A review by ayeryn
Rules for Virgins by Amy Tan

5.0

It is a really interesting book. This is the second Amy Tan's work I've read. The first one was The Joy Luck Club, which is really different from this one. I loved The Joy Luck Club and I like this one a lot too. There are some ironies throughout the book. The tricks the narrator teaches Little Violet are skillful and smart, I bet they will work well for Little Violet in the future. In these tricks, there are some great insights about humanity and especially men's nature. But all these come from the desire of survival. And as the narrator mentions many times that she gains all experience from her mistakes in the past. That must be heavy and sad memories. Nothing is easy, even being a courtesan. In their world, there is no love or joy, there is only survival and success. Sounds ridiculous but real. While the suitors think they take control of the courtesans, they might never figure out that they are the ones being played--of course, only for the sake of this book.