Rating: 
Summary: Yea, she does it again.
Review: Yea, Amy Tan comes through again as the masterful storyteller we have come to know and love. It felt like it took a bit to get up and off the ground with this, but once involved in the complex web of ancient China and current day USA, you can't leave until the final page has been turned. And then you are left longing for more! Go, Amy!
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't like it - Liked it - Didn't like it...
Review: I have mixed feelings about this book. I found the beginning part of the novel (present day San Francisco) to be very slow, uncompelling, with unsympathetic characters. I put this book down several times and picked up others books to read instead. The only thread that captured my interest in the first section was the vividly drawn tension and obvious frustrations between Ruth and her mother LuLing. That said, as soon as I hit the second section (LuLing's childhood/adolescence/marriage in China), I couldn't put the book down. Tan's storytelling giftedness shines in this middle section - finely drawn characters, action, landscape, rich history and culture, myths and superstition galore. Kudos to Ms. Tan - this middle section is writing at its best! And then I hit the end (back to present day SanFran) - big bummer. The saving grace for the reader of this last section is being able to watch Ruth's understanding/respect/love of LuLing expand and deepen. So there - in a nutshell, I didn't like it. Then I really really liked it. Then I didn't like it.
Rating: 
Summary: my favorite Tan novel to date
Review: By far the best part of this excellent novel is the middle section about life in China. The recreation of Chinese peasant life, the fascinating tour into calligraphy and the art of fine ink-making, the discovery of Peking man -- this is the stuff of great novels. It makes me wish Tan would devote a whole book to more traditional Chinese tales without the mother-daughter immigrant adjustment theme that runs through all her books. Don't get me wrong -- it works here and the relationship between Ruth and her mother is not by any means an exact replica of relationships in her other novels. There are many new twists. Despite other criticisms, I found the book fast reading and gripping once you get past some of the preliminary chapters. Since many Americans are interested in Chinese history and Tan recreates eras so well, I'd like to put in a request to see her next book take place entirely in China. Tan should be commended for branching out from her familiar territory and writing such a good story.
Rating:
Summary: A great book, *almost* at Joy-Luck status
Review: This book delivers the knot in your throat that you've come to expect from Amy Tan. She is the master of parallel structure, taking the reader back and forth from modern-day U.S. to wartime China. Ruth, the American-born daughter, is a richly developed and sympathetic character. Her story makes up the book's first section. The reader is exasperated by her overbearing mother, until Tan switches voices. LuLing's story is harrowing and poignant and, of course, changes the reader's mind. You won't be disappointed in this novel, which moves quickly.
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly very enjoyable and fast reading
Review: Immediately got immersed in the story of Ruth Young's mother, LuiLing and grandmother, Precious Auntie and their lives before coming to the US from China. Very fast paced.
Rating:
Summary: Stay home to journey in time and place.
Review: Amy Tan does an incredible job of weaving time and people together to give her readers clear insight into her heart. It is obvious that this story is quite personal to Tan, and it's perfectly done, in my opinion. There are beautiful cultural features, emotional moments, and plenty of humor. The viewpoints of people one would not ordinarily run into in a regular day are represented with honor. I especially love the relationships between generations, even more than those among people of the same generation. Tan allows her characters to develop, to grow, and to become more than they were at the beginning of the story.
Rating:
Summary: The Bonesetter's Daughter
Review: I love Amy Tan's Good Luck Club and Kitchen God's Wife. This one doesn't disappoint. The story is compelling from the daughter's side to the mother's in ancient China. I love how you end up learning so much about the Chinese culture while you are engrossed in a story about mothers and daughters, men and women relationships and getting to know yourself. A very fast and entertaining read.
Rating:
Summary: engaging characters
Review: The strength of this book, for me, was not the Ruth the daughter, but her mother's story, told through the middle two-thirds of the book. While some reviewers might see only another 'mother/daughter' struggle, I believe the deeper storyline is about the acceptance by daughter's of the responsibilities of that relationship, or rejection, and consequences of both choices. Ms. Tan's talents as a storyteller make the theme enjoyable and thought provoking. Especially if you are a daughter or a mother.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful saga of a Chinese family.
Review: The Bonesetter's Daughter begins as Ruth, the daughter of Lu Ling, an elderly Chinese woman who immigrated to America some time after World War II, describes their life in California. Ruth is struggling with her mother's dementia which the doctor's think may be Alzeihmer's as well as in her personal life with her 10-year live-in boyfriend who doesn't seem to want to take things to the next level. About 100 pages into the story, Ruth begins to gain some interest in her mother's autobiography which was written some years ago before Lu Ling's memory began to be affected by age. Past progress in reading it has been greatly abated by the fact that it is written in Chinese. After finding a translator, however, Ruth reads the entire story of her mother's childhood through to young adulthood. Tan switches now to the voice of Lu Ling as she tells her own story in her own words as it really happened. A shocking and moving tale, Amy Tan has brought to life the challenges faced probably by many young women in China during the war. It is compelling, fascinating and challenging as well. A great summer read. Don't pass this one by.
Rating:
Summary: Amy Tan does it again
Review: Amy Tan again brings her characters to life and involves the reader in the tale. I felt as though I had acquired a new family whom I cared about as much as she did. How does she continue to do that?
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