Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club, a club that was originally made of four Chinese women in America. They all have their own reason of going to America, but generally, they went to America because of the war, because of their bad fortune. The four Chinese ladies often get together, playing mahjong, chit-chatting, eating snacks, and of course, trying to eliminate the terrible memory bacj in China. Three of...more

The Joy Luck Club, a club that was originally made of four Chinese women in America. They all have their own reason of going to America, but generally, they went to America because of the war, because of their bad fortune. The four Chinese ladies often get together, playing mahjong, chit-chatting, eating snacks, and of course, trying to eliminate the terrible memory bacj in China. Three of them married to Chinese men, the other one married to a local American. Later, they all had their children, the story mainly talks about how their daughters' and their own life was. I can see all those arguments between their mathers and them, it was the culture that differentiate them. One of the daughters, Jingmei Woo, went back to China in her 30s to find her sisters who was abandoned by her mother. She found her Chinese nature coming out of her body and forcing her to think in a Chinese way. The story also described how their mothers' life was back in China, it was full of bitterness.   hide

I loved it! I saw the movie years ago, and back then, I was realating myself to the daughters, but while I was reading this book recently I can relate to the mother's side a lot more than before now that I have a teenager. I have to say the movie was well done as good as the book or even more.

Having read its simplified version still gave a deeper insight into Chinese culture. A good collections of stories intertwined with each other, yet a story about mothers and daughters and friends. Beautiful.

One of my favorites.

This book is a beautiful homage to the delicate mother-daughter relationship. The story centers around two generations of 4 families in San Francisco's Chinatown. One generation of women trudges through a landscape of pain and loss in thier native country, only to have thier daughters in the "all-your-dreams-can-come-true" America suffer similar fates, albiet of the modern flavor. Touching upon...more

This book is a beautiful homage to the delicate mother-daughter relationship. The story centers around two generations of 4 families in San Francisco's Chinatown. One generation of women trudges through a landscape of pain and loss in thier native country, only to have thier daughters in the "all-your-dreams-can-come-true" America suffer similar fates, albiet of the modern flavor. Touching upon all hardships that women go through in thier lives - failed marriage, divorce, loss of a child, aging - Tan's message about how mothers and daughters are bonded in eternity by common experiences is strong and deep setting. Immigration and inter-cultural issues aside, this is about the celebration of women, and in particular, mothers and thier daughters. Filled with scenes of steamy kitchens smelling of ginger and scallions, ancient chinese wisdoms and immigrant life, this easy paced book is an all round charmer!   hide

Although Tan breaks my rule about having an original first-person voice, she makes the most of this by using that voice to show what her characters share in common, despite the enormous loathing they sometimes share for each other, rendering the ending all the more poignant.

We were going to write a paper on a stereotype and I thought I might wanted to do one about Asians but it turned out I didn't. However, since I had the book, I decided I might as go ahead and read it. I liked it. It was a good book and Amy Tan's a good writer. I did get confused though. I don't think I caught the whole gist of it, possibly because I was impatient and really just wanted to...more

We were going to write a paper on a stereotype and I thought I might wanted to do one about Asians but it turned out I didn't. However, since I had the book, I decided I might as go ahead and read it. I liked it. It was a good book and Amy Tan's a good writer. I did get confused though. I don't think I caught the whole gist of it, possibly because I was impatient and really just wanted to finish it so I could do the things I had to do, but I do recommend it. It's an easy read; the only thing is keep track of who's who.   hide

Amy Tan is a fantastic writer!

one of my favorites