re-post: REVIEW: Mandala by Pearl Buck

This is a little embarassing.

I originally posted this in 2012. I was quite lacking in life experience and education then (of which I still am, to a point). Please forgive this review. It's kind of obnoxious.

Mandala. Pearl S. Buck. The John Day Company. 1970. 376 pages.

Goodreads 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.

I don't feel like this is a very good description of the book. I feel like it should say something like: "When the Jagat and his family encounter foreigners, the way they perceive the world and each other shifts."

Patience is key with this book. It is deceptively long, as is The Good Earth (also by Pearl Buck). The story meanders without wandering away from the main plot. Near the end of the book, the story seemed to get a little exaggerated; one of the characters begins to act unrealistically difficult; obstinate, almost.

I love the way the author uses third-person perspective in her writing. There is a motif of pigeons in this book. Right on the first page and near the end (spoiler? sorry.) In mythology and folklore, pigeons symbolize love, marital bliss, and happiness in the home. Also, there is a lovely contrast on page 264. The first paragraph ends with the word "tomorrow" and the second paragraph starts with the word "yesterday." Clever and brilliant. There is also a curious parallel between the author and one of the characters in the book. Can you find it?

There is so much sex in this book! It's not raunchy, in-your-face sex like in contemporary books; but I was still surprised at what I was reading when it finally registered in my brain. Which brings me to my next point; this book seems a little prejudiced. There is a strong undercurrent of the the theme, and forgive me for being crass, "Westerner teaches Heathen how to be human." The story talks about how Jagat has sex with his wife to satisfy his physical urge but not because he loves her. The story also mentions how Jagat and Moti don't necessarily love each other. Short and to the point, nobody in this story is in love with anyone other than a "Westerner" or foreign (the Greek girl, Greek symbolizing "education and learning"). They don't know how to love [be human] and they have to be taught by Westerner. [Despite these things], overall, I quite enjoyed this book.