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Copy/paste the text below into your blog. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12555.The_Bonesetter_s_Daughter?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Bonesetter's Daughter (Ballantine Reader's Circle)" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1166504591m/12555.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12555.The_Bonesetter_s_Daughter?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Bonesetter's Daughter</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5246.Amy_Tan">Amy Tan</a><br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20035052?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a> rating: 4 of 5 stars<br/>Recommended by Amelia - I can't wait to get into it! I'm a big fan of Amy Tan. <br/> <br/>Wow. I'll be honest; the first half of the book really irritated me. I know that Amy Tan is known for writing about distressed mother/daughter relationships, but I really couldn't believe how horrid these particular characters lives had been. The book spans three generations of torn mothers and daughters and while I enjoyed learning about Chinese heritage and watching the cultural and generational differences unfold between the three women, at one point, I considered putting it aside as yet another tragic event sliced through the main characters. How much more can a reader take?! However, I'm glad I stuck it out. The last half of the book manages to mend the first half and at that point, for me, it really did become a parable of life. At some point, I believe, each of us has to come to terms with our past - the parts of our past that we chose and framed on our own and the parts that may have been framed for us by our parents or things that happened to us, completely out of our own control. Then, we decide how we want to be shaped, what we want to take with us and what we want to discard, regardless of what has brought us to this place in our lives and we move on. For me, that was the message of the book and I was sad that it took the main character nearly her entire life to get there, but the ending, for me, tied it all together and once again - true love conquers all! Especially the deep, abiding love that exists between the matriarchal figures in our lives. As for a book rating.....hmmm... PG-13 ish, I think. One of the characters in the book has a ffffoooooul mouth, and like I said earlier, there are several tragic events throughout the book that aren't very much fun to view through the author's eyes. If you do choose to read this book, definitely get a hold of the publication that includes the interview with Amy Tan at the end. Reading that helped me to understand the book even more. <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/769011?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>