Sign in with Facebook
Katje's Reviews > The Bonesetter's Daughter
The Bonesetter's Daughter
by Amy Tan
by Amy Tan
** spoiler alert **
Just finished Amy Tan's "The Bonesetter's Daughter." I enjoyed the book for the most part... it felt like her other stories did, a glimpse into a culture radically different from my own, yet wrestling with some similar issues I've grappled with in my own life.
The last few pages, though... just drove me insane. This gal is dealing with her elderly Alzheimer-stricken mother with a $750/mo. Social Security income, her insecure boyfriend and his two whiny teenage daughters, losing her confidence in her career. Then, in the last few pages, magically out of thin air, a huge trust fund appears so the elderly mother can afford the nicest assisted living facility available, a professor instantly decides the elderly mother (the one with dementia) is ideal girlfriend material, the insecure boyfriend becomes Mr. Rock overnight (and his daughters start being wonderful), her career evaporates into thin air as she becomes a novelist, and magically the old mother (who has been wandering the streets in her nightgown, remember) remembers a name she couldn't think of for decades... and the name is backed up by 100-year-old glass photographer plates that somehow survived both WWII and the Chinese cultural revolution.
Oh... and eight years into her Alzheimer's, the old mom rings up her daughter and apologizes for what she did to her as a little girl (she can't remember WHAT she did, only that she's supposed to apologize)... the one single thing so many women of my generation long for from their mothers (and in my experience, never ever receive), an acknowledgment of inflicted pain and a request for forgiveness.
The absolutely impossible events laid out here just totally destroyed the rest of the entire book for me. The reality for families dealing with dementia is poverty, hurt feelings, loneliness, stress, and (possibly worst of all) unfinished business... the kind that will never, ever be resolved because the people they once knew have dissolved underneath the plaque of the destroyed brains.
I felt insulted by the resolution of this book. I can tell it was meant to be heart-warming, satisfying, and hopeful to others in similar positions, but it would be cruel false hope built of wishful thinking and thin air.
I think I'm done with Amy Tan.
The last few pages, though... just drove me insane. This gal is dealing with her elderly Alzheimer-stricken mother with a $750/mo. Social Security income, her insecure boyfriend and his two whiny teenage daughters, losing her confidence in her career. Then, in the last few pages, magically out of thin air, a huge trust fund appears so the elderly mother can afford the nicest assisted living facility available, a professor instantly decides the elderly mother (the one with dementia) is ideal girlfriend material, the insecure boyfriend becomes Mr. Rock overnight (and his daughters start being wonderful), her career evaporates into thin air as she becomes a novelist, and magically the old mother (who has been wandering the streets in her nightgown, remember) remembers a name she couldn't think of for decades... and the name is backed up by 100-year-old glass photographer plates that somehow survived both WWII and the Chinese cultural revolution.
Oh... and eight years into her Alzheimer's, the old mom rings up her daughter and apologizes for what she did to her as a little girl (she can't remember WHAT she did, only that she's supposed to apologize)... the one single thing so many women of my generation long for from their mothers (and in my experience, never ever receive), an acknowledgment of inflicted pain and a request for forgiveness.
The absolutely impossible events laid out here just totally destroyed the rest of the entire book for me. The reality for families dealing with dementia is poverty, hurt feelings, loneliness, stress, and (possibly worst of all) unfinished business... the kind that will never, ever be resolved because the people they once knew have dissolved underneath the plaque of the destroyed brains.
I felt insulted by the resolution of this book. I can tell it was meant to be heart-warming, satisfying, and hopeful to others in similar positions, but it would be cruel false hope built of wishful thinking and thin air.
I think I'm done with Amy Tan.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read The Bonesetter's Daughter.
sign in »
