The Kitchen God's Wife
by Amy Tan
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 5795)
Read in June, 2008
So, I read the Joy Luck Club I'm pretty sure in elementary school. I obviously didn't appreciate it as much as I would currently, but from what I remember of it, this book had a very similar feel.
Pretty much I liked it as long as we were in China. The rest felt so stereotypical to me, which, I guess might be reality since one would assume Tan knows what she's writing about. But I couldn't get over this guilty feeling of allowing the Chinese-American characters to be categorized so...bluntly, ...more
Pretty much I liked it as long as we were in China. The rest felt so stereotypical to me, which, I guess might be reality since one would assume Tan knows what she's writing about. But I couldn't get over this guilty feeling of allowing the Chinese-American characters to be categorized so...bluntly, ...more
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Read in January, 2008
I didn't NOT like this book. Well, actually, I didn't particularly like the first two chapters and I didn't really like the last two either - the dialogue in these chapters seemed so contrived to me. The interactions and dialogue seemed so stereotypical Chinese mother wtih her Chinese-American daughter - I just didn't believe they were real.
My feelings changed, however, for the entire middle of the book, when Winnie (the mother) is telling her story of growing up in China. THAT felt real to ...more
My feelings changed, however, for the entire middle of the book, when Winnie (the mother) is telling her story of growing up in China. THAT felt real to ...more
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Read in May, 2007
Amy Tan is best known for The Joy Luck Club. This is her second novel, I think and it's wonderful. There's something about her writing that hooks me by the time I'm done with the second sentence. Her characters feel so real that I can't help empathizing with them.
This book is about Pearl and Winnie. Winnie was born in China, near Shanghai in 1916. Pearl is her daughter who was born in America. The majority of the book is the story of Winnie's life and how both mother and daughter have kept s...more
This book is about Pearl and Winnie. Winnie was born in China, near Shanghai in 1916. Pearl is her daughter who was born in America. The majority of the book is the story of Winnie's life and how both mother and daughter have kept s...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Tonya by:
momrecommends it for: daughters, mothers of daughters, those who study asian cultures, wars, etc...
I thought, when beginning this book, I would turn it back into the library unfinished on the next visit. Then I had a lucky few hours to read uninterrupted. It was finished in two days. Usually with books that switch perspectives, or story lines, I find myself skimming through one to get to the other. With this story, I clung to the simple words and found the chapter placement well done for a break to read to my kid, make her dinner, play a bit...etc...and get right back into the story while s...more
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recommends it for:
everyone
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Amy Tan invokes a lot of conflicting feelings in me. First, she's not a bad writer; far from it. She strives to present the voice of women in China and her specialty is the difficulties of past generation Chinese women's relationship with their daughters. She does it quite brilliantly and when you're reading her books, you're often left with a sense of breathlessness. Kitchen God's Wife is inherently a tragedy, but as your read about trial after trial, it's hard not to get lost into the s...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in July, 2007
This book is similar to the joy luck club by Amy tan. It starts off narrating about a person named pearl louie brandt. She was a speech therapist in the town of san-jose. The main part of this book comes when pearls mother, winnie louie, tells pearl about the marriage of her cousin. The similarity comes out when pearl feels like she doesn't want to take part in her heritage activities. Pearl is Chinese and her husband is American. Overall, she wants to attend these events or else she would feel...more
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Read in October, 2007
I read Amy Tan for the first time as a student in college and was blown away. The Joy Luck Club led me to read this one and, as is my fashion, I have lugged it around with me from house to house and state to state swearing to read it again. Well, I didn't read it again this time, but I did listen to it and loved it all over again.
Amy Tan is a skilled story teller who can weave past with present seamlessly. The only small problem I had with the text was that one of the narrators, who is in he...more
Amy Tan is a skilled story teller who can weave past with present seamlessly. The only small problem I had with the text was that one of the narrators, who is in he...more
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Read in November, 2005
I enjoyed this book very much! One of the rare cases where I gave the full 10 stars at Bookcrossing. Here with only 5 stars I give them a little tiny bit more often.
Anyway, very well written, easy to read (because of the 'simple' language Winnie uses) and an absolutely interesting tale. Shocking at times and I felt sorry for Winnie more than once. I was glad that I knew from the beginning that at some point her life changed for the better.
Bought my own copy later on, after this one here ha...more
Anyway, very well written, easy to read (because of the 'simple' language Winnie uses) and an absolutely interesting tale. Shocking at times and I felt sorry for Winnie more than once. I was glad that I knew from the beginning that at some point her life changed for the better.
Bought my own copy later on, after this one here ha...more
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recommends it for:
mothers and daughters
great story about a relationship between a mother and daughter. we all, to some degree, struggle with our relationships with our mothers. this book made me look deeply at my own relationship with my mom and got me thinking about how much about my mom and her life that i still don't know. my mom is reading this now and we've had some great conversations about this and what it means to our own relationship.
this is a wonderful story about (1) the incredible love of a mother; (2) cultural...more
this is a wonderful story about (1) the incredible love of a mother; (2) cultural...more
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Read in July, 2007
This book is really amazing. For anyone who liked Amy Tan's "The Joy-Luck Club," this is the perfect counterpart. I always enjoy the world and relationships that Tan creates of first and second generation Chinese immigrant families in the U.S. "The Kitchen Gods Wife" is not a sequel, but a piece that stands on its own. Some of the situations and thematic elements do seem to mirror "Joy-Luck" at certain points in this novel, but not to the point that it's annoy...more
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This book show the resiliency of some people after horrible things happen to them. It is amazing to me.
"If you can't change your fate, change your attitude. "
— Amy Tan
"Isn't that how it is when you must decide with your heart? You are not just choosing one thing over another. You are choosing what you want. And you are also choosing what somebody else does not want, and all the consequences that follow. You can tell yourself, That's not my problem, but those words d...more
"If you can't change your fate, change your attitude. "
— Amy Tan
"Isn't that how it is when you must decide with your heart? You are not just choosing one thing over another. You are choosing what you want. And you are also choosing what somebody else does not want, and all the consequences that follow. You can tell yourself, That's not my problem, but those words d...more
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Read in May, 2008
Good book. Sad book. I have heard all books about women from China are sad. So far I have read two, and so far they both were. This book had graphic violence from the husband towards the wife(rape and abuse of her children- not for the faint of heart), so if you choose to read it, please be warned. I enjoyed the story, it was very deep and felt like a true journey. This book examined the relationship between mothers and daugthers. It also touched on why we hold secrets from others and how...more
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Read in March, 2008
Amy Tan is such a master! This is even better than The Joy Luck Club! For three nights running, I couldn't put it down. Like The Joy Luck Club, it's about the relationship between a Chinese immigrant mother and her Americanized daughter. It also weaves in lots of Chinese myth and religion. But the best part is the historical picture it gives you. Most of the book is about the mother's experiences in WWII China, and it gives a great picture about how the Communists both helped and h...more
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Read in November, 2007
Again Amy Tan writes about the dynmics between a mother and daughter. Only this time it's about another family member getting married and a mother daughter team doing their part in the wedding.
The daughter lives in San Franscico and the mother elsewhere. The book talks about past frueds, successes and brought you to current times.
The Kitchen God's wife is really a figurine that the Chinese buy that represents "good cooking" in the kitchen. Although not a very attractive fi...more
The daughter lives in San Franscico and the mother elsewhere. The book talks about past frueds, successes and brought you to current times.
The Kitchen God's wife is really a figurine that the Chinese buy that represents "good cooking" in the kitchen. Although not a very attractive fi...more
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Read in January, 2006
Amy Tan is better known for "The Joy Luck Club," but I find "The Kitchen God's Wife" to be a much more compelling novel. If you found "The Joy Luck Club" confusing at times due to its side-by-side story format, "The Kitchen God's Wife" will be a refreshing change. Typical of Tan's works, it is a poignant retelling of the injustices and disappointments that characterize life. The voice--and, moreover, the heart--of the protagonist pours from each page to en...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
readers who like Amy Tan/interested in China
My 2nd Amy Tan novel after being forced to read Joy Luck Club (and liking it) my freshman year in college. A bit different in focus than I expected - I thought it would follow the daughter's relationship with her mother, husband and own children, but follows Winnie through her own rough life in China. Wen Fu certainly is a villain to root against. But, after reading about how horrible Wen Fu is, and how horrible men are in Isabelle Allende's House of Spirits, I need a positive male role model...more
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Read in December, 2007
Can't tell you exactly why I didn't like this one. I think it was the tone of the book. There are books (such as the Namesake, We Were the Mulvaneys) that are well written and have interesting plots or settings, but that simply seem "cold" to me. This was one of those. I felt the tone was somewhat cold and unemotional. I just didn't connect with the characters. I don't know why I'm apologizing so much for this, but here it is.
And I did the completely unforgivable thing of returnin...more
And I did the completely unforgivable thing of returnin...more
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Read in December, 2007
What I learned from this book--my favorite part:
"Isn't that how it is when you must decide with your heart? You are not just choosing one thing over another. You are choosing what you want. And you are also choosing what somebody else does not want, and all the consequences that follow. You can tell yourself, That's not my problem, but those words do not wash the trouble away. Maybe it is no longer a problem in your life. But it is always a problem in your heart."
"Isn't that how it is when you must decide with your heart? You are not just choosing one thing over another. You are choosing what you want. And you are also choosing what somebody else does not want, and all the consequences that follow. You can tell yourself, That's not my problem, but those words do not wash the trouble away. Maybe it is no longer a problem in your life. But it is always a problem in your heart."
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I rather liked this book, although the story itself was pretty depressing. We've got a young but embittered woman who was abandoned by her mother and graced with an ass for a father, and she's telling the story of what it takes for her to let go after she faces her past in Japan. She really complained a lot... there would often be pages and pages of descriptions of how people had wronged her and how she felt about it. Not saying her life didn't suck, but she was clearly having issues and havi...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.81 (5274 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.82 (4508 ratings) number of reviews: 280popular shelves
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