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The Kitchen God's Wife [ABRIDGED] [AUDIOBOOK] [CD] (Audio CD)

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4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (166 customer reviews)
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The Kitchen God's Wife + The Hundred Secret Senses + The Bonesetter's Daughter: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Tan can relax. If The Joy Luck Club was an astonishing literary debut, The Kitchen God's Wife is a triumph, a solid indication of a mature talent for magically involving storytelling, beguiling use of language and deeply textured and nuanced character development. And while this second novel is again a story that a Chinese mother tells her daughter, it surpasses its predecessor as a fully integrated and developed narrative, immensely readable, perceptive, humorous, poignant and wise. Pearl Louie Brandt deplores her mother Winnie's captious criticism and cranky bossiness, her myriad superstitious rituals to ward off bad luck, and her fearful, negative outlook, which has created an emotional abyss between them. Dreading her mother's reaction, Pearl has kept secret the fact that she is suffering from MS. But as she learns during the course of the narrative, Winnie herself has concealed some astonishing facts about her early life in China, abetted by her friend and fellow emigree Helen Kwong. The story Winnie unfolds to Pearl is a series of secrets, each in turn giving way to yet another surprising revelation. Winnie's understated account--during which she goes from a young woman "full of innocence and hope and dreams" through marriage to a sadistic bully, the loss of three babies, and the horror and privations of the Japanese war on China--is compelling and heartrending. As Winnie gains insights into the motivations for other peoples' actions, she herself grows strong enough to conceal her past while building a new life in America, never admitting her deadly hidden fears. Integrated into this mesmerizing story is a view of prewar and wartime China--both the living conditions and the mind-set. Tan draws a vivid picture of the male-dominated culture, the chasm between different classes of society, and the profusion of rules for maintaining respect and dignity. But the novel's immediacy resides in its depiction of human nature, exposing foibles and frailties, dreams and hopes, universal to us all. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections; first serial to Grand Street, Lear's, McCalls and San Francisco Focus; paperback sale to Fawcett/Ivy; author tour.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


From School Library Journal

YA-- Fans of Tan's Joy Luck Club (Putnam, 1989) will love her powerful second novel. Here she creates an absorbing story about the lives of a Chinese mother and her adult American-born daughter. Pressured to reveal to the young woman her secret past in war-torn China in the 1940s, Winnie weaves an unbelievable account of a childhood of loneliness and abandonment and a young adulthood marred by a nightmarish arranged marriage. Winnie survives her many ordeals because of the friendship and strength of her female friends, the love of her second husband, and her own steadfast courage and endurance. At the conclusion, her secrets are uncovered and she shares a trust/love relationship with her daughter, Pearl, that was missing from both their lives. Some YAs may find the beginning a bit slow, but this beautifully written, heartrending, sometimes violent story with strong characterzation will captivate their interest to the very last page. --Nancy Bard, Thomas Jefferson Sci-Tech, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Audio CD
  • Publisher: Phoenix Audio; Abridged edition (May 24, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1597770752
  • ISBN-13: 978-1597770750
  • Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 5.1 x 0.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (166 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,318,135 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #52 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Asian American > Tan, Amy
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Customer Reviews

166 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (166 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The story of a woman's life in China, July 13, 2002
By Ratmammy "The Ratmammy" (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: The Kitchen God's Wife (Hardcover)
THE KITCHEN GOD'S WIFE, Amy Tan's second novel, is another story that deals with family history and relationships between mothers and daughters. Unlike her first novel, THE JOY LUCK CLUB, THE KITCHEN GOD'S WIFE takes place mostly in the past.

Pearl and her mother Winnie have never had a very good relationship. Winnie criticizes Pearl often, and makes it unpleasant for Pearl whenever they come to visit. The book opens with Pearl, her non-Asian husband Phil, and their two young children making the drive to San Francisco to attend a family wedding.

Everyone in the family is there at the wedding, including close family friends and relatives that have been a part of Winnie's life since her days back in China in the early `20's and `30's. An argument breaks out between Pearl and Winnie at the wedding, but before Pearl and her family return home, she and her mother talk. The story that Pearl hears from her mother is a story she has never heard before. It is a secret that Winnie has kept from her daughter for decades, for fear of hurting Pearl. Pearl herself has a secret, but it becomes secondary as Winnie's story unfolds.

Winnie's modern day world was a lifetime away from her early beginnings in China. She was born to a woman that was one of many wives belonging to a man Winnie knew as her father. He was a stranger to her, never giving her the time of day. Winnie's mother was beautiful and educated, and together they lived the life of the pampered rich because of her mother's station in life. Winnie's life turns for the worse when her mother disappears for reasons unknown to the young girl. Winnie finds herself losing the protective life she had with her mother, the home she grew up in, and placed in the home of a distant relative, to be treated like a second class citizen. Her life is never the same again.

Because of her new station in life, Winnie is destined to never marry, but through a fluke of fate, she ends up marrying a man that should have been destined for her cousin Peanut. However, after they are married, Winnie finds out that this husband is not the romantic wonderful man he appeared to be during the beginning of their courtship. From this point in her life, she knows only unhappiness and suffering.

Winnie has to endure much during this marriage, including abuse, countless miscarriages and loss of children to sickness and poverty, and with the outbreak of war in China, she does not know what her future will be like. What finally brings her to America and to the husband that Pearl knows as her father, is for the reader to find out.

I highly recommend THE KITCHEN GOD'S WIFE. Although this book is not as fast a read as THE JOY LUCK CLUB, I found that the history of Winnie was fascinating, taking me to a country that I know so little about. The story of Pearl becomes second to Winnie's, but Winnie's story bridges the two stories together, as the reader finds by the end of the book.

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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Kitchen God's Wife-a must read, December 22, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: The Kitchen God's Wife (Mass Market Paperback)
The Kitchen God's Wife starts out differently than you would have expected. The start and the end share a bond being told by the daughter but the middle, that is where the true story comes in. A tale of a mother whose life was as good as she made it out to be. Winnie always thought less of herself and higher of others. She was brought up to believe that she was always wrong and that her evil husband was always right and if she disagreed that she deserved to punished. An amazing story filled with chinese culture that does not sound like a history lesson, this book keeps the readers attention and is wonderfully written. You become part of the story as you read it and therefore, seem to be living Winnie's life along with her. Along with all of the hardships and all of the joys. If you have a heart you will be drawn into this book. I had to read this book for an assignment but it turned out that i actually enjoyed this novel and other works by Amy Tan. A book for those who have lost all hope, but somehow still find enough to keep going and remain strong throughout their entire lives. Enjoy!
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Poor communication is the greatest tragedy, August 13, 2001
This review is from: The Kitchen God's Wife (Mass Market Paperback)
I enjoyed reading Tan's "The Kitchen God's Wife." Although I am not too familiar with Chinese or even Chinese American culture, I was struck by the universal theme of how heartache wears people down, causing them to shield their feelings and strain even their most precious relationships rather than risk being emotionally open and connected to one another. The story revolves around a Chinese mother and her American born daughter, and the way they've retreated from this relationship to numb the suffering each has experienced...which is definitely the wrong antidote. The book unfolds the life story of Winnie, the mother, who grew up in China in the early 1900's and left for the United States sometime shortly after World War II. I don't like to think the harsh treatment she endured, especially as a child, could be true, although cruelty has never been limited to one time or place. At times it seemed the plot got a little convoluted or perhaps repetitious, but Tan is a skilled storyteller and manages to follow through to a credible ending. Her book makes me curious to know more about Chinese culture--to this end, I enjoyed the historical references and observations of customs as seen through the eyes of her various characters.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading
I beg to differ, it was not a joyful reading as the cover said, it was a depressing reading!

It was truly painful and mouth dropping to see the kind of suffering you... Read more
Published 7 days ago by Gaby

1.0 out of 5 stars Characters--or Caricatures?
When the story started out, I was engrossed in the novel, and eagerly reading to find out more about the relationship between the characters and their hiding `secrets' from each... Read more
Published 5 months ago by D.L.

4.0 out of 5 stars Chinese-American Mother and Daughter
This is a very well-written book with both the positive qualities of a good page-turner and the intellectual rewards of a book of greater depth. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Bonnie Brody

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Service!
The book was in the condition it said it was in and it was a great price! The delivery was super fast and even arrived before the date anticipated.
Published 13 months ago by BellaBecca

5.0 out of 5 stars A Story of a Woman's Relationship With Her Daughter
This brilliantly written novel by Amy Tan tells the story of a mother's life in China during WWII and, later, her relationship with her daughter, Pearl. Read more
Published 13 months ago by K. Wise

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading, but Tan has written better
The Kitchen God's Wife reminded me of The Bonesetter's Daughter in that it was much about mothers, daughters, secrets, and life in China before immigrating to America... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Nicole Bradshaw

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting, inspiring and educational
My wife and I will often read a novel to each other if it has plenty of drama, and tells a great story. The Kitchen God's Wife is such a story! Read more
Published 20 months ago by Paul Vyriotes

5.0 out of 5 stars Savory!
Tan's second book is The Kitchen God's Wife. Like the Joy Luck Club, the storyline revolves around issues of mother-daughter relationships, family obligations, immigrant life,... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Litr8r

2.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful but uninspiring
I absolutely loved Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club". As an Asian-American myself, I found it to be a beautiful and genuine telling of cultural and familial challenges faced by... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Julie Zhou

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written work by amy tan
I've read "The Kitchen God's Wife" three times, once as a newly married woman, once as a new mother, and now after having recently lost my father. Read more
Published 23 months ago by LH

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