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tracywillcott's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't realize this book has been around forever! Having once lived in China I quite enjoyed it, also love the mother-daughter relationships.
croneintraining's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. I admittedly don't know a lot about Chinese culture, and I loved learning some from it,a lthough I am quite aware it's just from one perspective and the culture itself is incredibly diverse.
What won me over about the book was the characters ..they were so true to life, as were their relationships. I loved hearing the women's stories. The clash of American vs.Chinese culture was interesting to read, and it showed how the women were , in the end, able to weave the teachings of their mothers into their modern lives.
What won me over about the book was the characters ..they were so true to life, as were their relationships. I loved hearing the women's stories. The clash of American vs.Chinese culture was interesting to read, and it showed how the women were , in the end, able to weave the teachings of their mothers into their modern lives.
borteujin's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Really hit home for me and was a difficult read for this reason. A beautiful book, only made me sad for what I have lacked.
Opened my heart through reading, cried many different tears.
While I think this book can get a little cheesy it’s okay to be cheesy, that’s life.
Opened my heart through reading, cried many different tears.
While I think this book can get a little cheesy it’s okay to be cheesy, that’s life.
marlieanisa's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
connie_rea's review against another edition
4.0
great little bits of wisdom and joy through out this entire book. I just need a story that tells all these little Chinese sayings that are passed down from generation to generation....
lyndamr's review against another edition
3.0
It had been over 20 years since I had last read this book, and I'd forgotten a lot about it -- I think I was confusing my memory of it with The Kitchen God's Wife. However, I did enjoy it, especially the complex interplay of Mothers' and Daughters' stories -- how one can never really know the other, especially as there are so many things the mothers have not told their daughters.
libby_libaryon's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to this, after seeing the movie some time ago. Chinese culture is interesting to me, and at this stage in my life, so is the relationship between mother's and daughters, so for both of those reasons, I enjoyed this book. It was also well written. I liked hearing all the different characters stories very much. It was an enjoyable read!
mudder17's review against another edition
4.0
3 stars for the audio, 4.5 stars for the book.
So I started listening to this on audiobook, but I kept losing track of who was narrating, and therefore whose story I was following. Part of it was the quality of the recording, which was not very clear, and part of it was that the narrator had kind of a soothing voice and I just kept losing track. This was the audiobook that was not narrated by the author and was unabridged. The only thing I appreciated about the narration was being able to hear the Chinese words pronounced correctly. Although I don't speak Chinese, I grew up speaking Taiwanese and hearing Chinese, and certain phrases sound the same to me and I recall the meaning, even if I can't translate them into English. As one of the daughters says in the book, there are some phrases she knows the meaning of in Chinese, but she doesn't know of an equivalent English phrase. In any case, after about 15% with the audiobook, I gave up and got the digital and started reading it that way. But after about 25%, my loan period ran out, so then I had to wait a few weeks to get the book back, lol. So I started this book again yesterday and ended up finishing it today and there is much that feels familiar to me about being the child of immigrants and experiencing the mix of American and Taiwanese cultures. Like some of the daughters, I regret not knowing my family's native language fluently, and I regret that my half Taiwanese half Caucasian daughters know very little about their Taiwanese heritage. Reading this book brought back a lot of memories. Although both of my parents were raised Christian and my dad was a Christian pastor, Christianity in Taiwan was only found in ~3% of the population, at least up until the '90s, from what I remember. So I still remember some of the superstitions that my mom used to tell us about our ear shapes or forehead shape, etc., that were linked to good fortune or higher intelligence and so forth. It took a while for me to get wrapped into this book, partly because of the circumstances of how I read it, but once I settled down and focused, I found myself wrapped up by the story and the different characters. By the time I got to the 40% stage, I didn't want to stop until I finished the story. In many ways, this is a book of interconnected short stories that depict the Asian American experience. It's been years since I read this book and I didn't remember much about it at all, so it was good to read this through my 2020 lens. I think someone who is not familiar with the Asian culture might find it a bit hard to get into, partly because of all the Asian names and the sprinkling of Chinese words, but I definitely appreciated it and enjoyed it quite a bit.
So I started listening to this on audiobook, but I kept losing track of who was narrating, and therefore whose story I was following. Part of it was the quality of the recording, which was not very clear, and part of it was that the narrator had kind of a soothing voice and I just kept losing track. This was the audiobook that was not narrated by the author and was unabridged. The only thing I appreciated about the narration was being able to hear the Chinese words pronounced correctly. Although I don't speak Chinese, I grew up speaking Taiwanese and hearing Chinese, and certain phrases sound the same to me and I recall the meaning, even if I can't translate them into English. As one of the daughters says in the book, there are some phrases she knows the meaning of in Chinese, but she doesn't know of an equivalent English phrase. In any case, after about 15% with the audiobook, I gave up and got the digital and started reading it that way. But after about 25%, my loan period ran out, so then I had to wait a few weeks to get the book back, lol. So I started this book again yesterday and ended up finishing it today and there is much that feels familiar to me about being the child of immigrants and experiencing the mix of American and Taiwanese cultures. Like some of the daughters, I regret not knowing my family's native language fluently, and I regret that my half Taiwanese half Caucasian daughters know very little about their Taiwanese heritage. Reading this book brought back a lot of memories. Although both of my parents were raised Christian and my dad was a Christian pastor, Christianity in Taiwan was only found in ~3% of the population, at least up until the '90s, from what I remember. So I still remember some of the superstitions that my mom used to tell us about our ear shapes or forehead shape, etc., that were linked to good fortune or higher intelligence and so forth. It took a while for me to get wrapped into this book, partly because of the circumstances of how I read it, but once I settled down and focused, I found myself wrapped up by the story and the different characters. By the time I got to the 40% stage, I didn't want to stop until I finished the story. In many ways, this is a book of interconnected short stories that depict the Asian American experience. It's been years since I read this book and I didn't remember much about it at all, so it was good to read this through my 2020 lens. I think someone who is not familiar with the Asian culture might find it a bit hard to get into, partly because of all the Asian names and the sprinkling of Chinese words, but I definitely appreciated it and enjoyed it quite a bit.
adriannagrezak's review against another edition
5.0
I was pleasantly surprised because I heard mixed reviews and expected to be completely lost since it was a serious of short stories between four sets of mothers and daughters.
tgthreadgill's review against another edition
4.0
You know, Amy Tan gets grief for writing the 'generations becoming americanized can't bond with their roots' story ALL the time...but, darn it, she does it well. I enjoyed this book for the richness of a culture that's totally different from my own. The language is stunning and I think that, at its heart, this book seeks to remind readers that every family has a history.