PAVILION OF WOMEN

Buck’s epic recounts women’s plight in late 1930s China, rapidly changing under Western influence and threats from native communists and Japanese invaders. On her 40th birthday, Madam Wu, the matriarch of a wealthy, tradition-bound Chinese family, having decided to retire from her bedroom duties, buys her husband a concubine and sets out to divest herself of all the familial responsibilities that have been consuming her life. Her quest to live for herself is aided and complicated by her youngest son’s tutor, Brother Andre, a progressive Western priest. Narrating simply in gentle, dignified, and understated tones, Adam Verner gives this masterful book the perfect touch. On the surface, his delivery is plain, devoid of flourishes, while worlds of underlying meaning emerge through subtle means. Y.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2011]