Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

31 reviews

vixenreader's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

Although it is a product of its time, it is still a pinnacle work in depicting the lives of Asian women, and it is a tender portrait of the deep pain and love that is shared among mothers and daughters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Pregnancy, War, Child death, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Animal death, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Ableism, Abortion, Antisemitism, Infertility, and Rape

Be warned that there is divorce, intergenerational trauma, unrealistic expectations for children, arranged marriage, polygamy, long lost sisters, and drowning of a child.

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The chapters are essentially a compilation of short stories that help the reader come to a consensus reaction about the personal history and lives of these mothers and daughters. You experience their joys and struggles regarding the dynamics in their personal relationships. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Genocide, Classism, Suicide, Gore, Death, Misogyny, Blood, Child death, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Abandonment, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, War, Body shaming, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Ableism, Animal death, Infidelity, Murder, Racial slurs, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Blood, Toxic relationship, Bullying, and Slavery

Some of the triggers are overt, others are strongly suggested, perhaps in other countries in historical periods where long ago childhoods and family histories are elaborated on, in small country towns that could be called backward, clinging to old practices such as having a proper wife but also additional wives/concubines.

emorine13's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

This is an amazing story made up of multiple generations’ stories. It makes you reflect that everyone around you has a background and story, and the only way to remember them is to ask. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Abandonment, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, War, Eating disorder, Chronic illness, Pregnancy, Child death, Abortion, Classism, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, and Fire/Fire injury

michaelion's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.25

I had no expectations other than I knew it would fuck me up. Any story about mothers and daughters. Especially women of color! So complex!! Too real!!!

I don't like reviews with quotes from the piece of media but I had to stop reading to make note of this masterpiece and let it simmer for a while: "And even though I taught my daughter the opposite, she still came out the same way! Maybe it is because she was born to me and she was born a girl. And I was born to my mother and I was born a girl. All of us are like stairs, one step after another, going up and down, but all going the same way."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Abandonment, War, Grief, Eating disorder, Death of parent, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, and Classism

Minor: Self harm, Animal death, Rape, Xenophobia, Blood, Pedophilia, Abortion, and Homophobia

stephyrm's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Grief

Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicide, Abandonment, Abortion, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, War, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, and Sexism

logopolis's review

hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Abortion, War, and Sexual content

Minor: Racism and Death of parent

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

jelen's review

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicide, War, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Car accident, Pregnancy, Classism, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

abigailbat's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

I read this for FCL's Classics book group. It was a favorite of mine in high school, I think in large part because my mom had read and loved it and reading the things she loved was one of the ways I liked to feel connected to her. That's very fitting since this book is all about the relationships between mothers and daughters. Rereading it now, I can appreciate why it was so popular and still think it doesn't wholly hold up. It was written in 1989 and the "present day" stories very much feel like the 1980s. I was surprised at how little of the book I remembered; the last quarter were stories I remembered the most strongly. I did flip back and forth a little bit to try to see how each mother's story influenced her daughter's story, etc. My favorites were Lindo Jong - how she manipulated her abusive family into letting her leave her arranged marriage and the one with the mother who was 4th wife (I forget which character that is, one of the mothers). 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment and War

Minor: Homophobia

ehmannky's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A reflective look at the relationship between mothers and daughters, specially immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters, and all the things that can't be translated or communicated across generational lines. . The episodic and sort of inconclusive nature of the novel and the events is not really my cup of literary tea, though I am able to recognize why it is considered a classic by many. Smarter people than I have written critiquing the novel, so I'll leave my review here

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Grief

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Rape and War