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Recommended Fiction: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

by Pamela Tarajcak on 2022-03-24T09:32:35-04:00 | 0 Comments

"My father has asked me to be the fourth corner at the Joy Luck Club. I am to replace my mother, whose seat at the mah jong table as been empty since she died two months ago.  My father thinks she was killed by her own thoughts." (p. 5)

Cover ArtThe Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Call Number: 813.54 T36 2016 (Youngstown)
ISBN: 9780143129493
Publication Date: 2016-10-18
Pages: 329
 
When Jing-Mei Woo joins her mother's friends at the mah jong table for the monthly meeting of the Joy Luck Club, she doesn't expect that her whole perception of her mother will shatter when she hears how her mother had to abandon her twin baby daughters in China during the Japanese encroachment. Following this, we learn more of these friends' lives in China, in tragic story after tragic story.  Then we hear their Chinese American daughters' tales of frustration over their mothers' backwardness and uncomfortable dreams for their futures. These little tragedies are small in comparison to their mothers' traumatic backgrounds, which are expounded upon in the last section.
 
This book is a poignant (and unexpectedly timely) look at how two generations are separated not by time but by culture.  Neither can truly communicate and be open to each other. Neither generation will understand how they love each other and want the best for each other.  Thus is the trials of immigrants, refugees, and their first generation children.  There will always be something that the immigrant parents will never tell their children which in turn will make the first generation children resentful of their parents' drive.  The immigrants will be desperate that their children be totally Americanized but be shocked and shamed that their children will never understand the old traditions.  It's a vicious cycle that this novel reflects in a very accurate way.  There is no spoiler to learn that these generations of women come to a tacit understanding but never in a way that reminds one of a certain type of television movie on a given cable channel. 
 
Tan writes with overall themes in mind and not with an eye to complex plots or overly complex characters.  The tales of these women feel quite similar.  But that is the whole point.  The reader is shown the archetypes and themes.  And there, Tan nails it.  It's a beautifully written novel which expresses the overarching theme in a beautifully heartrending way.  So if you're looking for a book that will explore themes and not characters, this book is for you.  If you're looking for a very accurate reflection of immigrants and their children, this book is for you.
 
Again, no need to tell you that because of these women's traumas that there are trigger warnings aplenty in this book.
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