Irish's review
The Bonesetter's Daughter (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
by Amy Tan
Irish's review
The Bonesetter's Daughter (Ballantine Reader's Circle) by Amy Tan
Irish's review
rating:
recommended for: very patient people who are tolerant of meh characters.
This was the first 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 (the story stagnated because of a poor balance between backstory, scene setup and description, and actual let's-move-things-along plot), the main character Ruth is so weak and whiny that I couldn't empathize, sympathize or even remotely identify with her; she made it impossible to get into the novel. It may be unfair to give The Bonesetter's Daughter a poor review without reading the whole thing, but I wonder how anyone could stay with this character for any length of time. I did like the character of LuLing, even if the stilted, stereotypical dialog coming from her seemed unecessary at best and amateurish at worst. LuLing, Ruth's aging and A...more
