Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
I found this hard to put down. Amy Tan interweaves the past and current events happening to the characters really nicely.
Amy Tan wraps the modern story of a mother/daughter connection around another great story set in China in the early part of the 20th century.
Ruth is caring for her mother, LuLing, and worrying that she has dementia. In spite of a lifetime of close proximity, she knows very little about her mother’s history until she finds a memoir that she’s written. This contains all the secrets she’s hidden from Ruth, and one is that LuLing was actually the daughter of the disfigured and mute nursemaid who took care of her. It’s an intricate, immersive story, of poverty and social change, of curses and luck, and of lost love.
Ruth is caring for her mother, LuLing, and worrying that she has dementia. In spite of a lifetime of close proximity, she knows very little about her mother’s history until she finds a memoir that she’s written. This contains all the secrets she’s hidden from Ruth, and one is that LuLing was actually the daughter of the disfigured and mute nursemaid who took care of her. It’s an intricate, immersive story, of poverty and social change, of curses and luck, and of lost love.
3 stars for the story, 1 star for making me cry in her tender descriptions of a broken daughter's relationship with her broken mother.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-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
This book tricked me in the best of ways. In the beginning I was reading a book about how all the support systems of a ghostwriting, step-mothering, second-generation Chinese-American woman were failing her right as her mother begins to develop dementia: By the end, I had read a heartfelt plea from the generation before, a cry for understanding that was lucky to find its intended home just in time. This book looked at the wall between immigrant families and their children, between mothers and their daughters, between the old and the young, and it wove a rope to scale it.
Seems like I knew exactly what this book was about and where the plot was headed by about page 15...it's well written, but seemed pretty obvious in terms of character development and such.
I read this many years ago, and decided to read it again as I am a fan of Amy Tan. The back and forth between present day and Luling's life in pre- and WWII era China kept my attention, and also helped me understand what was happening in the present day with Ruth's relationship with her mother. I thought most of the characters were well developed, although Luling's sister could have been a little less one dimensional. Glad I read this again.
This was told from the daughter's voice and then the mother's voice. I have to admit that for the first half of the book, I didn't care for it much at all. I found the daughter annoying and I didn't care for the relationships at all. The daughter and her boyfriend. The daughter and her mom. None of it. Once the mother's story started to being told I was simply enthralled. I loved every word of it. Once the novel went back and ended with the daughter's voice, I still enjoyed it. I now understood (as the daughter understood) the history that shaped the family.
Sometimes, we are shaped by our history. Sometimes that history is not even known to us. Once we find that history out, either by chance or by seeking answers, it can change our entire lives....
Sometimes, we are shaped by our history. Sometimes that history is not even known to us. Once we find that history out, either by chance or by seeking answers, it can change our entire lives....
I enjoyed learning about these women in parallel and jointly. Wasn't sure about the ending but enjoyed the majority of the novel.