The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club


By: Amy Tan
Reviewed by: awesomeVia, 15
Rating: It was amazing!


The Joy Luck Club is one phenomenal story. The four young women June Woo, Rose Hsu Jordan, Waverly Jong, and Lena St. Clair and their mothers Suyuan Woo (*spoiler* died a few months ago so her daughter June took her pace and told them her stories), An-Mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-Ying St. Clair meet once a week or so to play mahjong. While during the meeting, they each tell their stories of their own childhood, their miserable past, their life right now, and the lessons they've learned.

I really like this story because after reading Amy Tan's biography, I get where she is coming from. Most of the 16 little stories in the Joy Luck Club are actually based from her own life and experiences. The book is kind of sad where the mothers talk about their miserable past back in 1949 or so and all the abuse some of them went through with their first marriage. Same thing with Amy's own mother Daisy.
While your reading some of the stories, you may think, "How can the mothers do this to their daughter?" or "Seriously?". The mothers have set their expectations so high because they want their next generation to have what they didn't have. "My mom believed that in America, you can do anything. You can be a doctor, open a shop, be successful..." a paraphrased quote from "Two Kinds". "We do torture, Chinese torture..." paraphrased quote said by Lindo Jong to Waverly Jong in one of the stories.

The Joy Luck Club was published in 1989 and is said to have been on the New York Times Bestseller list for nine weeks! But this book is considered a classic. Choice novel used in 1993's Academic Decathlon.

If you want to read this, it would make the story much better if you read some biography of the author Amy Tan, gives you a better understanding of where the author is coming from. Very touching.


Recommended to: Young Chinese females, anyone who want to read a story that'll make them cry, anyone who has a wide reading interest, mostly everyone especially females.