Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The Joy Luck Club

I had been wanting to read this book for awhile and it surpassed my expectations! I loved the way all the stories were woven together as it made this cohesive and yet diverse perspective for understanding these women. The mothers' mysterious and untold stories drew me in and I could relate to the daughters trying to understand their moms. The interplay of all the women's American and Chinese identities created fraught but emotionally powerful stories. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a fast but fantastic read.

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amelianotthepilot's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative fast-paced

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

5.0

a collection of stories about the Chinese American experience touching on immigration, generation gaps, sexism, racism, and more

really well written interesting stories

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readerette's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.5

While this story and the characters are not always pleasant, they feel very real. I was touched by the weaving of the mothers' and daughters' stories, how American culture bled into the lives of all the characters, the struggles of being an immigrant and a parent (and how individual each set of struggles is). Relatable and also informative on aspects of a culture I'm not that familiar with.

That said, the weaving of the characters' stories did get muddy for me, I didn't get enough about the Joy Luck Club itself, and all of these people supposedly friendly with one another could be incredibly petty and cruel to their "friends". Perhaps I'm just leading with my white American eye on that last part though--friendship looks different to different people.

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anovelbeauty's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

Book TW: child death, loss, trauma, strained parental relationships, war, immigration, racism

The Joy Luck Club is a beautiful story which follows four Chinese women who immigrated to the US in 1949 and their American born daughters. This story is one of the most interestingly formatted stories I’ve come across in a long time. It’s split into four sections and each chapter follows a specific mother or daughter’s POV. There is a loose connection and chronology between the different stories and the characters hop in and out of each other’s lives. However, the most distinct connection is between each mother and her daughter. It is really unique to get a book that shows you the background and perspective of both parent and child. So as the book progresses, you slowly understand why the characters act how they do. I particularly loved getting the mothers’ stories from China and then seeing how they changed (often dramatically) after they immigrated.
Though the book does have a bookended plot line from Jin-Mei (and her mother is the only one who does not get her own chapter), the book reads more like a collection of connected short stories than your average historical fiction novel.
It took a bit for me to settle in to the unique flow of this story, but once I did the character work and writing style of the novel was absolutely phenomenal. The voices of each of the eight different women were distinct and engaging. Jin-Mei is probably the closest to a main character as she has a chapter in each section because her mother is already gone and she is trying to retroactively connect with her. The others show the miscommunication and relationships between the other mother-daughter pairs.
This is a hugely character driven book, so if you are a plot-driven reader this probably won’t suit you. However, I /love/ character books so it was wonderful for me and I do really enjoy familial relationships being explored in stories as well. The book is touching and dramatic and the last chapter made me cry. I definitely encourage you to read it if you think the format of the story would suit you!

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