Alright, so i admit this i my first ever book review >< so if this is somewhat lacking please do pardon me, and feel free to leave a comment if you have any constructive criticisms. Here goes nothing!
After searching for this book online, I found out that there's a film as well, with a screenplay by Amy Tan, but I have not seen it YET... hopefully soon.
So yes, I am really glad i decided to give this a go. The last book i remember reading that covered the Chinese culture is The Last Leaf/Chinese Cinderella. So when i spotted this book on the library shelves a few weeks back, I was like, I probably should go back to my roots again, so i picked it up, and never looked back. What a brilliant debut novel!
The story itself is a piece of beautiful artwork, complex yet appealing. It did take a bit more brain juice to get through as each chapter took a look at 4 different mother-daughter pairs. While their lives were interwoven (through the Joy Luck Club), it was slightly hard for me to remember clearly who did what previously, and I found myself flipping back and forth to link with what happened in the previous chapters. Perhaps I haven't read anything this deep and compelling in a long while, or that I read them in separate sittings... Either ways, this should not deter you from giving this book a go, the reward when you approach the end of the book is pretty heartwarming.
This book looks into the 2 different generations of Chinese women, the mothers who spent their childhood in China and the daughters in America. The stories revolve around their beliefs(influenced by their past and present) and how the daughters are both different and similar to their mothers. It also looked at how cultures are different, and how globalization made their lives a tad more complicated. Coming from different backgrounds, the Chinese mothers all had different values that contributed to who they were. They had different beliefs, different struggles. Such vulnerabilities displayed by the mothers made me empathize and think hard about whether traditions and heritage had any place in today's society. In fact, even if what they think do not coincide with yours, the writing allows for the reader to explore and not judge. I actually enjoyed the mothers' side of the story slightly more than their daughters'. The daughters are still learning and growing, and were supposedly more relatable to me. I guess I gravitated more towards wanting to know more about the "greater" challenges that the mothers faced and how they "tried to influence" their children instead. Most of the mothers' story-lines had greater breadth and depth, which makes for a more wholesome picture. While I unfortunately didn't manage to remember all the characters clearly in my first reading, they all came together to form a larger story that is memorable, or at least the emotions evoked are. That, I feel is most important. Overall, it is ultimately a story about reflecting upon who we are, and how relationships are shaped. Definitely a book for me to read again when I am slightly older, as for now I feel that this book will give readers varied afterthoughts as one's maturity changes and character evolves.
Now for me to check out other books by Amy Tan. Cheers!
~~ Feel free to tweet me @raycherr for book recommendations or opinions on The Joy Luck Club! :)
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