A review of the great book The Joy Luck Club.
I only got round to reading Amy Tan’s book last year and I’m so glad I did!
The Joy Luck Club is the story of four Chinese immigrant mothers living in San Francisco and their relationships with their grown Chinese-American daughters. I have read other reviews of this book written by Chinese or Chinese-American women. Not being Chinese, American, or Chinese-American, I still found the book easy to relate to, being a woman with a mother. It also gave me an insight into a variety of cultures, since the book is set in various times and places. The flashbacks were my favourite parts of the novel, a series of anecdotes from eight different people, making it seem like a collection of short stories. It’s testament to Tan’s writing that this can be done so seamlessly without coming across as disjointed or confusing. Perhaps one of the reasons that it took me so long to give this book a chance is because I generally avoid what is termed as “chick-lit”. This is not chick-lit. Some parts are horror, some are weird fiction, some philosophical. Fellow-avoiders of chick-lit: please give this book a chance! It’s a rich and fulfilling read. I really must get round to watching the film one evening.
The dedication in The Joy Luck Club: “You asked me once what I would remember. This, and much more.” An emotional and often harrowing anthology of stories wrapped in one Chinese-American woman’s journey to understand her roots.
I would love to know other people’s thoughts on this book.
This book was also featured in the post My Top 101 Books.
