Reviews

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

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staciek3's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

I was so bored by this book in the beginning, that I couldn't get a few pages in before falling asleep. I also had such a hard time keeping the characters straight. It seemed that all the mother daughter relationships were lacking in some way, because the mother grew up in China, and the daughter grew up in the U.S. There was this continuous struggle where the daughter was trying to assimilate, but then also try to better understand their mother and be closer to her. I'm glad they were able to connect with the long lost sisters in the end. Although I really need to watch the movie now to get a better feel for who was who.

jessn924's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

4.5

jhutasingh's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.25

lulu_jy's review against another edition

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4.0

i really loved how everything was woven together and told from different povs - really made everything all the more interesting and compelling. the reason i didn’t rate this higher is because it can get a bit confusing with who's story is who's and which family member goes with which. regardless, the stories were written fantastically and each character is given it's own charm :))

pammmiisue's review against another edition

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Loved this book!!

Such a classic

mdevlin923's review against another edition

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2.0

Four women who have emigrated from China to California have formed the Joy Luck Club, where they meet, play mahjong, and try to celebrate the small things in their lives. Throughout the novel, each woman tells stories about their childhood and formative experiences in China and then America. All the grown daughters are struggling with something in their life, and through re-connecting with their mother and Chinese heritage, find a way to confront the issues.

While the focus is on mother-daughter relationships, Tan also examined disintegrating marriages, emigration, child abuse, and customs/traditions. I personally prefer stories that have a resolution at the end, and it felt like most of these stories didn't have that.