The Valley of Amazement
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4.1 • 1K Ratings
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- $1.99
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement is a sweeping, evocative epic of two women’s intertwined fates and their search for identity, that moves from the lavish parlors of Shanghai courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a remote Chinese village.
Spanning more than forty years and two continents, The Valley of Amazement resurrects pivotal episodes in history: from the collapse of China’s last imperial dynasty, to the rise of the Republic, the explosive growth of lucrative foreign trade and anti-foreign sentiment, to the inner workings of courtesan houses and the lives of the foreign “Shanghailanders” living in the International Settlement, both erased by World War II.
A deeply evocative narrative about the profound connections between mothers and daughters, The Valley of Amazement returns readers to the compelling territory of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. With her characteristic insight and humor, she conjures a story of inherited trauma, desire and deception, and the power and stubbornness of love.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Amy Tan’s spellbinding new novel—her first since 2005’s Saving Fish from Drowning—unfurls against the backdrop of Shanghai in the early 20th century—a bustling metropolis where East and West mix and clash. Lulu Mintern is an American who runs one of the city’s finest courtesan houses. Her precocious daughter Violet spends her days spying on seductive encounters, vying for her mother’s attention, and trying to unravel the mysteries of her origin. The Valley of Amazement is primarily Violet’s story, and it bursts at the seams with heartbreak. Once again, Tan demonstrates her talent for conjuring unforgettable female characters who are as wily, bawdy, and brittle as they are sensitive, wise, and vulnerable. Like many daughters, Violet finds that her relationship with her mother is a source of profound pain. But it’s also the fierce, complicated bonds between women that keep her sane in the face of staggering adversity—and give her the strength to rewrite her destiny.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her first novel since 2005's Saving Fish from Drowning, Tan again explores the complex relationships between mothers and daughters, control and submission, tradition and new beginnings. Jumping from bustling Shanghai to an isolated village in rural China to San Francisco at the turn of the 19th century, the epic story follows three generations of women pulled apart by outside forces. The main focus is Violet, once a virgin courtesan in one of the most reputable houses in Shanghai, who faces a series of crippling setbacks: the death of her first husband from Spanish influenza, a second marriage to an abusive scam artist, and the abduction of her infant daughter, Flora. In a series of flashbacks toward the book's end, Violet's American mother, Lulu, is revealed to have suffered a similar and equally disturbing fate two decades earlier. The choice to cram the truth behind Lulu's sexually promiscuous adolescence in San Francisco, her life as a madam in Shanghai, and Violet's reunion with a grown Flora into the last 150 pages makes the story unnecessarily confusing. Nonetheless, Tan's mastery of the lavish world of courtesans and Chinese customs continues to transport.
Customer Reviews
The Valley of Amazement
Good read. There were many peaks and valleys of anticipation and details. I liked this as it created natural breaks from reading. As a mother of two daughters I enjoyed the mother daughter relationship from the two perspectives.
The Valley of Amazement
I thought it was a good read. Well worth the money. It reminded me of Memoirs of a Geisha.
Happy Reading!
The Valley of Amazement
Amy Tan has written an amazing story which grabbed my heart from the first page to the very last. The mother daughter plot lines are wonderful. The places about which she writes in China come alive with the author's descriptions. I have read all of Amy Tan's books and loved them all. This one is every bit as good as her prior novels, if not better.