The Joy Luck Club
A Novel
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“The Joy Luck Club is one of my favorite books. From the moment I first started reading it, I knew it was going to be incredible. For me, it 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
Amy Tan’s beloved, New York Times bestselling tale of mothers and daughters, now the focus of a new documentary Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir on Netflix
Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's "saying" the stories. In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Rather than sink into tragedy, they choose to gather to raise their spirits and money. "To despair was to wish back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable." Forty years later the stories and history continue.
With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. 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 their matriarchal ties. Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery.
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.
great book
Written in a conversational tone, it’s easy to see yourself in every character whether that be their flaws or way of thinking. Joy luck club is an amazing lesson. Amazing read.
Disappointing
I was really looking forward to reading this book and I suggested it to my book club. I’m not sure what the problem was, but it was very difficult to read and I had to work hard to pay attention. Maybe it’s cultural or maybe I just don’t like, the story. I would not recommend this to my friends.