Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

29 reviews

betag1013's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

m0_x13's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Suicide, and War

emi_momo's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Eating disorder and Death of parent

fionnlister's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

samone2's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Abortion, and Death of parent

Moderate: Eating disorder, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and War

const_elle_ations's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Abandonment

Moderate: Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Rape, and Abortion

Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, and War

kappafrog's review

dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Trafficking, and Murder

kstericker's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty and Child abuse

hollymich's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The Joy Luck Club contains beautiful, captivating, and heartwrenching stories about the early lives of four women in China. It is difficult to conceptualize the hardship they each faced at such young ages; their strength truly is inspiring. It felt so intimate being invited into the Joy Luck Club, observing the deep, familial bond that these women have nurtured in America. They each attempt to impart their wisdom and lessons to their daughters, but their meaning is lost in translation across cultural and language barriers. It was lovely to see how these mother-daughter duos eventually connected as the daughters became adults themselves. 

This book will certainly leave you with a warm feeling

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Rape, Abortion, and Death of parent

Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, Racism, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and War

hanfaulder's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It has been a little while since I read this book, but I do remember thoroughly enjoying my experience of it. This can be largely attributed to Amy Tan's vividly evocative writing style. It was as though the world Tan presented to her reader - one of complex, multi-layered relationships between immigrant mother's and their daughters - could jump out of the page at any moment; the words giving-way to ocean water and tears, smelling of fresh garlic and chillies sizzling, as in the far distance I could see the shining red of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Tan describes things with vibrancy and intention, and with every tactile description there is a palpable emotional weight behind it, which only adds to the story being told. While the characters explored in The Joy Luck Club are not always pleasant, and sometimes far from it, they are very real. I appreciated the complexity of these stories, and the grey morality of the characters. The deftness with which Tan observes and brings to life this story was touching, and it opened my mind to the challenges immigrants face raising their children in a world very different to the one they came from. The struggle of acclamation to American culture, as well as interesting critiques of western values, the dichotomy explored between the daughter's embrace of change and the mother's honouring of tradition was nuanced, and the balance found between these two sides was fascinating to read, and emotional in places, to see these relationships so raw.

However, I have to admit that not everything in the story has aged well for a modern audience. This did not subtract from my experience reading the book, but it is an interesting point to bring up. I will also say that, for me personally, I did find the format of the book a little muddied, occasionally loosing track of which characters were which and having to jog my memory with every new chapter. This wasn't a huge issue, as I still felt the themes and understood the core relationships being presented, though this problem did knock my rating down somewhat, and I would warn people before reading this book that it can become overwhelming. Otherwise, I thought that The Joy Luck Club was a fascinating read, more than worthy of recommendation for Tan's expressive wringing style alone.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Eating disorder

Minor: Homophobia