The Joy Luck Club

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Summary: Simply wonderful
Review: I would say this is nothing sort of genius. The juxtaposition of the mothers' and daughters' stories is very compelling. One of the most fascinating aspects of the novel is to be able to understand life in China through the stories of the mothers.

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Summary: Worth reading.
Review: The Joy Luck Club is a very intresting, rewarding book to read. Although a little bit hard to get into at first.

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Summary: An Incredible Story of Mother-Daughter Relationships
Review: There is an indescribable dimension of powerful stories, lessons. and morals that can be learned and greatly appreciated from The Joy Luck Club. This story is about women's struggles and triumphs, their saddness and joy, and their regrets and hopes. It is a story of achieving success and the American Dream. It is about the powerful relationship existing between mothers and their daughters. This book has many valuable lessons to offer those who read it. It is filled with everyday issues that the youth of today deals with. The generation gaps between parent and child and the history and culture of two different countries make this book very powerful to its readers. This book is full of wisdom embedded into every page, unraveling a beautifully written story. So much is passed down from generation to generation, and each daughter in the story becomes a stronger person through her mothers' past. This book stresses the importance of learning from others' pasts. I enjoyed this book. I applied it to my life and it made me realize how much I have to learn from my mother and from my grandmother. This book teaches life lessons and shows the reader the big picture life. It does this by showing both sides to the same story. The stories in this book are very thought provoking. This was an incredible book.

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Summary: Book Review of the Joy Luck Club
Review: The Joy Luck Club is about four families, linked by the "Joy Luck Club" that the mothers are members in, and their transition to life in America. The focus in this book is on the relationship between a mother and her daughter, four of them actually, and the culture shock which comes when neither parties can understand the other's culture. This leads to many misunderstandings and problems within the families, including the daughters' marriages, the mothers'constant push for their children to excel, and the ultimate reconciliation between the daughters and their mothers. Some of the scenes that drove the culture shock theme in were the differences between the daughters' marriages, which were chosen out of free will, and the mothers' marriages, which were arranged by their families. Significant differences are evident between the novel's two groups of women. Born in China and veterans of tremendous hardship and tragedy, the aging mothers daily negotiate the significant events of their current lives through a minefield of memories of their youth in China, through stories of the pride and misery that marked their lives before their immigration to America. As immigrants, they have had to make significant changes in their lives; they have been forced to unpack their personal archives of pain and loss and to reassess their ambitions. Although outwardly they are well established in their new lives, the mothers never assimilate entirely; they never acquire fluent English, never relinquish the rituals and ceremonies of their pasts, and never forgot their Chinese years. Their English-speaking daughters, by contrast, are thoroughly and indelibly American by birth, by education, and by inclination. their narratives turning on cross-cultural confusions, generational conflict, and questions of self and identity. Driven by resentment as well as fear of maternal disapproval, the daughters dismiss their mothers as "Old World fossils", and they do not attempt to conceal their irritations with their mothers' stories about life in China. As the mothers struggle to imbue their daughters with a sense of Chinese traditions, the daughters in their turn wrestle with the need to reconcile their American lives and careers with the impossible and incomprehensible expectations of their mothers whose values remain rooted in China. The result is alienation and finally silence between mothers and daughters, exacerbated by an almost unbridgeable gulf between generations. The barriers between the women do not come down until the daughters learn to listen-truly listen-to their mothers' stories and begin to come to terms with the links between those stories and their own lives. I enjoyed this book when I first read it for many reasons. Despite the main characters being females and this book being more geared towards females, I found parallels between the daughters' lives and my own by virtue of the similarities in our situations, with all of us born as first generation Asian-Americans. The push to excel, and many other things are constant in their lives as well as mine. There are not many similar books to this one, as there are relatively few minority authors, and that even fewer write about these situations. A similar book to The Joy Luck Club is Amy Tan's Hundred Secret Senses.

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Summary: A unforgettable Book
Review: This book is wonderful. It is the best book I've ever read. It is about a relationship with a mother and daugter. It is so realistic. I love this book. YOu have to read it. There is also a movie on this book which is fantastic.

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Summary: Discovery in the Joy Luck Club
Review: Amy Tan's novel deals with the trying mother-daughter relationships and their search for their own identity. There are eight characters lives chronicled in the story, four mothers and four daughters. Although the novel is centered around these four Chinese families, the Woos', the Hsus', the Jongs', and the St. Clairs', it is a story all cultures can relate to. The book is divided into four sections, the first introduces and gives background of the mothers, the second develops the daughters, and the third and the fourth sections continue the different stories. The book is a series of flashbacks that take place in both China and America in both the mothers and daughter's lives. It all begins with the death of mother, Suyuan Woo, and the empty spot she leaves at the mah jog (a game her mother invented) table. Her daughter, Jing-mei "June" Woo, is asked to fill the vacancy and learns of the sisters she has in China that her mother had to leave behind many years before. June has to decide whether she can go and tell them of a mother they can barely remember because she knows this is how her mother would have wanted it. The book is about self-discovery and about the characters being able to define by themselves who they want to be instead of conforming. Chinese customs, beliefs, and superstitions are found throughout the novel most often spoken by the mothers. They find their Chinese culture a source of pride and do not want to learn the American ways. Their strong Chinese ways and their daughters' persistence to follow the American ways builds a wall between them and keeps them from having the relationship they all long for. The book is about breaking down the wall and going back to their roots, but the question is can these diverse families find a common bond and share the love they've held back. The reader gets a first person point of view from each character in the telling of her story and therfore, a futher understanding of why each woman is the way she is. The one trouble spot with the book is the jump from character to character. If your not careful you could be lost before you realize. It takes a second as you're reading to remember which character you're reading about and the facts surrounding her life. The confusion should only last temporarily because each woman has a memorable story full of trials and tribulations. The book makes you want to hug your mom, tell her you love her, and develop a better relationship with such a wonderful lady. _The Joy Luck Club_ is a moving, heartfelt novel that captures your attention and emotions until the very end.

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Summary: Deeply Moving and Completely Amazing
Review: "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan is one of the best books I have ever read. It's everything that a great novel should be. The stories of the 4 mothers and their daughters is deeply moving and so fascinating. Their tales of life back in China translate so easily and the memories of these women and their daughters reactions are so interesting. This story of secrets, courage, and mother-daughter bonding is one of the best I have ever read. It's a never-ending source of literary masterpiece.

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Summary: emotions on paper
Review: My brother gave me this book to read when I was pregnant.He said it might help to get in touch with my emotions that I was keeping bottled up.Boy did it ever.Ms.Tan writes with emotion and depth that pulls you in and makes you believe.I have never cried and laughed so much while reading.After reading it you may want to hug someone..fair warning.

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Summary: Troop #891's review for The Joy Luck Club
Review: This story gave such an insight to the lives of the women who had to deal with the horrific struggles of China. The message this book presented to it's readers was so morally challenging, thought provoking, and inspiring.

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Summary: Read The Joy Luck Club on its own terms and you'll enjoy it
Review: Perhaps you are one of those prospective readers who has heard about the controversies surrounding this novel and wondered whether to buy it. One criticism is that it portrays Chinese and Chinese American men in a bad light. This criticism fails to recall that the narrator's father is regarded in a favorable light and that one of the second generation Chinese American women remarries to another Chinese American man. Sure, most of the men are unlikeable, but it helps to remember that

this is the world inhabited by Amy Tan's memories and those of her mother. Another criticism levied against the novel is that it misrepresents life in modern China. But it is necessary to keep in mind that Tan is talking only about pre-Revolution China, and only four women's stories at that. However, I have taught this novel to several classes of Chinese college students in the past year and all have lauded its historical accuracy while applauding the deft poignancy of tone and the peculiar Chinese sentimental tone for conveying that history. But it musn't be forgotten that this is essentially a story about the trials of four mothers and their four daughters. If you accept this groundbreaking novel on its own terms and avoid the kneejerk PC crowd's reaction, you will come away with an experience of myth- making in the best sense of the word.