false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166504591m/12555.jpg 12555 53 At the beginning of Amy Tan's fourth novel, two packets of papers written in Chinese calligraphy fall into the hands of Ruth Young. One bundle is titled <I>Things I Know Are True</I> and the other, <I>Things I Must Not Forget</I>. The author? That would be the protagonist's mother, LuLing, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. In these documents the elderly matriarch, born in China in 1916, has set down a record of her birth and family history, determined to keep the facts from vanishing as her mind deteriorates.<p> A San Francisco career woman who makes her living by ghostwriting self-help books, Ruth has little idea of her mother's past or true identity. What's more, their relationship has tended to be an angry one. Still, Ruth recognizes the onset of LuLing's decline--along with her own remorse over past rancor--and hires a translator to decipher the packets. She also resolves to "ask her mother to tell her about her life. For once, she would ask. She would listen. She would sit down and not be in a hurry or have anything else to do."<p> Framed at either end by Ruth's chapters, the central portion of <I>The Bonesetter's Daughter</I> takes place in China in the remote, mountainous region where anthropologists discovered Peking Man in the 1920s. Here superstition and tradition rule over a succession of tiny villages. And here LuLing grows up under the watchful eye of her hideously scarred nursemaid, Precious Auntie. As she makes clear, it's not an enviable setting: <blockquote> I noticed the ripe stench of a pig pasture, the pockmarked land dug up by dragon-bone dream-seekers, the holes in the walls, the mud by the wells, the dustiness of the unpaved roads. I saw how all the women we passed, young and old, had the same bland face, sleepy eyes that were mirrors of their sleepy minds. </blockquote> Nor is rural isolation the worst of it. LuLing's family, a clan of ink makers, believes itself cursed by its connection to a local doctor, who cooks up his potions and remedies from human bones. And indeed, a great deal of bad luck befalls the narrator and her sister GaoLing before they can finally engineer their escape from China. Along the way, familial squabbles erupt around every corner, particularly among mothers, daughters, and sisters. And as she did in her earlier <I>The Joy Luck Club</I>, Amy Tan uses these conflicts to explore the intricate dynamic that exists between first-generation Americans and their immigrant elders. <I>--Victoria Jenkins</I> 1898187 book 2001 The Bonesetter's Daughter total:11010|5:2308|4:4837|3:3253|2:527|1:86| 11010 41784 13783 828 4 5 false false Fri Nov 07 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Sep 17 16:14:31 -0700 2008 Fri Nov 07 13:36:25 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1 6 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Apr 23 13:03:40 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 23 13:29:18 -0700 2008 Amy Tan book I read. This book wasn't specifically recommended, but the author was. I was expecting something magical to happen as I turned the pages, but I couldn't get past the first four or five chapters of the book. Besides the overly long sections of actionless description (t...more...]]> 4 3 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 20 16:08:30 -0800 2007 Mon Mar 24 18:58:13 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 2 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 06 21:02:14 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 09 19:53:38 -0700 2007 Amy Tan is famous for her writing of the mixture of Chinese and America culture.
I always love culture, so I decided to read this book.
I usually skim the book first.
Unfortunately...more...]]> 4 3 false false Sat Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 11 08:27:24 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 02 07:45:52 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 2 false false Fri Feb 08 08:04:57 -0800 2008 Wed Jun 18 15:09:27 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Apr 23 15:45:00 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 24 09:09:39 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Dec 08 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 20 08:30:32 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 08 08:51:13 -0800 2008 1 ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jul 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 24 18:33:59 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 24 18:40:29 -0700 2008
Amy Tan's mother-daughter conflicts speak to me in ways that don't need explaining. T...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 28 11:37:28 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 28 12:34:50 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Oct 02 04:24:40 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 02 04:24:50 -0700 2009
These are the things I know are true:

My name is LuLing Liu Young. The names of my husbands were Pan Kai Jing and Edwin Young, both of them dead and our secrets gone with them. My daughter is Ruth Luyi Young. She was born in a Water Dragon Year and ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 01 15:13:54 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 01 15:14:52 -0700 2009
Amy Tan has a gift of writing about the mother and daughter experience. One that transcends race or culture. The Bonesetter's Daughter is about the experience of a daughter coming to terms with her mother's illness and past. Just like the characters in The Joy Luck Club ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jun 11 04:34:36 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 11 04:51:42 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jul 24 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Sun Mar 29 16:21:09 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 16:21:49 -0700 2009
I read this a whil...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 06 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 05:26:59 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 16:52:54 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 22:23:47 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 22:34:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Nov 21 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 16 13:23:22 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 21 15:20:36 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jun 04 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Sat Jun 27 06:39:09 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 06:39:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 17:32:08 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 02 19:01:16 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 true false Wed Apr 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 30 07:09:23 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 08 06:33:41 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=12555