The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan
RG Silver Medal 1993
Synopsis
The Joy Luck Club is the story of four mothers and
their first-generation Chinese-American daughters; two generations
of women struggling to come to terms with their cultural identity.
Published reviews
What a wonderful book! The "joy luck club" is a mah jong/storytelling
support group formed by four Chinese women in San Francisco
in 1949. Years later, when member Suyuan Woo dies, her daughter
June (Jing-mei) is asked to take her place at the mah jong
table. With chapters alternating between the mothers and the
daughters of the group, we hear stories of the old times and
the new; as parents struggle to adjust to America, their American
children must struggle with the confusion of having immigrant
parents. Reminiscent of Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman
Warrior in its vivid depiction of Chinese-American women,
this novel is full of complicated, endearingly human characters
and first-rate story telling in the oral tradition. It should
be a hit in any fiction collection.
Library Journal
In the hands of a less talented writer such thematic material
might easily have become overly didactic, and the characters
might have seemed like cutouts from a Chinese-American knockoff
of Roots. But in the hands of Amy Tan, who has a wonderful
eye for what is telling, a fine ear for dialogue, a deep empathy
for her subject matter and a guilelessly straightforward way
of writing, they sing with a rare fidelity and beauty. She
has written a jewel of a book.
The New York Times Book Review
{This book} is very cunningly crafted. . . . All of it is
interesting: Chinese customs, ideas and superstitions; the
contrast between Chinese suffering and strength, American
ease and unhappiness... But some of it, I feel, Amy Tan's
teacher, writers' group and editors should have cautioned
her against. The Joy Luck Club is overschematic. We
move too often from one corner of the table to another to
remember or care enough about each. And at the same time it
is over-significant. In the end it gives you indigestion,
as if you've eaten too many Chinese fortune cookies, or read
too many American Mother's Day cards. Each part begins with
a Chinese parable; each chapter title is deeply meaningful;
each story, event and name is packed with messages about life,
love, dependence, memory.
New Statesman & Society
The Chinese-American culture is only beginning to throw off
literary sparks, and Amy Tan's bright, sharp-flavored first
novel belongs on a short shelf dominated by Maxine Hong Kingston's
remarkable works of a decade or so ago, The Woman Warrior
and China Men. . . . The author writes with both inside
and outside knowing, and her novel rings clearly, like a fine
porcelain bowl.
Time
Intensely poetic, startlingly imaginative and moving, this
remarkable book will speak to many women, mothers and grown
daughters, about the persistent tensions and powerful bonds
between generations and cultures.
Publisher's Weekly
|
|
