Rating: 
Summary: Slimy, but not quite satisfying
Review: As a fan of Amy Tan, I was expecting yet another great work of art, like "The Joy Luck Club" and "The Kitchen God's Daughter." But what I got ... was a sometimes less than entertaining book that could not hold my attention. The book opens abruptly, and kept my attention for maybe fifty pages. Then it started to lag. ... I enjoyed the story of Ruth Young. I didn't find it totally lackluster, although it was a bit dull around the edges. It concentrates on Ruth's past and her mother, as well as her problems with her live-in boyfriend, Art. Overall it was sometimes interesting, sometimes lifeless. Even so, I was a little sorry when Part One ended to give way to Part Two, the story of Ruth's mother. The middle section of the book (Part 2) was extremely boring. It took me two days just to get through the first ten pages of the second part. But I finally sat myself down and forced myself to read.. and was surprised when I found that it was much more interesting as it went on. But nearing the end of the second part, one would think that Amy Tan lost all motivation to write and her spark, as it fades away into nothingness. It ends on a boring, tedious, and dull note. Part Three is hardly much better. I felt more like I was obligated to finish this book than I was reading it just for the sheer pleasure. It is even more lackluster than its previous two parts, and ends in the familiar Tan fashion-- another happy ending. All in all, "The Bonesetter's Daughter" is typical Amy Tan style-- a book about a first-generation Chinese daughter brought up by her old-fashioned mother from China with a dark, difficult past that helps the daughter to realize how much she loves her mother when she sees the hardships she had to overcome. If you really want to read this book, I recommed you buy a paperback if you're feeling incredibly generous and feel like you should waste money on something not worth half its price. Otherwise, borrow it from the library or a friend. I'm sure that they won't mind parting with it.
Rating: 
Summary: Beginning good, middle ok, towards end bore me
Review: All of Amy Tan's book are the same: mother-daughter conflict and reminscing the past in China. I enjoyed the beginning to middle VERY MUCH, but when it got towards the middle-end to end, I wasn't too interested in it anymore. I wanted to stop reading it, but I had to find out what happened, so I skipped a few pages and went right to the end. I thought this book would focus a lot on her mother's illness, but it was more about her childhood. It remind me very much of Adeline Yen Mah's "Chinese Cinderella" or "Falling Leaves." ("Chinese Cinderella" is a good book by the way.) I feel the flashbacks could've been cut short. I feel the ending could be better too. If you want to read a good novel with Alzheimer's in the story, read Nicholas Sparks' "The Notebook." Beautiful book.
Rating: 
Summary: One Of Amy Tans' Best!!!
Review: I loved this book. And thought it was better than "The Joy Luck Club. A must read for any of you women that enjoy family saga type novels.
Rating:
Summary: Am I the only one to not enjoy this book?
Review: After reading some of the positive reviews of this book, I wonder if I missed something. I loved Tan's other books; salivated for Chinese food while reading them. But half way through this one, I returned it to the library. The prose was lacking its usual charm, and I found the setting and characters to be flat.
Rating: 
Summary: Tan to the bone.
Review: Amy Tan has written another book about a Chinese-American woman and her strained relationship with her Chinese mother. If only these shallow-San-Fransiso-yuppy-women could understand their irritating mothers, maybe they could have a successful relationship with a man. Right? Fortunately, Tan takes us back to China for most of this novel and writes an epic of tragedy and beauty. Amy Tan has taught me a lot about Chinese culture and history. I love her characters (especially the mothers). I always feel as if I can actually hear their voices and accents. This book is well-worth reading. If you are an Amy Tan fan, this book is very similar to her others, so you won't be disappointed or surprised. (The Kitchen God's Wife is still my favorite.)
Rating:
Summary: No disapointment from this Tan Fan
Review: Tan's ability to bring the reader in to the character portrayal of Mother Vs. Daughter is amazing. Surely this is a theme that she enjoys writing about and it's obviously a non-wasted talent for her to do so. By the end of the novel, I found myself caring deeply for Lu Ling and mourning her loss of memory through Alzheimer's, concerned for Ruth in her quest to find "Precious Auntie's" real name, as well as despair for Precious Auntie and her eventual tragic fate in the family history. This, my second Amy Tan novel, did not leave me disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable story
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I'm a fan of anything that Amy Tan writes!
Rating:
Summary: exploring the past
Review: I have read all of Tan's books and in my view, The Bonesetter's Daughter this is the best; it's one of those books that gripped me from the very first page. The best part of the book is LuLing's journal: the memories she is setting down for her daughter, Ruth, about her life in China and what she knew about her mother, Ruth's grandmother, before her memory began to fade. Most painful for her is that she has forgotten her own real name; in awaking the memories she is in fact trying to find the name that will provide a key to the past. This part of the story is magically evocative. Tan writes with great tenderness and warmth of LuLing and the reader is transported into this wonderful woman's very soul. LuLing is strongly drawn, she possesses an inner fire and a moral strength and it is she, not Ruth, the modern American woman, who pulls the fascinated reader through the story. I have to admit that the chapters in which Ruth is the central character were less fascinating, and I tended to rush through them in order to return to LuLing's story.
Rating:
Summary: More Of The Same, But That's Good!
Review: Amy Tan writes about conflicted daughters learning to appreciate their overbearing mothers, a formula which could easily descend into emotionally manipulative pap, but usually doesn't, because Tan always throws in some gruesome, horrible experiences from the mother's past. This book is about Ruth, the long suffering daughter of LuLing, whose brain is beginning to rot. Ruth is a boring, flat character who finds her Alzheimer's addled mother's semi-secret Chinese autobiography hidden in a chair cushion. The autobiography provides the meat of the story. It is gruesome, it is brutal, and it is immensely engaging. Ravines where corpses are thrown, pseudo psychic con men, evil stepmothers, fire ravaged faces, murders, mayhem, Japanese soldiers, orphanages...if it wasn't so well written, it could be compared to VC Andrews. Ruth's story, at the beginning and the end, drags on interminably, and is not very interesting. This book would have been a much better read if Tan didn't insist on including all the mother/daughter angst she includes in every single book she writes. Skip the Ruth story, read the middle, and you will have a great time.
Rating:
Summary: Back in Form
Review: Thank you, Amy Tan. I was beginning to wonder if you were too busy with childrens books to give us another bestseller. I loved the Joy Luck Club and the Kitchen God's Wife. I must admit that I wasn't as fond of the Hundred Secret Senses. I found this to be a wonderful study of the problems we all face in dealing with aging parents.
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