Take a photo of a barcode or cover
missflyer 's review for:
The Joy Luck Club
by Amy Tan
It has been years since I last read this book, so I had pretty much forgotten most everything about it other than that I had read it and thought positively about it. This time, it was a buddy read with my friends Anna and Megan – we’ve discovered we enjoy doing buddy reads together, and this was one of the few standalones on all of our to-read lists/shelves off the tops of our heads amidst a collection of series both classic (The Lord of the Rings) and more ambitious (Malazan Book of the Fallen).
I found the list of mothers and daughters and the chapter titles list very helpful throughout my read to help keep everything straight. While each story essentially stands alone, it doesn’t really stand alone. So the lists were helpful in connecting not only one character’s story to the next, but mother to daughter and see even clearer the echoes and ripples between the connections. Tan manages solid voices for each mother, each daughter, and the reader benefits from seeing the various perspectives. There is a whimsical quality to many of the mother’s stories, and a more grounded quality to those of the daughters, yet it is still plain to see the ties that link them. I found the stories engaging in the range of emotions they elicit, the different world views, the different experiences that they each relate – and against all expectations, I found myself tearing up at the end, as these people had had a greater impression on me than I thought. There are the elements of Chinese superstition opposite American rationality, and through the mothers and daughters, we see the advantages and disadvantages in each, and more importantly, where they meet in the middle and more often than not benefit from this meeting.
By the end, I found the stories told to be quite relatable, though I am neither of Chinese descent nor a first generation American. Tan reminds us, subtly, that even in our differences we can find similarities, we can find ways to relate to more people around us than we would ever initially suspect. And we are all the richer for the blending of these “differences.”
Favorite quotes:
“This American rules,” [Lindo Jong] concluded at last [about booklet of chess rules]. “Every time people come out from foreign country, must know rules. You not know, judge say, Too bad, go back. They not telling you why so you can use their way go forward. They say, Don’t know why, you find out yourself. But they knowing all the time. Better you take it, find out why yourself.” She tossed her head back with a satisfied smile. – page 94
And I think now that fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention. But somehow, when you lose something you love, faith takes over. You have to pay attention to what you lost. You have to undo the expectation. – page 131
Typo:
My mothers knows, underneath… -- page 151 – “mothers” should be “mother”
I found the list of mothers and daughters and the chapter titles list very helpful throughout my read to help keep everything straight. While each story essentially stands alone, it doesn’t really stand alone. So the lists were helpful in connecting not only one character’s story to the next, but mother to daughter and see even clearer the echoes and ripples between the connections. Tan manages solid voices for each mother, each daughter, and the reader benefits from seeing the various perspectives. There is a whimsical quality to many of the mother’s stories, and a more grounded quality to those of the daughters, yet it is still plain to see the ties that link them. I found the stories engaging in the range of emotions they elicit, the different world views, the different experiences that they each relate – and against all expectations, I found myself tearing up at the end, as these people had had a greater impression on me than I thought. There are the elements of Chinese superstition opposite American rationality, and through the mothers and daughters, we see the advantages and disadvantages in each, and more importantly, where they meet in the middle and more often than not benefit from this meeting.
By the end, I found the stories told to be quite relatable, though I am neither of Chinese descent nor a first generation American. Tan reminds us, subtly, that even in our differences we can find similarities, we can find ways to relate to more people around us than we would ever initially suspect. And we are all the richer for the blending of these “differences.”
Favorite quotes:
“This American rules,” [Lindo Jong] concluded at last [about booklet of chess rules]. “Every time people come out from foreign country, must know rules. You not know, judge say, Too bad, go back. They not telling you why so you can use their way go forward. They say, Don’t know why, you find out yourself. But they knowing all the time. Better you take it, find out why yourself.” She tossed her head back with a satisfied smile. – page 94
And I think now that fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention. But somehow, when you lose something you love, faith takes over. You have to pay attention to what you lost. You have to undo the expectation. – page 131
Typo:
My mothers knows, underneath… -- page 151 – “mothers” should be “mother”