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Customer Reviews of The Joy Luck Club

An amazing story with one beautiful theme
Back in Freshman year there was a short story in my 9th grade English anthology by Amy Tan. It was called The Rules of the Game. It was a great story to break into high school with because I really enjoyed it. Now I've finally had the chance to read where the story came from and I was defiantly entertained. The Joy luck club is a beautiful book with one theme, the relationship between mothers and daughters and the joys and strengths that they share. The narration's jumps between four mothers and their daughters. Real life in China and modern day life in the US. Each story has it's own plot and resolution. Weather it's a young girl in China forced to marry in an arranged marriage when she was only 12. Or a young wanna be prodigy trying to live up to her mothers expectations. There are stories about going through a divorce, living with a concubine for a mother, dealing with your mothers death, or finding secret strengths inside of yourself you never know existed.

I was very impressed with this book. My favorite stories being Waverly's and June's. Every page is entertaining and it's actually even taught me a little about Chinese culture. Everyone who's a mother or a daughter should defiantly read this book. I'm defiantly going to pick up another book by Amy Tan. The Hundred Secret Senses is on my shelf waiting to be read.

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what took me so long to read this?
After letting the book sit on my shelf for more than a year, I finally decided to give The Joy Luck Club a chance. All I knew is that it had something to do with the Chinese, Amy Tan was a well regarded author, and there was a movie made of the book (which I have not seen). That's it. I didn't quite know what to expect and when I saw the chapter list, I saw that there would be multiple narrators (a technique that can work very well).

I'll be honest, I don't remember a single character name and even during the book, I had a hard time remembering which character was which. From the details provided in each chapter's narration, I knew who was talking, but I didn't know the name. The Joy Luck Club is a story of mothers and daughters. The Club itself was formed by four Chinese women who had emigrated from China to America (separately) and did not know anyone in the country. It gave them a chance to become friends and share in each other's lives. This was perhaps 40 years before the chapters dealing with their children. One of the members of the original Club died, and her daughter was invited to take her place. The Club, among other things, sits and plays Mah Jong late into the night and the game requires four players. Each member of the club and their daughters tell their own stories and the story of their parents. This reveals both how they came to be where they are and also how they view their family dynamic. Some are more satisfied with their lives than others, but in all cases the story is intelligent and interesting.

This was Amy Tan's first novel and the only one that I have read that she has written. Already I can tell that Tan is a major talent and an author from whom I look forward to reading her novels. While The Joy Luck Club will not make my "favorite novels" list, this is still a very, very good novel. Knowing what the subject matter is, if this interests you, give it a shot.

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The Joy Luck Club
I read this book in my sophomore year of high school when I was sixteen. I was truly amazed by the great word usage that Amy Tan was able to achieve. Being an asian-american myself, I found it very easy to relate to the four Chinese mothers and the four american daughters. But I do believe that regardless of race, color, or creed, anyone can enjoy this book and be able to appreciate the stylized story telling.

Another thing I love about this book is its format. There are four different lessons that are subdivided into four stories that are all narrated by either the American daughters or the Chinese Mothers. (If you look at the book, it's make more sense than I'm making right now.)

One of the main themes in the book is communication between generations. All the mothers really want for their daughters is for them not to lose "face" and remember where they came from. And all the daughters want is for their mothers to accept them for who they really are. This book shows how great a mother's wisdom can be even when a daughter doesn't want to hear it.

This is my favorite book of all time and I advise everyone to read it regardless of age. It's a classic and a good one for a reason. I'll end this with my favortie quotes from The Joy Luck Club: A girl is like a young tree, you must stand tall and listen to your mother standing next to you. That is the only way to grow strong and straight. But if you bend to listen to other people, you will grow crooked and weak. You will fall to the ground with the first strong wind. And then you will be like a weed, growing wild in any direction running along the ground until someone pulls you out and throws you away."