
- Trump Is Treating the Globe Like a Monopoly Board
- Bad Bunny On Heartbreak and New Album
- 10 Boundaries Therapists Want You to Set in the New Year
- The Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise Harder
- Nicole Kidman Is a Pure Pleasure to Watch in Babygirl
- Column: Jimmy Carter’s Global Legacy Was Moral Clarity
Contact us at letters@time.com