The Joy Luck Club

Before walking out of the doors of my high school after exams, I decided to go to my now former English teacher, Mrs. Donaldson, and ask for book suggestions. Among the books she piled in my arms was The Joy Luck Club. This was the second book I've read by Amy Tan, since about a year - year and a half - ago I read The One Hundred Secret Senses. (Question: Why is it always one hundred?) I swear Amy Tan reuses plot points.



The Joy Luck Club is about 4 sets of mother~daughter pairs. Through these sets of women, we encounter and observe breaches of culture, since the mothers grew up and started life in China and their daughters grew up and started life in America. The actual 'Joy Luck Club' is where these families meet: at monthly Mah Jong tournaments that take place at each other's homes. So the families that are not related in most cases are a confusion of 'aunts' and 'uncles' and everything that a traditional Chinese family in the states should entail: jealosy and competition over cooking, the parading of daughters and other family assets, and the friendly family bickering.

Right now, I should introduce the characters. But the truth is, I can't remember their names. Which really isn't important when compared with the stories they tell. The only person's name I can remember is Waverly Place Jong. An odd name. She was named after the street they lived on. One daughter was a child chess champion. Another a designer. The mothers were much more interesting. They had tales of marriages and heartbreak and intuition. Every mother had a story - about a previous marriage or previous children or childhood traumas - that happened in China. But they almost never told their children these stories because they wanted to protect their daughters and leave the old life behind them. The irony in it, is that if the daughters knew these stories that made the mothers people and not just mothers, they would have more respect for them as humans.

I read this book about a month ago, so I don't really have quotes. I give this book a 3 out of 5. Just for me. It explained the chinese culture and the strife between generations. I liked the journey the younger generation had to take to fully understand that while they had hurried to cover the Chinese and flaunt the American, the Chinese part of them was still there and needed airing out. But it was not my favorite book. It reminded me of Obasan. Not just because of the Asian-American connection or the journey to self discovery when you have more than one culture pulling at you, but at the silence of the former generations.