The Joy Luck Club

This book holds a cherished place in my heart as it delves into the intricate dynamics of mother-daughter relationships and the profound journey of self-discovery. Growing up, I often felt the weight of cultural expectations, and choosing a different path inevitably strained my familial bonds.

As I read, memories of my mother and sisters flooded back, reminding me of the unique connections we share. An artfully crafted story that made me question so much about myself and the way that culture has influenced me as a person. Tan’s lyrical prose eloquently voices the experiences of so many young girls who… show more.

I was captivated by the four immigrant mothers' interactions with their American-born daughters over the years. I found myself intrigued by Chinese culture. My own mother emigrated from Britain during the same time period. She brought a young daughter, then married, then had me.

I felt many of the same frustrations as these young women while trying to grow up during the vast societal changes of the 1960s. I love how, as they mature, the daughters discover that their mothers’ “older ways” make sense because they come from a place of love.

I grew up with a mother who loved me but did not understand me. Reading Amy Tan’s book, which is about a daughter’s journey to understand her own mother after an untimely, unexpected death, made me realize that the path to understanding each other goes both ways.

I first read this book in college, when I was 3,000 miles away from home, and I cried from the start to the perfect and extraordinary end. I’ve read it a dozen times since, including with my daughter, who just graduated from college. It may also inspire you to start your own Joy… show more.

I learned a lot about Chinese culture and some of the background of China. Interesting.

I was completely immersed in this novel. Through her exploration of Chinese-American culture, Amy Tan draws us deeply into the intricate relationships between the mothers in this book and their daughters.

Cross-generational and cross-cultural, Tan skillfully portrays the conflicts within these friendships—both among the mothers and between mothers and daughters—ultimately demonstrating the power of understanding and forgiveness.

An ugly cry is inevitable for this book. I read this book with good friends in a book club. We all saw the film adaptation and decided to read the book together. We shared our bawling moments as we discussed the story.

Yes, we all cried. The moms and daughters in this book demanded tears. Even the coolest friend in the book club, who never cried, succumbed to the diaspora in the book. I must confess that crying together in a book club was simply a cathartic experience.

How do our parents and their life stories shape us? How much of our psychological makeup is a response to events that they lived through? How does our parents’ history influence our own life choices?

All of these questions are taken up in The Joy Luck Club, which explores the relationships of four mother/daughter pairs. The mothers, four friends who meet for a weekly mah-jong game, harbor powerful hopes that their daughters will achieve all that they could not. Their daughters struggle under the weight of these expectations, each in their own way.

Tan structures this book like a symphony,… show more.

A tapestry of eight points of view, threading together the stories of three generations of women across two continents. Taps into universal themes through intimate and candid conversations between Chinese-American mothers and their daughters.

Through their interwoven accounts, we find that history comes alive most vividly, most memorably, and most poignantly in family relationships that transcend time, place, and life experience.

When it comes to the relationship between mother and daughter, you rarely communicate how you are feeling and because of that there is so much communication.

The mother may think she is not good enough for her daughter and vice versa. Being able to share their feelings and what they are going through can heal the traumas the mother and daughter faces while breaking the cycle. 

As Asian women we are constantly seen as emotionless robots when that is far from the truth.

This multigenerational novel took me from San Francisco to China. It's like a collection of short stories, with each story connected.

It tells about the lives of four Chinese immigrant women who arrived in San Francisco in 1949. They met through their church and once a week gathered to play mahjong and talk. They call themselves the Joy Luck Club.

Each lady tells their story and the circumstances that brought them to America, sometimes their accounts are brutal yet realistic. It’s a heartfelt novel about mothers and daughters, how generations differ, and conflict rises and falls like the ebbing tides.… show more.