Customer Reviews

Amy Tan (People to Know)

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I loved this book, i have read it about four times. I think that Amy Tan does a very good job of portraying the Asian American families in the United States. I related to this book a lot, those of you that have similar problems should read this book. Of course everyone has heard about the movie, but i feel the book is a lot better. If you have heard of any Tan's other book "The Kitchen God's Wife", pick it up, it addressing a lot of the same aspects as in "The JOy LUck Club."

"The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan is a book about the lives and journey of four Chinese women (Suyuan Woo, An-mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-ying St. Clair) & their American-born daughts (Jing-mei "June" Woo, Rose Hsu Jordan, Waverly Jong, and Lena St. Clair). Capitivated in a series of shorts, are tales of the pre-1949 to today's modern times. The Joy Luck Club held it's statis as it was named for, hope and good fortune. As the next generation holds its' faith, it becomes something just a little more special, linking two generations together..

The book provides a detailed description of the lives of eight Chinese-American women and the issues they have to face. However, by the end of first few sections the book becomes redundant with very predictable outcomes. Certain details, such as jobs at fortune cookie factories, lead to a general impression of primitivity and lack of imagination. The story itself tries to imitate conflicts and plots of a mature tragedy, but does so rather poorly. The book may have been slightly more acceptable if its profusion of characters had been cut down to two. Other than for a required assignment this book does not add much to one's reading experience.

There are too many characters with similiar-sounding names...it is confusing.