Seeds of Yesterday

The Seeds of Yesterday.  V. C. Andrews.  #4 Dollanganger series. Published by Pocket.  Originally 1984.  408 pages.  Source: Purchased from betterworldbooks.com.

First sentence: And so it came to pass the summer when I was fifty-two and Chris was fifty-four that our mother's promise of riches, made long ago when I was twelve and Chris was fourteen, was at last realized.

Plot:  Cathy and Chris, entwined with the evil that haunts their children, living with the fearful spectre of Foxworth Hall, are awaiting the final, shuddering climax... prisoners of a past they cannot escape.

My thoughts: This family needs more therapy than can be provided by one professional. Just saying. Cathy's youngest boy terrorized the family his entire life and she fed his crazy behavior instead of actually addressing it. Now in his manhood he is very wealthy thanks to his grandmother leaving him the vast majority of the Foxworth estate. And he continues to terrorize them all.  This story will make you believe that insanity is hereditary.  

Cathy lives in an alternate reality.  Thinking that life can be normal when your spouse is your brother!  This really is a sick and twisted story but I have to see it to the end.  One more book left in the series.

The Good Earth

The Good Earth. Pearl S. Buck. Howard Publishing Co. 1931.418 pages. Audio library.

First line: It was Wang Lung's marriage day.

Plot: This tells the poignant tale of a Chinese farmer and his family in old agrarian China. The humble Wang Lung glories in the soil he works, nurturing the land as it nurtures him and his family. Nearby, the nobles of the House of Hwang consider themselves above the land and its workers; but they will soon meet their own downfall.

Hard times come upon Wang Lung and his family when flood and drought force them to seek work in the city. The working people riot, breaking into the homes of the rich and forcing them to flee. When Wang Lung shows mercy to one noble and is rewarded, he begins to rise in the world, even as the House of Hwang falls.

My Thoughts: Sometimes it's hard for me to wrap my mind around a culture that is so completely different from my own.  When Wang goes to marry his wife whom he has never met or courted he seems alright with his choice considering his status in life is but a farmer.  She works next to (behind really) him at all times on the farm.  She prepared meals and kept the home.  A better wife you would be hard pressed to find.  Until Wang's social status changes after coming into a lot of money.  He starts visiting a brothel.  After a while becomes discontent with his wife and moves in a mistress taken from the brothel.  

After some pour life choices Wang's life begins to fall apart.  His sons don't live up to his expectations.  I can't say that I felt sorry for him by the end of this story.  I don't know if I want to continue with the series yet or not.  Some of the content is for mature audiences so I would not recommend this for anyone under upper teens.

The Remains of the Day

The Remains of the Day.  Kazuo Ishiguro. Faber and Faber Publishing. May 1989.  258 pages.  Source: Audio Library

Plot: In the summer of 1956, Stevens, a long-serving butler at Darlington Hall, decides to take a motoring trip through the West Country. The six-day excursion becomes a journey into the past of Stevens and England, a past that takes in fascism, two world wars, and an unrealised love between the butler and his housekeeper.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this laid back story of the life of a butler as the end of an era was coming to a close.  I like to read books set in England and about the history of England even if it is fiction.