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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
Returning to an Amy Tan back after many years of not reading her was like picking back up with an old friend who had a dark and twisty past that I couldn’t put down. I very much enjoyed the Bonesetter’s Daughter and feeling a bit too close to the stage of life the daughter was in towards the end of the book.
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
Pretty much a revisiting of the same themes as her earlier books. You get over them.
This was my first Amy Tan book in almost 7 years, ever since I read The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God's Wife. I don't have copy's of the first two anymore so I can't pick them up to compare, but I have to admit that reading Amy Tan now I'm not as impressed with her writing as I once was.
Her content, however, is as always quite stirring and appropriate for those of a mixed-culture background. As a Chinese American myself I find her content, while technically fiction, truly strikes a chord with Chinese mother-daughter relations, and first-gen/second-gen relations regarding Chinese immigrants and their American/western kids. Amy Tan wrote of the mixed feelings of culture and history, of guilt and love, and of how family love is a kind of struggle at times. I think what got me is how so much is unspoken.
The Chinese American daughter is quite annoying in the beginning of the book, but I can sheepishly admit that being a Chinese American daughter with more traditional mainland-like elders can be extremely frustrating at times, and drive you to act like someone you are not that proud of...
That being said, if I were to base my overall thoughts on Amy Tan on this most recent reading experience, I would say I've outgrown her writing style. Content is one thing; but I wasn't as swept away with it as I was when I read the JLC or KGW. I still ended up finishing this book in 3 days, but was not as impressed.
That is not to say no one should read it! I am only pointing out that I may be [b:on the road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21E8H3D1JSL._SL75_.jpg|3355573] to other types of writing. This is still a wonderful and touching story, and also a story that captures the difficulties of early 20th century rural China.
Her content, however, is as always quite stirring and appropriate for those of a mixed-culture background. As a Chinese American myself I find her content, while technically fiction, truly strikes a chord with Chinese mother-daughter relations, and first-gen/second-gen relations regarding Chinese immigrants and their American/western kids. Amy Tan wrote of the mixed feelings of culture and history, of guilt and love, and of how family love is a kind of struggle at times. I think what got me is how so much is unspoken.
The Chinese American daughter is quite annoying in the beginning of the book, but I can sheepishly admit that being a Chinese American daughter with more traditional mainland-like elders can be extremely frustrating at times, and drive you to act like someone you are not that proud of...
That being said, if I were to base my overall thoughts on Amy Tan on this most recent reading experience, I would say I've outgrown her writing style. Content is one thing; but I wasn't as swept away with it as I was when I read the JLC or KGW. I still ended up finishing this book in 3 days, but was not as impressed.
That is not to say no one should read it! I am only pointing out that I may be [b:on the road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21E8H3D1JSL._SL75_.jpg|3355573] to other types of writing. This is still a wonderful and touching story, and also a story that captures the difficulties of early 20th century rural China.
This was an interesting book from a historical fiction perspective, but I found it boring--there wasn't enough tension between the past and present narratives nor in the story as a whole.
It has some moments. Wouldn’t miss much if you did not read it. I had to finish it, but should have left it half way.
A beautiful and complex story with so much woven in and around, so much life taking place. This is the first book I've read by Amy Tan (yes, I haven't read The Joy Luck Club or even seen the full movie--for shame!--or read The Kitchen God's Wife, both books that my mom owns and has on her shelf, along with this one, which she gave me a couple weeks ago as a suggestion to read, so I did), so I'm not sure if all her books are like this, but I assume they are similar. Great storytelling and imagining. Reminders of how strong women are, what they had to suffer in the past, how far we've come and have yet to go, how trials and sorrows can be passed down from generation to generation and how each works to overcome them in their own way.
"It pleased her to discuss such matters with him. With Wendy she tended to talk about peeves more than passions. They commiserated on rampant misogyny, bad manners, and depressed mothers, whereas Art and she talked to discover new things about themselves and each other. He wanted to know what inspired her, what the difference was between her hopes and her goals, her beliefs and her motivations.
'Difference?' she asked.
'Some things you do for yourself,' he answered. 'Some things you do for others. Maybe they're the same.'" pg. 29
"Didn't Mom ever realize, Ruth now mused, how her demands for no secrets drove me to hide even more from her? Yet maybe her mother did sense that. Maybe it made her hide certain truths from Ruth about herself. Things too bad to say. They could not trust each other That was how dishonesty and betrayal started, not in big lies but in small secrets." pg. 139
"As he said this, Precious Auntie came back into my mind. I was remembering how she taught me that everything, even ink, had a purpose and a meaning: Good ink cannot be the quick kind, ready to pour out of a bottle. You can never be an artist if your work comes without effort. That is the problem with modern ink from a bottle. You do not have to think. You simply write what is swimming on the top of your brain. And the top is nothing but pond scum, dead leaves, and mosquito spawn. But when you push an inkstick along an inkstone, you take the first step to cleansing your mind and your heart. You push and you ask yourself, What are my intentions? What is in my heart that matches my mind?" pg. 197
"Ruth sank against his chest. 'I don't know, I don't know, ' she said softly. 'Sometimes I feel like I'm a pair of eyes and ears, and I'm just trying to stay safe and make sense of what's happening. I know what to avoid, what to worry about. I'm like those kids who live with gunfire going off around them. I don't want pain. I don't want to die. I don't want to see other people around me die. But I don't have anything left inside me to figure out where I fit in or what I want. If I want anything, it's to know what's possible to want.'" pg. 341
Book: borrowed from Mom
"It pleased her to discuss such matters with him. With Wendy she tended to talk about peeves more than passions. They commiserated on rampant misogyny, bad manners, and depressed mothers, whereas Art and she talked to discover new things about themselves and each other. He wanted to know what inspired her, what the difference was between her hopes and her goals, her beliefs and her motivations.
'Difference?' she asked.
'Some things you do for yourself,' he answered. 'Some things you do for others. Maybe they're the same.'" pg. 29
"Didn't Mom ever realize, Ruth now mused, how her demands for no secrets drove me to hide even more from her? Yet maybe her mother did sense that. Maybe it made her hide certain truths from Ruth about herself. Things too bad to say. They could not trust each other That was how dishonesty and betrayal started, not in big lies but in small secrets." pg. 139
"As he said this, Precious Auntie came back into my mind. I was remembering how she taught me that everything, even ink, had a purpose and a meaning: Good ink cannot be the quick kind, ready to pour out of a bottle. You can never be an artist if your work comes without effort. That is the problem with modern ink from a bottle. You do not have to think. You simply write what is swimming on the top of your brain. And the top is nothing but pond scum, dead leaves, and mosquito spawn. But when you push an inkstick along an inkstone, you take the first step to cleansing your mind and your heart. You push and you ask yourself, What are my intentions? What is in my heart that matches my mind?" pg. 197
"Ruth sank against his chest. 'I don't know, I don't know, ' she said softly. 'Sometimes I feel like I'm a pair of eyes and ears, and I'm just trying to stay safe and make sense of what's happening. I know what to avoid, what to worry about. I'm like those kids who live with gunfire going off around them. I don't want pain. I don't want to die. I don't want to see other people around me die. But I don't have anything left inside me to figure out where I fit in or what I want. If I want anything, it's to know what's possible to want.'" pg. 341
Book: borrowed from Mom
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Such a beautiful book that explores the meaning of family, of self and of memory. Whether it was the author’s intention or my own lack, I lost my way a little around two thirds of the way through but the last third I read in one sitting as I needed the truth, the outcome, the ending. Will definitely be recommending to friends and family