Product Description

A stunning literary achievement, The Joy Luck Club explores the tender and tenacious bond between four daughters and their mothers. The daughters know one side of their mothers, but they don't know about their earlier never-spoken of lives in China. The mothers want love and obedience from their daughters, but they don't know the gifts that the daughters keep to themselves. Heartwarming and bittersweet, this is a novel for mother, daughters, and those that love them.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1201 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

Superbly moving and heartfelt
This is a powerful book about love, tragedy, and ties that bind immigrant familes. It's the story of four immigrant Chinese women and their American-born daughters. The moms arrived in San Francisco long ago as young adults, and while they love their now-adult daughters they often cannot understand them - the moms also remain reluctant to reveal parts of their tragic past in their still-beloved China. The four daughters are now in their 30's and also loving, but too Americanized to always understand their China-raised mothers. Are such sentiments universal among immigrants? We meet Lindo Jong, who'se over-bearing pride in her talented daughter Wavery creates problems. Ying-ying St. Clair left a bad husband in China, married an American out of respect but not affection, and is hurt to see her daughter Lena passively stuck in another loveless marraige. Perhaps most moving is Suyuan Woo, forced by war's circumstance to abandon baby twins in China in 1944 - if they are alive and can be located her American-born daughter Jing-mei "June" will have to meet them. This story describes the moms and the daughters, their loves, husbands, kids, careers, struggles, etc.

This powerful tale was adapted into a very good 1993 film. Many say that THE JOY LUCK CLUB is a "woman's" book, but more than a few of us guys also like it. Also highly recommended female-written books about China and family: WILD SWANS and RED CHINA BLUES.

Beyond Spectacular.
You know, it is funny, I have read Amy Tan's The Bonesetter's Daughter and The Hundred Secret Senses, adoring them both beyond words--why it took me this long to get to her first work is nothing short of inexcusable. Not unlike Louise Erdrich's first novel, Love Medicine, this debut of Tan's is absolutely spectacular (it boggles my mind that first time authors can produce such seemingly flawless, multi-voiced narratives). Given the fact that Amy Tan was so young when she wrote this book blows my mind simply because the wisdom and expertise inherent in her storytelling go far beyond her years. In fact, I think this is my new favorite Tan novel, and not only do I believe she is the best Chinese American novelist out there, but at the top of the list of all authors, period. True storytellers are few and far between. Tan straddles the line between academic literature and pleasure reading, which, unfortunately, is not often accomplished.
I have been a devoted student of literature for over six straight years now (specializing in American minority literatures), and the other day, I was talking with a fellow colleague and classmate about this book. When she told me, in her "yawny" way, that she felt it was boring, I realized for the first time, that regardless of "smarts," there are actually literature students out there without one iota of literary taste. What a shame.
This book is truly phenomenal and speaks volumes about what it means to be a woman, for better or worse. I cannot recommend this book, or this author enough.

Good, but not GREAT
Generally, I am drawn to stories that expose me to cultures unlike my own. From that perspective alone, I found Tan's novel to be intriguing and genuine; the individual stories are rich in culture and language. I believe I would have enjoyed it more had the book been presented as a collection of short stories instead. The lack of continuity from chapter to chapter is what kept me from really connecting with this book.

I spent much of my reading time flipping back to earlier chapters to remind myself which daughter was born of which mother so that I could see how the mother's experiences and upbringing had an effect on her daughter's life. There were also a few mother/daughter story lines that I felt could have been explored more in depth and that's why I think presenting them as short stories would have been more effective.

This is the first of Tan's books that I have read, but I do intend to try another one!