The Joy Luck Club

The Joyluck Club Book Reveiw

With stories of the past, relationships between the mothers and daughters show a gap of no understanding. The recent death of Suyuan Woo's mother, Jing Mei "June" Woo, causes questions to pop up after her passing. The questions leave blanks in what is to be contrasted in similarities and differences. It made the daughters think in a new light of how there mothers were, and showed a better understanding of their actions and words. The mothers tell tales of their culture, and how different it is from what their daughters now know in America. While Suyuan is reviewing over her mother's life from her aunts, she makes realizations of what her mother had done in life, and what she must do to grant her mother's dead dream.
In the expressions of the mothers, a most common fact to find was that they would relate themselves often to their daughters, and would predict or describe in greater meaning, events that occur. The mother's described struggles and hardships that they went through in their youth. Most often, the daughters would misunderstand the message of what the mothers were telling them. The lessons and morals in their stories brought out a new point of view. A memorable experience I had while reading this book was the new found information on what China was like, and I shared some views on how there had to be sacrifices in order to gain what was thought as endless riches, and freedom.

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

A Chinese World

The Joy Luck Club is a story that portrays the different vignettes of four tenacious Chinese immigrant mothers and their first generation strong American daughters. As a first generation Chinese myself, I could immediately relate to some of the difficulties that the daughters faced, and many of the vignettes of the mothers reminded me of my parents/grandparents stories. The story also gives the reader a glimpse into the life of a typical Chinese lady in the 20th century and introduces the reader to Chinese culture and society.

In the book, the daughters often try to be free from the constant nagging of the mother's, and one of the daughters even views her mother as an obstacle she must overcome, her own personal battle. I could really relate to the hard time that the daughters faced, because I myself am used to having my grandpa always comment on everything I do. His complaining would often leave me feeling imprisoned and constrained. I just wanted to get away from everything and anything that had to do with my family. However, through the course of this book I came to realize that the nitpicking of the older generation was just their own unique way of showing their love for their children.

Many times, the Chinese daughters are often left confused by their mother's messages. The daughters cannot relate and understand the underlying meaning because of the different cultures that the mothers and daughters come from. While the Chinese culture is a high context culture the American culture is the polar opposite, a low context culture. Often times, the clashing of cultures would lead to confusion and frustration on both sides. I think that another reason why the mothers and daughters have such a difficult time understanding each other is because of the completely different environments that they grew up in. The mother's faced sexism, racism, and the struggle to just simply survive. Often times, the things that they learned growing up became important symbols and lessons that they hoped to pass down to their children. But to the daughters who grew up in an environment where they tried to hide their roots as much as possible, and being Asian was "unfashionable", these messages only helped to widen the gap between mother and daughter. The book illustrates the journey that the mothers and daughters faced trying to understand the different cultures and perspectives of the Chinese and American way of thinking.

Chinese people prize filial piety above all other characteristics, and I remember often having to go to temples to pay my respects to my ancestors and that I could not talk back to my elders. In one of the stories, the Joy Luck Club is having a crab dinner. Since everyone immediately grabbed the largest and juiciest crabs, the hosts, Suyuan (mother), and Jing-mei (daughter), are left with the last two crabs. Jing-mei knows that one of the crabs was dead before they bought it, which is bad luck in Chinese culture, so she willingly grabs the dead crab so that her mother may enjoy the tastier crab. This is a very good example of filial piety, while everyone else is greedy, and hopes for the best for themselves, the daughter is being respectful by leaving the better crab for her mother. I specifically remembered this story from the book because I think that if I was in the same position as Jing-mei I would have taken the better crab for myself.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Must read and watch.

The book was just as good as the movie.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

One of the most enlighting books ever!!!!!!!!!!!

This book was one of the most enlighting, purest books ever! I loved it from the beginning it shows you the powerful bond between mothers and daughters 'cheesy I know but true!'. It shows hardship, passion, and experience. It showed me what mothers are capable of and what they would do to protect their children, and it inspired me to be in English Honors as well as a possible future writer...

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

WOW

Wow is what I have to say about this book if I had to describe it in one word. I'm a senior in high school and my english teacher gave it to me because we are going to read it later in the year but I read it early. I started on the first page and couldn't stop. I have never read a lot like this, I read all 336 pages in two days, in school, after school, whenever I had the chance. I LOVE the way Amy Tan wrote this book, the vignettes are so beautiful and touching. I found myself really feeling for the characters in the book. I am mesmorized, I feel the most unexplainable feeling of happiness and sadness since I have read it. I can't wait to read it again!

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Great read!

There are so many stories within the stories it was very hard to put it down. I wish the book had told even more! It really got you to FEEL how these women felt! I highly recommend it to women of all ages.
I gave this max stars, but I'm having trouble sending it with the stars showing.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Slow Read

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan was a very slow read and I had a very difficult time getting into the story. What was interesting to me was that the women were so rude to one another although there were glimpses of kindness. These women lived in difficult times, indured injustice and yet they didn't support one another with graciousness. Amy Tan reveals the Chinese culture and the difficult transition from China to America. This story begs the question "How well do you really know your mother?"

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great Book!

Very interesting I liked how it dealt with family. In the beginning it was about mother and daughters and their relationship.It shows creation and passion and keeps readers interested. There are different kinds of lessons to learn in this book. It is really just a great book.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Joy Luck club: A Joy In Memories

This book tells about China at that time related to the lives of four women and how they try to inherit their memories and lessons to their daughters. The memory, experience, and lessons captured my mind. This book reveals the hidden lives of Chinese immigrants and it tells us how China has developed from the period when the mothers lived, up to the period when their daughters lived. The style of writing by Amy Tan was surely a fresh experience.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Joy Luck Club

This is one of my favorite books of all time. I really enjoyed reading it. I had to finish it in one sitting because I just couldn't stop. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a good book about culture, family, and drama.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Everyone has a story to tell

This is really a great book to read, because of the lessons behind each story. Eight unique women from two generations and each have a story to tell. The joy luck club is a book that different type of people will enjoy and get to learn in the process. It allows readers to travel to China and learn some of the customs. It also touches the different types of loves that exist in the world such as the love for the family or the love for a partner. It really is a fun book to read and some might even shed a tear or two.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Pretty Good

I recently read this for my AP English class, and I enjoyed it. It was pretty interesting, not my first choice as far as literature goes, but still good. Interesting dynamics.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Boring

Boring and horrible

Wait, whats it even about?

It dosent tell you anything about it.

interesting

Hard to track the characters if reading over a long period of time.

so-so

not super-impressed. had trouble keeping characters straight. kinda slow. ending predictable.

Pretty good

It would be much more enjoyable if i didnt have to write a report

Good read

I read this book a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

Love

I really love this book

Book vs Movie

I watched the "The Joy Luck Club" movie before reading the book. After I had read the book I wished I had watched the movie after, rather than before,reading the book. However,both were enjoyable experiences.