Reviews tagging 'War'

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

55 reviews

rubberrosebooks's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kmoyer07's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Suicide

Minor: Rape

juliej0715's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was enjoyable, not what I expected it to be like. Interesting to hear the stories of these women and their daughters. Less plot than I expected, more like a collection of short stories that are also intertwined from time to time. Interesting reflections on how these women thought of their childhoods, their mothers, their lives, husbands, children. How they are full human beings who have lived very full lives, and yet their daughters are so oblivious, even combative, to see that. The daughters are so dismissive of their mothers. It's quite heartbreaking, and makes you want to know more about your own parents; learn more about their lives, their emotions, and what you can learn from them and how you can connect with them. Of course the magical realism and the Chinese beliefs are so interesting to include in these stories. I can see why this book remains popular decades after being published. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

small_shrimp's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Death and Sexual violence

lizzieuch's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Violence and War

thepassivebookworm's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Death, Drug use, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

bookishevy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I watched the film adaptation of this book when I was 15 and didn't find out it was a book until a decade later, so it's been on my TBR for a while. 

Four Chinese women who immigrated to San Francisco have been meeting weekly since 1949 to play mahjong and tell stories of their lives in China and what led to them leaving their home. They call themselves the Joy Luck Club. 

This is a story about four women and their four daughters. The women tell about their pasts and their hopes for their daughters' futures. The relationship between a mother and daughter is intricate, but it's even more so when the mother is an immigrant raising an American daughter. The younger women have no idea the types of lives their mothers led in China. Secrets are revealed. 

From the daughers' perspectives, it's clear they're more American than Chinese, but their mothers are unwilling to accept their American mentalities.There is this struggle between the American and Chinese identities. The daughters don't think their mothers know anything while the mothers think they know everything while also dealing with their anxiety around not being good enough. 

Through storytelling, they warn their daughters against making the mistakes they made so they can be more successful. Storytelling also instills their legacy. The stories cover topics like Chinese mythology and the horrors of the Sino-Japanese War, like having to leave loved ones behind, the things they had to do to survive, including honoring their parents and doing what was expected of them as young Chinese women. They expect their daughters to make the same sacrifices they made, but their daughters are American. They have choices and times have changed. 

The mothers reminisce about a China of the past. 1980s China is becoming Americanized, as one of the daughters realizes on a trip. And I laughed when one of the mothers realizes she's viewed as an American tourist on her own trip back home. 

I absolutely loved this book. Now I have to re-watch the film. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, and War

kmaffett's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, and War

vixenreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Although it is a product of its time, it is still a pinnacle work in depicting the lives of Asian women, and it is a tender portrait of the deep pain and love that is shared among mothers and daughters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Fatphobia, Infertility, Racial slurs, Rape, Antisemitism, and Abortion

Be warned that there is divorce, intergenerational trauma, unrealistic expectations for children, arranged marriage, polygamy, long lost sisters, and drowning of a child.

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The chapters are essentially a compilation of short stories that help the reader come to a consensus reaction about the personal history and lives of these mothers and daughters. You experience their joys and struggles regarding the dynamics in their personal relationships. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Self harm, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Some of the triggers are overt, others are strongly suggested, perhaps in other countries in historical periods where long ago childhoods and family histories are elaborated on, in small country towns that could be called backward, clinging to old practices such as having a proper wife but also additional wives/concubines.