The Joy Luck Club
by Amy Tan
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Book Summary Information
Author: Amy TanEdition: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 1989-03-22
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Putnam
Book Reviews of The Joy Luck Club
Book Review: A whole new universe
Summary: 5 Stars
These days in many Critical Reading examinations, passages that require the understanding of other cultures (i.e. the African-Americans and the Japanese-Americans) are often found. Entering an American college within two years myself, I asked for suggestions of books that issue cultural conflicts in America - at last, I came up with a hard-back book covered with dragons and clouds with "New York Times Bestseller list" in bold letters.
Personally with an Asian background (Korea), this book was more than engaging to my life at home and my life tangent to the western culture. Is America flawlessly opened to accept new cultures? If it wasn't for Amy Tan doing an excellent job by fitting in the billions of characteristics of her topic, beliefs, marriage values, changes in America and their life back in China, she would not have succeeded in smashing the brick of race and won her top place leaving behind many other American talented writers.
Although my interpretation and my comprehension of this book may differ to those of American readers due to my Asian background, I'm sure that the heart-touching feeling I received won't differ with any other readers of this book.
The book's title says it all. The Joy Luck Club is club where four Chinese women play the Chinese block-game "Majong" and tell stories of their own, regardless of how long the story is. One of the four women dies recently and the daughter, Jing-Mei Woo, replaces the empty spot. When Jing-Mei joins the other three women, she finds her true identity and is given with a request that her mother couldn't accomplish before death - finding her real sisters back in China, raised by her mother's first husband.
Typically, the story ends with the reunion of Jing-Mei and her sisters in China. Wait, I'm giving away the ending for a reason! The true inspiration of this book is revealed through the individual stories of each of the characters - and these stories are so peculiar and new that the value of it is beyond those of any other books in the world.
The first part of the book deals with stories of the mothers' lives back in China and to the point how they came to America. The second part, interestingly, deals with the stories of their daughters' lives in America. The mothers believe that they had raised their daughters in a westernized way, but its funny to see that there are parts where they cannot avoid forcing an aspect of Chinese culture in their daughters.
As you read the book, you will realize how old generations are getting reconstructed by the new generations. For example, there is a scene where her American boy friend's tells Jing-Mei Woo mother that her and the family's reputation might destruct because of their son's Asian background girlfriend.
The book is like a portal to another universe. The cute blend of the mothers' wants and their daughters' wants in a non-American culture gives an insight of how things are changing today.
The Joy Luck Club
Summary of The Joy Luck Club
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In 1949 four Chinese women-drawn together by the shadow of their past-begin meeting in San Francisco to play mah jong, invest in stocks, eat dim sum, and "say" stories. They call their gathering the Joy Luck Club.
Get 15% off when you order 5 or more of this title for your book club.
Simply enter the coupon code TANJOY at checkout.
This offer does not apply to eBook purchases. This offer applies to only one downloadable audio per purchase.
In 1949 four Chinese women-drawn together by the shadow of their past-begin meeting in San Francisco to play mah jong, invest in stocks, eat dim sum, and "say" stories. They call their gathering the Joy Luck Club.
Nearly forty years later, one of the members has died, and her daughter has come to take her place, only to learn of her mother's lifelong wish-and the tragic way in which it has come true.
The revelation of this secret unleashes an urgent need among the women to reach back and remember?
Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's "saying" the stories. In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Rather than sink into tragedy, they choose to gather to raise their spirits and money. "To despair was to wish back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable." Forty years later the stories and history continue.
With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of their matriarchal ties. Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery.
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