Final Post

THE JOY LUCK CLUB FINAL POST

What is the setting of the novel?  Is the setting important or could the novel happen anywhere?  Why?  Would it change the plot? In what way?

The Joy Luck Club takes place primarily in modern day San Francisco, United States where the four mothers lived during their adult lives and where the daughters spent their life time. The mothers grew up in different provinces of China such as Kweilin and Taiyuan, Shanghai where the novel’s flashbacks are set when it tells of their childhood memories. They immigrated to America during the World War II, looking for a better life for themselves and their families. For their daughters, they were born in America and lived in the Chinatown area where they lost their Chinese identity, becoming too “white.” The different settings in which the mothers and daughters grew up are crucial because this caused the conflicts and barriers between the mothers and daughters. Living in America and China creates language and culture differences because the daughter have adopted to an American lifestyle, and so they complain to their moms, “Don’t be so old-fashioned.” In this case, they don't understand each other well and they seem foreign to each other because of their conflicting identities as Chinese and American-Chinese.

Would you recommend this book to another reader? Why/Why not? What kind of person would you recommend it to? What would you tell the person about the book?

The Joy Luck Club is a beautifully written novel about four mothers, four daughters and eight stories to share. The structure of the novel is very impressive because it is structured like Mahjong game which is separated into four parts and played by four players. Amy Tan’s writing is simple, and the conflict she writes about is very realistic that I can feel the women’s struggles, which sometimes tears me up. I would recommend this book to everyone, even non-Chinese readers because it is very inspirational, heartwarming and most females can relate to the bittersweet bonds between mothers and daughters. However, for the non-Chinese reader without any Chinese background and understanding of the Chinese’s culture, will need to do some research in order to fully understand the depths of the novel. Also, I had troubles while I’m reading in trying to distinguish who's the mother or daughter. You may want to make a sticky notes because each character has a story, and so they don’t get mixed up.