The Joy Luck Club
A Novel
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4.3 • 797 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Amy Tan’s modern classic that examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters—now with a new preface
“For me, [The Joy Luck Club] was one of those once-in-a-lifetime reading experiences that you cherish forever. It inspired me as a writer and still remains hugely inspirational.”—Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians
“Brilliant.”—The Washington Post Book World
“A jewel of a book.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Amy Tan [is] a writer of dazzling talent.”—Chicago Tribune
In 1949, four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to play mah jong, remember the past, and gossip into the night. United in unspeakable loss and new hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club.
With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the memories that display these women’s strength, worries, and determination. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of the matriarchal ties that they believe have stymied their ability to face the uncertainties of the future.
Intimate and moving, The Joy Luck Club shows us how the inheritance of pain and unspoken secrets can lead to misunderstanding—and yet how love can still offer the promise of reconciliation.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The power of Amy Tan's 1989 novel lies in the humanity of its interweaving stories, which explore 20th-century Chinese-American culture as well as the intense bonds between mothers and daughters. The book’s title refers to a San Francisco mahjong club; Tan follows the sometimes harrowing life paths of its four members as well as their daughters' journeys to forge their own ways. As she shifts among her characters’ perspectives, Tan retains an innate compassion—her depiction of these eight women's triumphs, trials, and secrets is both culturally and emotionally rich.
Customer Reviews
Joy of reading.
I've read this book many times before.
It's a good story. Yes, drama-filled, right from the beginning until the end.
Loved it
I loved this book…made me think of my mother and my daughter and thought of what expectations we had of each other.
My third reading
I read this book soon after it was first published, once again about 10 years later, and just now in 2025. I think it's Tan's finest book, and has the power to move me once again, a combination of her heart, her writing craft, and perhaps her Chinese American soul flying back-and-forth.