Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - The Joy Luck Club

Disclaimer: my library only had this book on audio and I don’t do well with fiction on audio. This one was particularly difficult for me because of the shifting timelines and perspectives, which I would have found less confusing in print. However, I looked up a character list (thanks, Cliff Notes!) that helped my brain keep track.

So, this was not the right format for me to experience a book like this. Because it was audio, my brain at times felt like that Charlie Day meme, trying to figure out which character was related to which (we get stories from the mothers and daughters of the Joy Luck Club).

BUT! Despite all of my confusion and extra brain power, this book made me FEEL things. One advantage of the audio is I think it made the stories (particularly the mothers in China) feel more real, as if I was sitting with them as they told me about their lives. The book packs an emotional punch. I definitely recommend it. I wish I’d had a physical copy, though.

CW: miscarriage, abortion, homophobia, rape, war, death of parent, death of child, drowning, infidelity, divorce

Content Warnings

hanfaulder's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

It has been a little while since I read this book, but I do remember thoroughly enjoying my experience of it. This can be largely attributed to Amy Tan's vividly evocative writing style. It was as though the world Tan presented to her reader - one of complex, multi-layered relationships between immigrant mother's and their daughters - could jump out of the page at any moment; the words giving-way to ocean water and tears, smelling of fresh garlic and chillies sizzling, as in the far distance I could see the shining red of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Tan describes things with vibrancy and intention, and with every tactile description there is a palpable emotional weight behind it, which only adds to the story being told. While the characters explored in The Joy Luck Club are not always pleasant, and sometimes far from it, they are very real. I appreciated the complexity of these stories, and the grey morality of the characters. The deftness with which Tan observes and brings to life this story was touching, and it opened my mind to the challenges immigrants face raising their children in a world very different to the one they came from. The struggle of acclamation to American culture, as well as interesting critiques of western values, the dichotomy explored between the daughter's embrace of change and the mother's honouring of tradition was nuanced, and the balance found between these two sides was fascinating to read, and emotional in places, to see these relationships so raw.

However, I have to admit that not everything in the story has aged well for a modern audience. This did not subtract from my experience reading the book, but it is an interesting point to bring up. I will also say that, for me personally, I did find the format of the book a little muddied, occasionally loosing track of which characters were which and having to jog my memory with every new chapter. This wasn't a huge issue, as I still felt the themes and understood the core relationships being presented, though this problem did knock my rating down somewhat, and I would warn people before reading this book that it can become overwhelming. Otherwise, I thought that The Joy Luck Club was a fascinating read, more than worthy of recommendation for Tan's expressive wringing style alone.

Content Warnings