The Joy Luck Club - Book Review

The Joy Luck Club Review

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is wonderful tale about the hardships of mother-daughter relationships. I once had to read an excerpt chapter for a class, and I was immediately intrigued by the characters and story. I remember when I was a kid, my mom used to watch the movie, so I had known of this book for some time. When I go to thrift stores I like to browse the book section to see if anything catches my eye. I saw that they had a fairly good condition paperback of The Joy Luck Club. So I bought it! A good addition to my growing library.

One thing that I do love is the narrative flow of the story. Everything feels like it is in continuity with each other even though it bounces back from present to flashbacks, and between different characters perspectives. Each chapter adds to the overall story. At it's heart the book is about the connection and disconnection between mothers and daughters and the influence that American culture has had on the second generation of women.

The present day story

is set during the 1950's in San Francisco, and the flashbacks go all the way back to the 1920's in China. Each of the four mothers share their experiences growing up in China. They share stories about their different experiences; such as having to give up twin babies and being in an arranged marriage. The mothers also share stories about how they grew up disconnected from their own mothers.

Author Amy Tan does a great job not only showing the generational gap between the mothers and daughters, but also the evolution of the mother-daughter relationship from China to America. The story is told in four parts, and each part has four entries. This represents the four mother-daughter relationships that are revealed throughout the book, with the exception on one character that has passed away at the start of the story. Each character reflects on their relationship with their mother, and how that has affected their current relationships, either with their daughters, or the daughter with their family and husbands.

The book does a great job of showing the condition of life in China during the 1920's – 1940's. Each story provides sympathy for the mothers, who from the daughters' point of view seem strict, conservative and unemotional. The main story line revolves around the June Woo and the death of her mother. The ending where June is reunited with her long-lost half sisters in China, is very touching and even brought tears to my eyes. Tan is a tremendous writer that conveys the struggles of Chinese-Americans in the 1950's and the generational struggles between mothers and daughters. This is a book that women of all ages can relate to and enjoy.