Rating: 
Summary: An Outstanding Work of Modern Writing
Review: This is an excellent book. It's been over a month since I finished it, but it still exists in my mind as a very good story told through very good writing. Amy Tan does a wonderful job spinning a tale, several of them actually, in this work of art that is widely considered (with good reason) to be a modern classic.For someone like myself, married to a Taiwanese woman, this book lends insight into a world I am familiar with, yet remain a good distance from truly understanding. I find it a fascinating topic of discussion for my perspective as it pertains to my wife, her family, and my Chinese friends. This book, as simple and short as it is, packs a significant cultural punch through the nuances of the words it is written in. Yet you hardly need to be in my position to read this book. It stands on its own as a great piece of work. You won't like it if you have an inclination against things Asian, such as those enamored with emotions as seen in The Rising Sun. I won't try to convince those readers. Otherwise, this book offers something for any reader. This is a touching narrative about 4 American women of Chinese descent and their mothers who were born in China. The story is actually 8 stories, very loosely brought together by a centerpiece that allows you to slide from one narrative to the next, never having to draw much of a connection between them. The book sheds light on the separation between each mother and her daughter, while showing how all 4 mothers and all 4 daughters live similar lives. Tan does a splendid job writing a splendid book. Anyone interested in modern literature would do themselves justice to read this. I readily admit I have more riding on this book than many who might read it. Yet I believe the book stands on its own as worth the read, no matter what your background. Very highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: JLC does not represent the Asian American experience
Review: The Joy Luck Club is a work that accomplishes what it sets out to do...reinforce the negative stereotypes that exist against Asian Americans. While Amy Tan goes on to tell 4 telling stories of tragedy and sacrifice, she falls back onto the same Western clichés that dominate Western impressions of Asian culture. Amy Tan shows Asian culture as a cruel place full of philandering and abusive men.
It's a real shame. Amy Tan could have been are real innovator by showing non-asians a view of Asian society and the Asian American experience. She could have shown that you could be an American and be Asian at the same time. Instead, she re-enforces the stereotypes of Asian society and strengthens the belief that the only way to find true happiness is to remain silent, blame your culture for all that's wrong, and marry up and into acceptance. In summation, I encourage all people to be people of substance. If you really wish to learn about other cultures, don't find your education in the pages of fiction like this. Talk to people, go out and experience it first hand. Research it on the internet. Don't be the mindless flock who accept everything that spoon-fed to them by the media. Don't believe that Amy Tan's writing represent the typical experience of the Asian American. There are many within the Asian community that feels betrayed by Amy Tan.
Rating:
Summary: Growing up
Review: This was one of our summer reading novels for junior A.P Literature. (Advanced Placement). The novel is great. It touches one's soul and has many, many life lessons. It is divided into four mothers and their four daughters, each telling their story and the stories intertwine as well. The novel in itself is a lesson of growing up, acceptance, and remembering where one came from. The question presented is- who am I? How do I blend the old with the new? Minorities like myself can relate really well to the problems of a "double life". It's great for a mother and daughter to each read. This is the only novel for school that I couldn't put down. I read it in three days.
Rating: 
Summary: I love this book!
Review: I really love this book! Amy Tan's writing brings such life to all her characters. The relationships betweent these mothers and daughters are so realistic. The relationships are not perfect by any means, but they are meaningful and touching. This book makes the reader reevaluate their own relationships with all of their family, especially their mothers. Also touching is Jing-mei "June" Woo's (one of the daughters) description of her mother's group of friends, "The Joy Luck Club". She speaks of them with such love and envy that it made me wish I had a core group of friends like them. This book is wonderful and I highly recommend it!!
Rating:
Summary: A Chinese-American must-read
Review: Written from the point of view of a true Chinese born American, Amy Tan reveals the reality about immigrating to a new country and living amongst diverse cultures in the book The Joy Luck Club. Four separate stories twist around each other about four girls and their mothers who came from China's hardships a couple of years back. The four mothers met through weekly games of mahjong, gossiping and sharing their unique stories with each other. As each realized how many times they could have lost hope, they named their weekly visits "The Joy Luck Club". Tan unravels each family secret deliberately, making each one different, but just as sophisticated. She portrays the difficulty each girl goes through as they struggle from the grasps of their culture and tradition to become an American.
Born as a Chinese-American myself, there are times when I feel like I can never fit in perfectly anywhere. With English constantly at the tip of my tongue, I'm taken as a foreigner in Asian countries. However, in any Western country, my black hair and dark eyes Asian features immediately reveals my identity. Through Tan's book, I have a new perception that living a diverse life means keeping an open heart to fit into foreign cultures, but to never abandon our own traditions. I can celebrate Christmas, the Fourth of July, speak English, and listen to American pop singers, but I must not ever forget how to speak, read, or write my Chinese dialect, the Lunar calendar and it's wonderful holidays.
Tan wrote beautifully, being incredibly sensitive with her descriptions of the contrast between two very different cultures. Those who are open-minded to our diverse world would thrive inside these stories. Those with mixed backgrounds would be filled with complete understanding. Those who are Chinese born American must pick up this book sometime along their own path.
Rating:
Summary: Creative story of 4 mothers and 4 daughters
Review: I watchted this movie about 5 years ago, and I finally got around to reading the book. And I think this is the first time I can honestly say that to me the movie was as good as the book! (shocking, I know) This book is about 4 mothers and 4 daughters and their stories of love and loss. There's such a difference in the stories of the mothers & of their daughters, being that the mothers grew up in China & the daughters in the US. It's about their learning to appreciate and understand each other and their lives. What's nice is that in the beginning of the book there's a list of each character and of their stories. It makes it much easier when you go from story to story to remember who's who. What I liked most about the stories was how these women took all of their circumstances and made the best they could out of their lives. Such an inspiration, when you think about how being born in China in the early 1900's was a very difficult time for women. How being born in a different country could make all the difference.
Rating:
Summary: No Joyluck for the Chinaman
Review: The novel exhibits a one dimensional, Westernized perspective of the often complex Chinese social interactions in particular and East Asian in general. It overtly awashes in sentimenal values in place of balanced objectivity, insults the integrity of a proud tradition, and reinforced pervasive stereotypes of Asian men by dehumanizing them as abusively rigid, asexual misogynist. Conversely, the work generally depicts Chinese women as scheming, sexually submissive victims---a kind of yellow noble savage (ie, Madame Butterfly, Miss Saigon). Western audiences and Asian self-haters may praise it for the novel's allege cultural richness because it reinforces their long held prejudices of those "fresh off the boats." However, most Asian male reviewers of this melodrama finds it repugnant and deeply offensive. A work of literary luminary? Think not!
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful.
Review: This is the story of Chinese mother and their daughters. All the mothers originally immigrated from China, and all have faced hardships and challenges, which have made them stronger and wish for something better for their American daughters while instilling in them Chinese values, but their daughters aren't living it up. They're facing their own problems as well, divorce, failure, shortcomings. This was a beautiful story about the complications between mother and daughters. While there are strong Chinese themes, any woman can look beyond this and maybe see their own relationship with their mother. There's so much unspoken between the mothers and daughters in this book. There are so many things they wish to tell each other, to make the other understand. There's a hazy gray area between them that they're trying to overcome. I really enjoyed this book. As I mentioned, it was beautiful. It showed the triumphs and failures of mother and daughter. It touched on the complexity of mother-daughter relationships, how what a mother wants for a daughter may not be the same thing the daughter wants for herself. In fact, there are many complex mother-daughter issues. And the story ends on a note that lets you decide if things got better or worse for the mother and daughters.
Rating:
Summary: Magical storytelling
Review: The Joy Luck Club has become somewhat of a classic, and with good reason. This tapestry of eight womens' lives works beautifully as a novel. Tan is a gifted storyteller - her concise descriptions weaving a vivid world of Chinese tales meeting modern times. She uses just the right words to animate her characters. Recommended for mothers and daughters alike!
Rating:
Summary: One of the finer core novels.
Review: I was required to read this for my Honors English class freshman year. It was definitely interesting, but I found it hard to relate to on some levels because it is for such a female-oriented audience, and I wasn't able to identify with the foreign alienation that comes with being a Chinese immigrant. The story is brisk at some times, yet scathingly slow in a couple parts. Nevertheless, the characters are all interesting and provide something different for every reader, and for every time you read it.
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