The Joy Luck Club

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Summary: The Joy Luck Club
Review: I thought this book was very well-written. It shows the point of views of a proverbial family of women, and the trials that they all go through. The mothers beared pain to make life better for the daughters, when the daughters grow up and end up feeling that same pain. This book has a lot of heart, and it displays the emotions we all have at one time or another. It is very true to life, and is overall a must-read for any woman.

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Summary: Reality
Review: This book was very well written with truth of the Chinese culture during the earlier years. To show the pain and suffering of the women was extreme. The fair and unfair reality between families and yet in the end, they all still hold a strong bond.

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Summary: Great book for teenage girls and their moms.
Review: I really enjoyed the Joy Luck Club. The only that was a little confusing was the layout, but besides that it was very well written. You follow four young girls and their moms through their lives and experiences. The four moms grew up in China and the daughters grew up in America. Each share their stories and experiences as a girl. You see the conflicts between the daughters and their mothers as they learn to live in America. Very fascinating and enjoyable stories you won't want to miss. I strongly recommend reading the Joy Luck Club.

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Summary: The Joy Luck Club
Review: I liked this book so much, I'm passing it along to my teenage daughter. It will be interesting to hear her take on it!

The relationships between these mothers and daughters, which are explored from a unique cultural perspective, translate with crystal clarity. I was able to identify so well with these characters and their frustrations in trying to relate to each other - proving it doesn't take a drastic cultural gap to make your daughter (or your mother) sometimes seem strange and alien!

It wasn't a perfect novel; tjump from one character to the next at every chapter was so jolting, I was very tempted to read the book out of order. Also, the end seemed somehow unfocused - I haven't seen the movie, but the book didn't end with a pat Hollywood-style wrap-up.

Don't rush through this one to find out what happens; the pleasure is in the read itself.

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Summary: Bonds of Mothers and Daughters...Never are they broken
Review: My daughter had to read this for her summer reading last year and I got the chance to pick it up first :)

I enjoyed so much about this story, even though the writing was a bit simplistic, I related not only to the mothers, but to the daughter as well. I felt all the needs of a mother to want only the best for her daughter by trying to teach her lessons that she has already learned, and all the frustrations of the daughters who undoubtedly thought they knew better. The stories of the mother's pasts were heartbreaking, the goals of the daughter's, inspiring, the lessons in Chinese culture more than interesting. This book pulled on my heart strings. If you're a Mom, you will really enjoy this, even with the complicated relationships, if you have a daughter, give it to her to read, she will understand how very special being a daughter is and how very much we want for our daughters.

Enjoy! Debbi

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Summary: Imaginative, wise, and cunning are the women of the J.L.C...
Review: THis book was beautifull written and very understandable. I can even relate the mother-daughter situations to myself. Each woman told her own unique story, each with detail and feeling. If you saw the movie, then you should read this book. It goes more in depth and you can understand the story plot better. THis book is entertaining, yet with some humor, and also has passion. Each woman has their own stories, their own personalities. They learn from thier mistakes and regrets, and they pass it down from mother to daughter. Everyone can learn something from their stories. This book will touch your heart as you hear the amazing stories of the women of the Joy Luck Club.

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Summary: The Joy Luck Club
Review: In The Joy Luck Club, novelist Amy Tan used the Chinese traditions of astrology, the five elements, and gung shih along with American literary devices to establish the mothers' apprehensive tone and the daughters' contemptuous tone. Through a series of personal narratives, Tan captures the hardships faced by the Chinese immigrants in the strange, unfamiliar America and the tensions between the Chinese-born mothers and their American-born daughters. The Joy Luck Club uses ancient Chinese astrology to define the characteristics and personalities of the women. In ancient Chinese history, it was said that Buddha invited all the creatures to see him, but only twelve came, so he honored those that came by naming a year after them, and this became the Chinese astrology. "She [Waverly's mother] has the strength of a horse. A Horse born in 1918, destined to be obstinate and frank to the point of tactlessness. She and I make a bad combination, because I'm a Rabbit, supposedly sensitive with tendencies toward being thin skinned and skittery at the first sign of criticism" (183). The two are set against each other by the uncontrollable fate of their birth date. The Chinese culture believes the five elements (wood, water, wind, metal, and fire) determines a person's temperament and how they will react in different situations. "My mother once told me why I was so confused all the time. She said I was without wood. Born without wood so that I listened to too many people" (213). Throughout the story the narrators allude to the elements as the source of a action. Fung Shih is the Chinese idea of the world being in perfect balance. In order for life to be good and for us to have good luck, your life must be balanced physically as well as mentally. "When something goes against your nature, you are not in balance. This house was built too steep, and a bad wind from the top blows all your strength back downhill so you can never get ahead" (112). Fung Shih is a powerful force in the narrative "The Voice from the Wall" told by Lena St. Clair regarding the trauma of her mother's stillborn son. The daughters consider these Chinese traditions more Chinese superstitions, the communication and cultural barriers brought about by the lacking of understanding bring about the tensions felt by both generations. Tan also incorporates motifs, symbolism and irony into the novel to give the tone and achieve her purpose of showing the hardships faced by the Chinese Immigrants in the unfamiliar society and the distances between them and their daughters. Tan uses the directional motif throughout the novel, especially stressing on the importance of the east, from where all begins. "I know her corner on the table was the East. The East is where things begin, my mother once told me, the direction from which the sun rises, where the wind comes from" (22). The story begins in the East in China from which their mothers' history begins and journey to the west in America, where the daughters are from. Ironically it also concludes in the East with Jing Meo Woo's journey to her mother's homeland and past. Amy Tan brings together the classical element of American Literature and Chinese history and culture to achieve her purpose of depicting the struggles for identity and the tensions between cultures and generations in The Joy Luck Club. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and learning about the history of the Chinese culture. It's a good story for any mother or daughter.

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Summary: Contrasting Cultures- a review of The Joy Luck Club
Review: In her novel, The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan stylistically employs imagery, flashbacks, and running motifs in order to exemplify the struggles of four mothers and four daughters as they bridge cultural and generational gaps to bond together in love. Tan's unique style mainly contrasts the different worlds in which the mothers and daughters live. It is this difference in cultures that motivates much of the action of the novel.

Tan paints the picture of the American world of the daughters who "grew up speaking only perfect English and swallowing more Coca-Cola than sorrow" (Tan 18) as compared to the Chinese world of the mothers "whose worth was measured by the loudness of her husband's belch" (Tan 18). Since the mothers and daughters come from such different backgrounds, they have trouble communicating, not only because of the obvious language barrier, but because each of the women has her own view of life that no one else can see. This blindness returns time and again in the novel as a motiv that is a source of pain to the women experiencing it. For example, one of the daughters, Rose Hsu Jordan flashes back to the image of a day in her childhood when her family friend tried hopelessly to "act like a typical American family at the beach" (Tan 122). The idea of fitting in with the Americans blinded her like "invisible specs that felew into [her] eyes and made it hard for [her] to see dangers" (Tan 122). The young Rose was so caught up in her day that she neglected her responsibility to watch her youngest brother, Bing. A dark cloud ascends over the beach as the family realizes that the ocean has taken him. They never found his body. In this case, the daughter was too involved in her own world to remember what her mother hasd asked her to do. This also connects directly into another motif in which water claims something very important to the family. This flashback is characteristic of Tan's style. Flashbacks allow her to drift through time, focusing on the different characters and cultures without disturbing the novel's flow.

So by vividly describing scenes through motifs and flashbacks, Tan is able to effectively and equally show both sides of a complex heritage. Her ability to sail seamlessly through cultural and generational boundaries by touching upon universal themes allows Tan to reveal both the yin and yang in her story. This helps her readers understand a new genre of literature in which Asian-American writers explore their backgrounds, and this proves that it is not just a passing fad, but a substantial movement in American literature that will continue to grow and mature with time.

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Summary: The Role of Chinese Women
Review: In Amy Tan's novel, The Joy Luck Club, she uses mystic realism, Chinese traditions, Chinese superstitions, and four different mother-daughter relationships in order to convey the lifestyles of Chinese women living both in traditional China and in modern America. The mothers tell their daughters stories of their many sacrifices and vast oppression when they lived in China. The use of familiar Chinese traditions, such as arranged marriages, and involving the feelings of the woman getting married, helps to emphasize the expected role of the submissive Chinese wife in those times. By using mystic realism in selected chapters, Tan presents more Chinese culture and superstitions. All the mothers, being raised in China, are accustomed to the superstitious stories passed through generations as warnings to various things, especially outspoken women. The women and their daughters all interact differently throughout the stories. All have respect for their mothers, even though they do not understand each other, which also presents the theme of Chinese tradition evident throughout the novel. The mothers and daughters are often in tension because of the vast differences in their cultures. The mothers believe their daughters are materialistic and busy, while the daughters believe their mothers are homely and old-fashioned. Chinese women have always been expected to stand in the background and observe rather than participate in life, until these families move to America. When they have Chinese-American daughters who have opinions and disobey their parents, they become distant from their family and culture. Tan effectively portrays the expected roles of traditional and modern Chinese women through the use of Chinese traditions and superstitions shown in the relationships of four Chinese mothers and their daughters.

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Summary: The Joy Luck Club
Review: I love this book. I can't wait to finish reading all of Amy Tan's stuff. This book is so incredible! The characters are so real. I enjoyed Lindo Jong the best! I had to look up and see if any of this stuff was biographical...I found out some of it was based on her life loosely. The book did a great job of showing the relationships between mothers and daughters. It's not just a book about chinees women and thier relationships; it's about every women alive.