Within the first 3 chapters of this book, it presented an imagery of a life that I could not quite fathom. The main character's wife, O-Lan gives birth in a room by herself, cleans up the mess, and then still serves her husband dinner that same night. I'm not sure how accurate this is to the way peasant wives' lives were in 1900 China, but it was nonetheless intriguing. 
 The story is about Wang Lung, a poor farmer who loves living and working on his land. When he finally comes of age, he goes to a great house and begs for a slave woman to be his wife. They give him O-Lan, a dutiful woman who gives him three sons, something that is considered a blessing in the culture of the time. Together they plow his small parcel of land and as the rich landowners fall to their vices, so Wang Lung begins to buy land a little bit at a time and he begins his ascension in his life. 
 The story spanned this man's life from young peasant farmer to wealthy landowner to old man. The story is written so well that you feel Wang Lung's struggle. The multidimensional way he is portrayed makes you both cheer for his successes and want to smack sense into him for his selfish and patriarchal views. Wang Lung always seems to make his choices based on what other people would think and what other people think is right and it makes him restless and leads to problematic decisions. His sons grow up and he comes to realize that his sons are now spoiled and know nothing of the struggles that he knew and he is proud, but is also worried because they are becoming like the rich men he had so scorned when he was poor. For all his success, his mind begins to fill with regrets as he enters old age. 
 I also feel the book holds a deeper message about class views and the mindset of the rich and poor. I thought this was an extraordinary book. I would go as far as to say that it is one of my top five favorite books.