Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6074 in Books
• Published on: 1991-06-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 287 pages

Synopsis
A first novel which became a major US film. From the wealthy homes of pre-Revolutionary China to downtown San Francisco, this is the story of four mothers and their first-generation Chinese-American daughters; two generations of women struggling to come to terms with their cultural identity.

Customer Reviews

The Joy Luck Club
There was nothing here that I hadn't read or seen before and I can't say that I feel enlightened about Chinese culture. This is just wallowing for readers who want to feel that their relationship with their mother is the root of all their problems. Maybe it's because I'm a man, but somehow I don't think that's the reason this shallow book didn't win me over. The story of June and her mother did have some impact.

Wonderful
The Joy Luck Club follows the lives of a group of Chinese women and daughters living in modern day San Francisco. Not unlike "How to Make an American Quilt" (not sure which came first) the book examines the difficult maternal relationships using flashbacks to various parts of the mother's lives. It is only once you know someone's history that you can understand why a person behaves the way they do.

I love this book. Reading it was one of those rare joys that made me forget who and where I was as I read it. I even managed to read throughout the entire night before noticing that the sun had come up. I had forgotten to go to bed! Beautifully drawn characters, elaborate but not complicated plots, and hauntingly evocative of descriptions of life for women in early 20th century China. The Chinese aspect of the story dominates but women from all cultures will recognise the universal relationships between mothers and daughters. It has even given me a new appreciate for Chinese food! Don't wait for a rainy day - read it now. Sisterhood is global.

The need to belong and the desire to escape
Focussing on a female dominated mother-daughter generation gap and a Chinese-American culture difference Tan mixes social and personality differences to create a broad and encompassing novel about change. TJLC shows, in its older generation, the huge amounts of reliance displaced individuals have on bonding with other alienated people and the human struggle surmounted to achieve happiness. The daughters in TJLC portray the difficulties sometimes endured being Chinese-American and seeming to be an outsider of each culture. So through these two different aspects of the novel Tan incorporates a “traditional” Chinese story at times in the vein of a less political Wild Swans and the cultural disparity of the modern world adds weight to the “emigrant” literature already established from writers such as Frank McCourt (Irish immigration to the USA) and Caryl Phillips (West Indian immigration to Britain).
Sometimes the tone of TJLC can be overly sentimental and meandering but in all Tan creates a moving tale of displacement, the need to belong and solidarity.