The Joy Luck Club
This is a story of mothers and daughters, immigration and what being and becoming American means. Its a novel about China. It shouldn't be tucked away in those niches, though. 'The Joy Luck Club' moved me and opened my eyes to a set of experiences I hadn't given much thought to. I have a tendency to read in a few select categories relating to my own experiences or interests, but this gave me a lot to think about.
The novel is about four women who, having survived the devastating Second Sino-Japanese War, emigrated to America. In 1949 they meet in a Church in San Francisco and start meeting to play mah jong. Suyuan Woo dies before the start of the novel and her daughter Jing-Mei agrees to take her place at the table. The novel is divided into sections telling stories from the childhood's of the mothers in China, the childhoods of the daughters in America and the difficult decisions that confront them in adulthood.
This novel is contemporary but old enough to have become absorbed into daily life - my first taste of it was as an excerpt on a standardized test in high school. Tan's prose is beautiful and dreamlike. I had some trouble keeping track of which daughter belonged to each daughter, but each of their memories had a distinct flavor and sadness. The ending came up too soon for me, but I'm glad it ended on the note of happiness it did.
