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Dec 16, 2009

Joe rated it:

Ok, I admit it, I was obsessed with Amy Tan my first year of college. I learned all there was about her, read The Joy Luck Club, and finally I gave up hope.
As a freshmen, at Linfield College, I was astonished that Amy Tan could have possibly walked the same hallowed halls of Melrose, perhaps sat in the same offices in the English department, or read a book in Northrup's astro-turf room.
My daydreams were filled with her coming over to my dorm room to have tea and "talk literatu More...

3 comments like (21 people liked it)

Mar 31, 2011

Bird Brian rated it:

I’ll just come out and say it: I think this book is very good, and I think it will hold up well over time. There are a lot of different story lines running through The Joy Luck Club (TJLC), so how you rate it may depend on where you place your focus, but here’s why I think it is so good:

Summary

On the face of it, this book follows the intertwined lives of four families of Chinese immigrants and their first-generation American children. I was most drawn to the story of Jing-mei

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0 comments like (13 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Rebecca rated it:

After I read The Joy Luck Club (summer required reading before sophomore English in high school), I started pestering my mom about her abandoned children in mainland China. I also declared that I would name my two kids after the aforementioned abandoned children: Spring Flower and Spring Rain.

My mom laughed in my face about the latter, saying no self-respecting Chinese would give their kids such pedestrian names, and would be mock-pissed about the former.

The truth is that More...

1 comment like (18 people liked it)

Apr 18, 2011

Kwesi 章英狮 rated it:

Review will be posted soon..

Rating - The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, 4 Sweets and the rich culture and beliefs of Chinese-American family. (A fast paced book and it was divided into short stories and lives of the characters. Recommended to everyone to those people who have no time to read. Simple and creative, a mixed Chinese-American culture book.)

Challenges:
Book #3 for 2011
Book #3 for Off The Shelf!
Shelfari - Flips Flipping Pages, February 2011 Discussio More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Nov 04, 2007

Aileen rated it:

The book started off with Jing-Mei Woo, who was asked to sit in as one of the four players in the Joy Luck Club. She was to replace her mother who had recently passed away. The Joy Luck Club consists of four women who played a common Chinese game, and base on what I have seen it is usually used for gambling. The Joy Luck Club is what develops the plot because it is where we get the stories of each of the women in it.

This book is separated into four sections. In all of these sec More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 16, 2008

Jaclyn rated it:

Mothers and daughters. Mothers and daughters and families losing and finding each other across cultural boundaries. There's enough material there for Amy Tan to write a thousand books.

Suyuan Woo has died and left an empty place at the mah-jongg table. Her daughter, Jing-Mei "June" Woo is invited to join the game, which her mother named the Joy Luck Club. There must always be four men and four women in the club, and Jing-Mei's father has chosen her to take his wife's pla More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Nov 01, 2007

Jeffrey rated it:

I thought that this book was really good. The way that it had shown the stories of the moms and daughters made me want to read more. This book kind of reminds me of Maxine Hong Kingston's "Woman Warrior" because of the chapters splitting into different point of views. The different stories of the 2 generations kept me interested. The beginning stories of Jing-Mei's Mother and herself were most appealing to me because it has the quote that stuck out to me the most out of the whole b More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2008

May added it

The Joy Luck Club is a tremendously well written book filled with passion, emotion, and love that arises from family interactions. This book is written in the form of eight vignettes, four from four different women (the mothers) and four from their daughters. This book concentrates on four Chinese American immigrant families that start this "club" for playing the traditional game of Mahjong. The story begins with June Woo who had just lost her mother to an aneurysm. She was chosen More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2008

Christina rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 21, 2009

Monique rated it:

There is no real main character in this story all the characters (and their stories) are equally important and equally engaging. While the book was not a page turner, I did care what happen to all the characters. It was very intriguing to know how all the mothers came to America and how their experiences shaped how the raised each of their perspective daughters. For the daughters it was more interesting to watch them try to navigate being Chinese and American. I did not get the feeling in the bo More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 15, 2008

Betsy rated it:

Well, I finally caved in to all those people who said, "you're asian, you should read amy tan." Ok...I bought the book and I have to admit that it's a wonderful surprise, warm and heart felt. And it helps that I've never seen the movie, I was just a kid when it came out, so I don't have a bias.

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 02, 2010

Kristi rated it:

I unfortunately wasn't a huge fan of this book. I found it incredibly difficult to keep track of the characters and their story lines and which mothers belonged to which daughters. I have read 1,000 page books with more characters before and haven't had this much trouble so I attribute it to poor character development. It's usually not a good sign when there is a character chart in the front of the book, but it was there for a good reason, as I had to refer to it constantly.

The More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 28, 2011

Emily rated it:

I disliked the book because although some parts were well written, overall it was just rather repetitive. It is nearly impossible to tell all of the mothers and all of the daughters and their respective love interests apart. All of the mothers have the nearly the same issues as do all of the daughters. It would be a better book of the story were not repeated so many times that it loses it's color. It makes it seem like Amy Tan is a one trick pony. This book also has nearly the exact same plot as More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 07, 2011

Alla rated it:

A REALLY REALLY AMAZING BOOK! Read it when I was flying to Florida

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2007

Fay rated it:

an easy read but she's the uncle tom of asians.

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2011

Rachel rated it:

I feel a little torn on this one . . .

What I liked:
- I really enjoyed seeing story lines and character relationships come together in the last third of the book.
- The peek into Chinese culture was interesting and new to me.
- I like the idea of mother-daughter relationships represented.

What I didn't like:
- I don't enjoy waiting until the last third of a book to be interested. I really found the majority of this book pretty slow. And I'm totally okay with sl More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jun 30, 2008

Sarah rated it:

This is one of those modern classics I never got around to reading until now. I preferred it to "Saving Fish From Drowning" though they both have their touching, sad, and darkly comic moments. I expected the plot to focus more on the club's actual meetings, but each chapter represents a new story about either a mother or daughter member's experience, either many years ago in China, or in the recent past as a Chinese-American immigrant in San Francisco (interestingly, the other Chinese- More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 29, 2008

Kristin rated it:

I truly enjoyed Amy Tan's style of writing (this is the first book of hers that I've read). She has a way of saying things that evokes so much emotion and I truly admire that about her as a storyteller. I especially love how in blending the story of the Chinese mothers and their Chinese-American daughters that she makes you feel as if you are a part of these women's lives and their culture and she draws you into their circle and into their individual psyches. I really understood and identified w More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 19, 2008

Beth rated it:

I took an Asian History class in college and loved it. The Chinese culture has a way of drawing you in. Or maybe it wasn’t really Chinese culture; I wouldn’t know — maybe I can only see my American perception of Chinese culture.

Whatever it was — culture or only a facsimile of it — reading The Joy Luck Club drew me in almost instantly. The book is written with prose and descriptions fitting of the characters — beautiful and lyrical but with hidden sorrows and bitterness. The plot (was More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2007

Ngoc rated it:

I love this book! As a first generation child in this country (my parents immigrated from Vietnam), I could really relate to the girls in the story. I was the girl who played piano, always being forced to practice. Although I loved music and was a talented pianist, I quit because I couldn't deal with the pressure anymore. It wasn't for my enjoyment, it was to please my parents (or at least that's what it seemed like). I think we all have ways of dealing with the pressures of childhood.

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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 12, 2007

Sammy rated it:

My mom really wanted me to read this book, mainly because of it's emphasis on the classic mother-daughter relationship. But I saw it more as a reflection on the mother's life before her child and how it sort of affected how she raised her daughter later on. I never really saw the daughter (with the exception of June) learn about their mother and hold a new understanding of her. The most the other girls caught was a sort of toleration of their mother.

Amy Tan is one of those writers wh More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 03, 2008

Debbie rated it:

I watched the movie before I read the book, which made for an interesting reading experience. I cried my way through the movie but only started crying during the last few pages of the book. The story has been criticized as being untrue to the experience of growing up Chinese American. As one myself, I can see where she changed things to further a point in the story or to create a deeper emotional feeling. However, I can sympathize with the four women who recount their experiences growing up an A More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 06, 2007

Katie rated it:

I love, loved, and will always love this book. Amy Tan makes pages fly and words come alive in this book, I never wanted it to end. This fiction book based on reality, makes you believe anything and everything inside of it. I can picture now Waverly Jong pitching a hissy fit in the middle of the Chinese grocery store telling her mother she does not want her to brag about her chess anymore. Not only do I have a picture perfect image of the event, I can also feel her mother’s sadness, taken ov More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 29, 2009

Kirsty rated it:

I'm not really sure what I expected of this book. I think I was expecting there to be more of an ongoing story, rather than flashbacks. Even so, I enjoyed it.

This is one of those books that will stay in my heart. Amy Tan captures the complexities of the mother/daughter relationship really well, along with the rivalry of the daughters. It was fascinating to read about the history of the Chinese women, and how their history affected their relationships with their American-born daughter More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Rachel rated it:

I've caught bits & pieces of this book from over the years and finally sat down to read it all. I'm not sure what it is about Tan that captivates me. Her storytelling comes so naturally, captivating readers from the beginning; she creates a special intimacy with the reader through a vulnerability. Reading her novel is like having a cup of coffee and one of those deeply personal conversations with a close friend: you get a chance to speak your heart's thoughts, voicing and making tangible deep More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 31, 2011

Catherine rated it:

I like the shifting narratives, I like the layers of distance between the characters and the content that is unknown. I thought the stories were rather interesting in part because of all the cultural turmoil and the historical details; these dovetailed nicely with one of my favorite books from my shorter days: In the year of the boar and Jackie Robinson.

What pushed this book into five stars was, for me, the way the book is bigger than its contents and provokes so many questions that More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 27, 2008

Marissa rated it:

Maybe it's typical for an Asian girl to enjoy this book, but I do, very much so. I love it in a freakish way. I really feel like it adequately and beautifully tells the story of the experiences of young American women with foreign born parents, and how their parents' experiences shape their own. You come to understand each character, fully.

I also like how it's broken up into short stories that come together to tell one story. Whenever I want to read something before bed, I turn to a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 17, 2009

woody rated it:

This review is for Diane. I read this book for Freshman English at BYU. It is my favorite Amy Tan book, interesting to read about Chinese culture and mother/daughter relationships.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 01, 2009

Valerie rated it:

This book was a beautiful glimpse into a part of San Francisco that I had little experience with. I loved all of the details, and the characters with all of their flaws.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 09, 2009

Paris rated it:

Awful, whiney book about a girl and her family and the way they grew up. As far as reality goes, it isn't the most boring thing I've ever read, but it isn't any good either.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

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