Joy Luck Club

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Summary: Strong women, Strong family
Review: Joy Luck Club tells the stories of many Chinese-American women who lived through great misery. These women lived through war, abuse, andunwanted marriages to create good lives in America. They immigrated here, got married, settled down and started famlies. This is looking back on their lives. What they lived through and delt with. I loved this book, it was an eye opening experience. It made me look at my life with new meaning.

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Summary: Being half-Chinese...
Review: ...but born here in the United States, I found myself relating all too well with this book. Amy Tan has done what I had previously thought was impossible: getting me in touch with my asian heritage and allowing me to forgive my mother for our many differences.

She writes with such beautiful sensitivity to all of her characters, it is impossible not to get addicted to all of her work!

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Summary: what took me so long to read this?
Review: 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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Summary: An amazing story with one beautiful theme
Review: 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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Summary: The Joy Luck Club
Review: i enjoyed this book because it was very interesting, and i could relate to this book myself. I thought it was cool how an-mei discovered all these secrets about her mother while she was in the joy luck club. It was interesting what an-meis mom had to go through her life time, especially how she left her twin daughters just laying on the side of the road like that. I think that i really liked this book because it really reminds me of my grandma, an-meis mother is similar to my grandma. Overal i really liked this book.

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Summary: The Joy Luck Club
Review: 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."

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Summary: Seeing through the eyes of Generations
Review: I really enjoyed the traditions and cultural aspects that the author included in the Joy Luck Club. The way the stories were split apart by mothers and daughters made you feel like you know each character more personally. The theme of storytelling and translating in the book was clear throughout, and really pulled the book together as a whole. by the end of the book you get used to the stories jumping around and begin to enjoy the way its written. I do feel the book would have been a five star book if the authour could have included more of China's history regarding the World War that takes place in the book.

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Summary: needing help
Review: ive just finished reading this book and now have to write an essay discussing the effects of the past on the present in relation to two mother-daughter pairs in the book. but i find it hard to relate their past to the present, because i think amy tan didnt build up each person's own character strong enough (this is probably because i only read the shortened version). so i dont know how to show how the past changed or built up their character (except that i knew ying-ying behaved like a ghost because she had a bad husband, and rose lost her confidence after the death of her youngest brother).
so if anyone would like to help or discuss with me, please email to: [e-mail]

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Summary: The Joy Luck Club is by far one of the best novels I have...
Review: Profound, emotional, tragic, delightful: Chinese/Chinese-San Franciscan mother daughter revelations. Magnificently universal, too.

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Summary: An Epic Tale for all Mothers and Daughters
Review: This novel was an exceptional piece of literature. I have never read anything by Amy Tan before, but I can honestly state that it is one of the most beautiful and thought provoking stories I have ever read.
This story is about four Chinese mothers, who grew up during China's war with Japan, and before China became an officially Communist country, and their daughters, who grew up in America. The Joy Luck Club is a gathering of their families to celebrate life and heritage. Each of the mothers and daughters tell their own story, with the exception of Suyuan, whose story was told by her daughter because the book begins about three months after she has died. Each chapter can be looked at as a separate story, but the book still floes together beautifully. Most of the novel is set in a series of flashbacks, which give the readers an opportunity to understand the mothers, and the ways that their childhood and histories affected the decisions they made and the way that they raised their daughters. However, the mothers and the daughters have a hard time communicating with one another, and not because they do not understand each other's languages. They have a hard time communicating because the mothers and the daughters do not understand each other.
Each of the mothers has been through a very traumatic experience either as a child or as a young woman. They were all taught by their society that they were worth almost nothing, and judged "by their husband's belch." They were not valued for who they were as individuals, and each gained a sense of self-awareness because of their experiences. The readers gain insight on what life was like for these four amazing, strong, spirited women. Their daughter's stories involve the ways that their mothers raised them, and how it has affected them as adults. While their experiences are, for the most part, far less traumatic then their mother's, they have hard times as well. All of them have problems understanding their parents, who try to raise them with the same guidelines with which they were raised, but with the sense of American pride and self-worth. Nonetheless, all of the daughters interpret their mother's pressure the wrong way. They feel that they are a constant disappointment to their mothers. Unfortunately, they do not realize that their mother's constant pressure and subtleties in behavior happen because their mothers want to show them that they love them. This novel shows how important it is to know your mother, before it is too late.
One of the main themes and concepts of this wonderful novel is that you must understand your mother and your past before you can understand yourself, and that you must never doubt your own self-worth.
This novel is the most beautiful, heart-warming, and meaningful mother-daughter story that I have ever read. It explores mother-daughter relationships with heart-felt honesty and beauty, and has universal appeal. Its eloquent words and fascinating stories make it an absolute delight to read. "The Joy Luck Club" will make you laugh and cry. It may even help you understand your mother, and your other relationships as well. This novel does the best thing a novel can do; it helps you to understand the world.