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Summary: "The Good Earth," Again??
Review: A middle-aged American woman of Chinese heritage, cohabitating with a man introduces us to her aged mother. On the outside, she appears to be a grouchy, perpetually malcontent and quirky old mother. But through a series of discoveries while transitioning her to a home that can care for this Alzheimer's diseased patient, comparatively young and naïve daughter comes to find out that her mother's lifetime of quirky behavior results from her humble beginnings. There's a whole lot more to the story than dear old Mom ever let on. Middle-aged daughter comes to find out that her own set of perpetual crisis seem pale in comparison to what her difficult old mother experienced and wisely kept mum about.Tan splits the story into three parts: Present, Past and Present, again. Although the overall story was interesting, the initial part introducing us to the Present could have been more efficiently abbreviated. It came across as largely boring, but seemed important to the character development. The second section was somewhat of a treat as Tan fictitiously illustrates the peculiar way her Asian ancestors had of toying with each other's seemingly ludicrous superstitions. To Westerners like me, she pokes fun at the way they had of profiting from their own ability to deceive each other. Dear reader will probably enjoy this part the most and continually find himself thinking, "What a bunch of fools!" The third section wrapped up the story nicely, but when all is said and done, it still seems that we have labored through a somewhat underwhelming story that we have witnessed somewhere before.
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Summary: *mothers and daughters*
Review: In this enchanting book, by Amy Tan, it shows the story of how Chinese parents who are first generation Chinese American differ so much from their children. Ruth, the daughter, is a chic "book doctor" living in San Francisco. LuLing, her mother, came to San Francisco after years of hardship and struggle in China and Hong Kong. Amy Tan vividly shows this mother-daughter relationship in this three-part novel. The first third sets the mood of how Ruth's life is. Her life is modern, living with her long time beau, Art, and his two daughters. Ruth always worries about her mother, who's having the early signs of Alzheimer's. Ruth thinks that LuLing's mistakes in birthdays, ages, dates, and people are simply part of the Alzheimer's. But soon sees that these are bits to a story that is being unraveled. The second third tells the story of LuLing's life in China with Precious Auntie and family. It tells the story of her right of passage into adulthood where things that she thought was real was actually a plot to cover up the truth. In her tale, bits of Chinese culture are weaved into the story, the superstitious ways, Chinese traditions, Chinese folklore, and the thought of pre-destiny. The wrap up in the last third is how all of the pieces of LuLing's "mistakes" come together in the translation of her memoirs when Ruth realizes the truth. Ruth realizes the hardships that her mother went through in order for her to have the best. But Ruth also becomes conscious of how pieces of Chinese culture are also weaved into her.
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Summary: An interesting look at mothers and daughters.
Review: Though this book is heavily based on the fact that Ruth Young's mother is Chinese in background, and much of the book takes place in Ancient China, where superstition rules and destiny is pre-ordained, the book still manages to take an intimate look at the relationship between mothers and daughters. Ruth Young is a ghostwriter for self-help books, fairly successful, when she comes upon a diary of her mother's written in Chinese. Her mother had given it to her some time ago, and now Ruth, learning her mother has Alzheimers, is filled with guilt for never having read it. Determined to have the journal translated, Ruth Young learns much more than she bargained for, and in the process comes to love and understand her mother more than she ever thought possible. It is a heartwarming story, and the ragged descriptions of LiuLing (Ruth's mother), her sister Gaoling, the horribly scarred Precious Auntie, and Peking Man will transport your mind to the time and place in ancient China when it all happened. Though warm and interesting, I did find the story colorful but somehow flat. It was not the kind of book that I couldn't wait to get to the next page, and I think that was because it needed more emotion. It makes a solid read and will interest you, but just doesn't make a bestseller for me.
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Summary: A solid piece of work.
Review: The story stared off quite slow, but really pulled itself together by the middle, remaining strong to the end. The story is complex, blending Old World situations and tradition with modern thinking. The author has developed a number of strong characters and allows the reader to enjoy the family mysteries as they are told over three generations. I listened to the unabridged audio version of this book and both readers were solid.
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Summary: Very readable
Review: While I don't consider this her best,it is nevertheless a warm,understanding tale of the inevitable differences between mothers and daughters,regardless of race.It switches between modern day U.S. where the daughter is a ghost writer for some fairly esoteric authors and pre-WW2 China,with it's description of village life with all its superstitions.I was as fascinated by the descriptions as always,when reading about a totally different culture from my own.
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Summary: Her best book yet
Review: Some of the most skillful character development in a modern novel. It is absolutely terrific.
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Summary: Good, but not Great
Review: This book left me with mixed emotions. I have to say the story is good, and if developed properly it would have been a fantastic read, but, it is not very well developed, it is very slow at some points, too fast at others, and it sort of felt like homework. The book is divided into three parts. The 1st part is basically about childhood and teenage memories of the daughter. You end up thinking the mother is totally mad and belongs in a nut house! The second part (the best by far) is the life of the mother in China at the turn of the century. This part was nice because it gives the reader a pretty good idea of what life was like, the traditions, the beliefs, the hidden emotions and the fears of normal people; but it tells a very sad story. Finally the third part is again, the daughter, who, after reading about her mother's life finds out she really loves her, and forgives her, and well... a fairytale ending. In my opinion the book was very descriptive in the first two parts and then it went into a very quick and short, extremelly nice and unbelievable ending. The life of Ruth, the daugther, seems very hollow and unimportant after reading the mother's, and the characters are very black and white, not very realistic. If you really want to read it, I would recommend burrowing it from someone, or reading it at the library.
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Summary: Not as much Joy or Luck as it needed
Review: i looked up Tan after remembering how much i enjoyed reading The Joy Luck Club in high school. The Bonesetter's Daughter was dull in comparison. Tan again explores the lives and stories of a Chinese-American daughter and mother. Unfortunately, the two stories are too unrelated and the rich, twisting plot of the mother's severely overshadows her daughter's tired, "working woman in bad relationship" story. Tan manages to save herself with her usual capture of the Chinese culture in its fullness, the delightfully crooked dialect of Chinese speaking English and the frustrating and affection relationship between a mother and her daughter. It was good, but not her best. If you haven't read Joy Luck Club, go there to satisfy your taste for Tan.
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Summary: Another sucess!
Review: The Bonesetter's Daughter succeeds superbly by continuing the theme of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God's Wife, but with different characters and a different story. In those novels Chinese American children, particularly daughters, are excavating their ancestral roots. Again, in her new novel, Amy Tan is focusing on mother-daughter relationships, a secretive mother, and a daughter who must discover those secrets in order to heal childhood wounds, reconcile with the mother, and resolve adult relationships. The story divides into three sections, the first and third set in the present, and narrated by daughter Ruth Young, a counselor and ghost writer of self help books, who has a long-term live-in relationship with a Jewish man and is a second mother of sorts to his two daughters. The middle section takes place in China and is the story of Ruth's mother and grandmother. It is actually Mrs. Young's journal. The first section sets the stage, shows us Ruth in the present and also Ruth as a child at critical junctures. Amy Tan adds another element to the story, that of Mrs. Young's Alzheimer's disease, which lends poignancy as well as urgency to the discovery and translation of her journal. As we enter her mother's life story the mystery of her seemingly (to Ruth) irrational or eccentric behavior as a mother starts to make sense and feels like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle being filled in. One example is the tradition of sand drawing in order to divine the intent of the gods, which was common in Mrs. Young's childhood in China, and which she foists upon a reluctant Ruth from time to time. As the story comes back into the present in the third section, the focus is three-fold, wrapping up the plot, but also showing us a realistic and compassionate portrait of an Alzheimer patient and the family who have to deal with a dreaded disease, as well as the hurdles of prejudice and misunderstanding that immigrants have to deal with, and the adjustments that they make in order to survive. As Ruth discovers through the journal, her mother is not just "eccentric" or "crazy", but a lot of her mysterious behavior is rooted in Chinese tradition and in the unearthed secrets of her family history. Ruth has been given a gift beyond measure.
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Summary: Maybe this comes out too nicely?
Review: I have to give Amy Tan credit for doing a masterful portrait of a woman with Alzheimer's-like dementia! I have had both a mother-in-law and a grandmother-in-law with Alzheimer's, and reading Tan's depiction of Ruth's mother was moving and painful and frustrating--all very recognizable to someone who has had experience with this terrible situation. I will admit that this story echoes much of Amy Tan's earlier works, dealing with the relationships between Chinese mothers and daughters and the secret, painful, hidden lives that the mothers have led. I think this version of this story works well, however. Ruth, the daughter in this novel, has her own coming of age story here, where she has to deal with the the adult tasks of caring for her mother and staking out her own adult relationship. I liked Ruth, and I deeply empathize with many of the issues she is dealing with, and the impact of her mother's secrets on her life is deep and powerful. My main concern here is that maybe the ending is too good. The end of the novel is rather like the happy ever after of a fairy tale. To a certin extent it didn't seem to ring completely true to me.
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