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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
first amy tan did not disappoint. 1 star removed as i felt at times the plot was dragging on, i also wished for more connection between the daughters of the mothers. otherwise a brilliant novel that perfectly encapsulates complex relationships without unnecessary justifications
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
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
Beautiful example of the Asian diaspora
I totally get why this is a classic and used in schools. I loved the format, the writing was beautiful, and the stories were compelling. One of my only complaints is that I felt like the within the mother and daughter groups the women were not distinct enough from each other characterization wise. Beyond the differences in what happened to them plot wise they were a little too similar. The main exception is Waverly within the daughter group. Also I wish everyone, not just jing-mei and waverly got closure on their stories.
This is a hard story to follow. First of all, it's not a story so much as it is a collection of twelve vignettes/short stories that fit into one of two central themes: growing up as a woman in China and conflicts between female first-generation Chinese immigrants and their daughters.
The reason why it's hard to follow is that there are four mother-daughters pairs and each story focuses on one of the mother-daughter pairs or on the pre-immigration life of one of the mothers, which means that there are a lot of characters to keep track of especially since the book isn't organized in a way that makes it easy to remember which character is which. I was constantly flipping back through the book to remind myself which stories went with a given character and that probably lessened the impact of the mother-daughter conflicts, which were the parts of the book that I enjoyed the least.
Reading through a few reviews, it seems like there's a lot of criticism to how these conflicts are written along with criticism of how Chinese men are portrayed in the book. I am neither Chinese nor a first/second-generation immigrant, so I can't comment on those element. All I'll say is that the mother-daughter relationships were all extremely strained and that may make this a hard read for you. You may also dislike how every second-generation girl ended up single or with a white man. All good topics for discussion groups, lectures, or essays from people who know something about these topics, but I am not one of those people, so I'm not going to pretend to have an informed opinion on all of this. I'll just let you know that informed individuals have written and talked about this book heavily online so you can find that content if you want it. I thought that it made for good supplemental material.
The parts of the book that I enjoyed were the part that dealt with the mothers' pre-immigration lives. These stories were fascinating, though I obviously cannot comment on their accuracy. I think a big reason I liked them is that they all had true endings whereas the mother-daughter stuff didn't have endings because do mother-daughter conflicts ever really end?
The reason why it's hard to follow is that there are four mother-daughters pairs and each story focuses on one of the mother-daughter pairs or on the pre-immigration life of one of the mothers, which means that there are a lot of characters to keep track of especially since the book isn't organized in a way that makes it easy to remember which character is which. I was constantly flipping back through the book to remind myself which stories went with a given character and that probably lessened the impact of the mother-daughter conflicts, which were the parts of the book that I enjoyed the least.
Reading through a few reviews, it seems like there's a lot of criticism to how these conflicts are written along with criticism of how Chinese men are portrayed in the book. I am neither Chinese nor a first/second-generation immigrant, so I can't comment on those element. All I'll say is that the mother-daughter relationships were all extremely strained and that may make this a hard read for you. You may also dislike how every second-generation girl ended up single or with a white man. All good topics for discussion groups, lectures, or essays from people who know something about these topics, but I am not one of those people, so I'm not going to pretend to have an informed opinion on all of this. I'll just let you know that informed individuals have written and talked about this book heavily online so you can find that content if you want it. I thought that it made for good supplemental material.
The parts of the book that I enjoyed were the part that dealt with the mothers' pre-immigration lives. These stories were fascinating, though I obviously cannot comment on their accuracy. I think a big reason I liked them is that they all had true endings whereas the mother-daughter stuff didn't have endings because do mother-daughter conflicts ever really end?
emotional
informative
reflective
There are solid critiques to be made, but I will say that this book may well have been better written by the author’s mother.
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5/5 Stars
Very well written and good book. I don't have any major complaints- though a few minor ones here and there. Some of the stories and characters hit me harder than others which I wasn't as fond of. The order of the characters' stories did get a bit confusing and I mixed up Rose & Lena as well as An-Mei & Ying-ying at times, but as I went on I got a hold of it better. I really loved the main daughter Jing-Mei/June as well as Lena. The ending was also very beautiful. For most of the mother/daughter relationships it is very well written so you can understand how their relationships our strained but that they do love each other even if they can be really, really bad at showing that. ESPECIALLY with June & Suyuan. I really liked that, nice touch. I appreciate that Amy Tan didn't write it in a "children should completely listen to their parents and the kids are all really really dumb" or in a "all these parents are abusive and bad". It was gray and in the middle and for a story about the strained relationship between immigrant mothers and their Chinese-American daughters I think that was the best choice.
Very well written and good book. I don't have any major complaints- though a few minor ones here and there. Some of the stories and characters hit me harder than others which I wasn't as fond of. The order of the characters' stories did get a bit confusing and I mixed up Rose & Lena as well as An-Mei & Ying-ying at times, but as I went on I got a hold of it better. I really loved the main daughter Jing-Mei/June as well as Lena. The ending was also very beautiful. For most of the mother/daughter relationships it is very well written so you can understand how their relationships our strained but that they do love each other even if they can be really, really bad at showing that. ESPECIALLY with June & Suyuan. I really liked that, nice touch. I appreciate that Amy Tan didn't write it in a "children should completely listen to their parents and the kids are all really really dumb" or in a "all these parents are abusive and bad". It was gray and in the middle and for a story about the strained relationship between immigrant mothers and their Chinese-American daughters I think that was the best choice.