Kitchen God's Wife

Rating:
Summary: amy tan's best
Review: I don't give many 5's for anything in this world, but this book (inaccurate or politically incorrect as it may be) is just fantastic. I'm probably biased by the WWII setting, but the characters are knowable, and you can try to understand them. The writing is very well done. Unlike some of her other novels, this one doesn't bore you halfway through. Most people may say that "Joy Luck Club" was Amy Tan's best work. I think it was this book.

Rating:
Summary: Horrible
Review: Maybe its because I'm quite traditional but I hated this book, it made me feel bad about myself. Tan writes in a way that makes Asian men atrocites to society in a way thats very derrogatory.Furthermore, she deifies Caucasian men in a way that makes me throw up. Not a good read...NEXT!!!

Yet, there were many things very prevelant to the asian culture that did help me understand certain things. Overall, the book really flowed expect when i wanted to stab myself at the end. +)

Rating:
Summary: Great storytelling!
Review: This is fiction that comes alive through vivid details, realistic dialogues, fast-paced storytelling and credible characters fleshed out by Amy Tan. Through the description of the life story of the protagonist Winnie Louie, Amy convincingly conjures up the situation in China in the early part of the 20th century, with its wars, chaos, political uprisings, customs and traditions. Although generally accurate in her depiction of China, there were some glaring errors in the explanation of Chinese terms. For example, Amy translated "tang jie" as sugar sisters, when in fact, the term just means female cousins of the paternal side with the same surname. She also explained "Open the door, you can already see the mountain" as grabbing all opportunities and turning them into something big, when it just means getting straight to the point and not beating about the bush. However, these factual accuracies are extremely minor and they do not affect the flow of the story.

The use of different voices to tell the story is indeed a smart move on the part of Amy, for it spices up the story and better enables the reader to follow the storyline. It is evident that Amy took pains to craft the dialogues such that the voices of Winnie and her daughter can be easily distinguished. While her daughter speaks with a more contemptuous and superficial tone, Winnie's was more stolid and mature.

I enjoyed reading the last few chapters of the book for they gave the story an unexpected twist and did a good job in tying the loose ends of the story. You will also discover for yourself why this book is named "Kitchen God's Wife" - though the reason is really quite subtle. My attention wondered off the book occasionally but was swiftly recalled, thanks to skilful storytelling by Amy. More than just a story about life in China, the atrocities of war, soured marriages, themes of infidelity and perseverance, the book is about the unspoken bond between mothers and daughters. Steering away from the usual heart-wrenching and tear-jerking narrating, Amy employs a light-hearted approach to portray a potentially serious theme of mother-daughter love. Pretty inspirational. Kudos to Amy.


Rating:
Summary: The Kitchen God's Wife
Review: Another interesting and captivating fictional story by Amy Tan...

Amy writes about the character Helen Kwong and the story of how she came to America. She tells of her terrible marriage to her first husband, including the treatment that many Chinese women had to endure. It tells how she miraculously met Winnie Louie, her second husband, and how they fell in love, just after meeting for one time.

I found it a little hard to follow at times due to the unusual names, but there were moments when I was so absorbed in the story, I lost track of time!

Rating:
Summary: Fetishy
Review: Is this Joy Luck Club Part II? If not, she sure fooled me.

I understand Tan is a commercial writer, but too many non-Asians misconstrue her to be Asian American LITERARY fiction. I won't deny that Tan opened many doors for the Asian writers of my generation, however her stories are just...so...the word "fetishy" comes to mind.