The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan; narrated by Gwendoline Yeo | 2007; originally published 1989 | Phoenix Books | Audiobook $ 19
For decades, a quartet of Chinese women who have emigrated to San Francisco gather to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk — they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Over the years, their stories have informed the lives of four daughters who feel the weight of family and world history on their shoulders. With wit and sensitivity, this novel explores the deep, complicated, and sometimes painful connections between mothers and daughters.
This is one of the more recent titles on my list for Classics Club. I genuinely don’t think a book has to be super old to be considered a “classic” (although part of determining whether a cook can be considered classic is its enduring interest to readers over time, so contemporary bestsellers don’t really qualify). The Joy Luck Club was a big hit in its time, and was even made into a movie — I haven’t seen it yet; it’s on my list — but it is also still often recommended as a good example of a novel of the immigrant family experience, as well as a meaningful story of the often complex relationships between mothers and daughters.
The novel is really a series of connected stories about four sets of mothers and daughters, all immigrants from China (well, the mothers; the daughters were born in the U.S., and identify as Chinese-American).
I have to confess to a very low level of knowledge of the culture and history of 20th-century China and Chinese-Americans, so part of the appeal of this novel to me were its more historical scenes from the points-of-view of the mothers; these describe everything from traditional relationship dynamics to the Japanese invasion of China during WWII from the very personal perspectives of the women who experienced them. Don’t get me wrong, I know this book isn’t nonfic, and I know there have been criticisms of its portrayal of Chinese and Chinese-American characters. I do think these stories offer a highly empathetic and interest-kindling view of historical topics that I (and probably many other Americans) had never heard about before. But I also know that despite the book’s (and later its associated film’s) popularity, it isn’t some kind of universal, end-all-be-all representation of the Chinese-American, or Asian-American, or AAPI-American experience.
A large part of the appeal of this book to me personally is that it’s a family story. One thing I’ve learned about myself during this whole classic books reading project, and during my own personal genealogy research, is that I am just generally a big fan of what I think of as “personal histories” — multi-generational family stories, whether fiction or nonfiction, and biographies + memoirs, and other history nonfic that focuses on intimate details rather than the big picture stuff. The Joy Luck Club is a superb example of a novel in this category.
I can happily recommend this book to anyone else who also likes personal history stories, especially if you’re interested in a focus on female intergenerational relationship dynamics or immigrant experiences.
Links:
- Website of author Amy Tan
- Articles about Amy Tan from PBS American Masters
- Resources for The Joy Luck Club from The National Endowment for the Arts “Big Read”
Publication information: Tan, Amy. The joy luck club. Beverly Hills, CA: Phoenix Books, 2007. Audiobook.
Source: Public library, via Hoopla.
Disclaimer: I am not compensated, monetarily or otherwise, for reviews of books or other products.
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