My book of choice is The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. I do like this book for the most part, but it does get confusing at times. This story starts off with one of the daughters, Jing-Mei Woo, who has been asked to take her deceased mother's spot in The Joy Luck Club, where the group of four women played mah jong in San Francisco, CA. "My father has asked me to be the fourth corner at the Joy Luck Club. I am to replace my mother, whose seat at the mah jong table has been empty since she died two months ago" (Tan, 19). "My mother started the San Francisco version of the Joy Luck Club in 1949..."(Tan, 20).
Jing-Mei Woo starts to tell her mother's story in the third person and then switches to the first person, as if she was reliving the moments where her mother would tell her, her stories. "'I dreamed about Kweilin before I ever saw it,'" my mother began, speaking Chinese (Tan, 21). Woo's mother goes on talking about her life and how it led to the Joy Luck Club.
The theme is not clear to me yet, but I am thinking it will be about growing to appreciate your origins. I think this because so far, I am reading about the stories of different mothers and daughters and I notice there is conflict. They are all Chinese but seems like the daughters I have read about grew up in San Francisco and the mothers in China. I can see that the mothers and daughters have a different way of thinking, which is natural, since they grew up in a different country and had different experiences.
I think the historical context is the Chinese ancestry. The characters are all Chinese and specifically the mothers are more accustomed to the Chinese culture, since they grew up in China.
Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. Penguin Books, 2014, pp. 1-96.
Hi Laura!! I am also reading this book. I am excited that we are reading the same book because I would like to see your thoughts. I totally understand when you said it gets confusing because is the mothers and daughters stories and they do switch back and forth from first to third person. I actually finished the book yesterday. I had some time and was not able to put it down. Throughout the whole book, I had to keep flipping back to the pages that names the mothers and daughters and sometimes to the last story that had to do with them to help me put it all together. I have never read the book or watched the movie and now I am excited to watch it. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.
ReplyDeleteI almost chose this book but ultimately decided on something different. When I saw you have chosen this book I was intrigued so had to come read some of the notes you took. I had heard the title before but didn't really know much about it. I enjoyed reading your notes and will definitely be back to read more of them as you progress in your book. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi, Laura!
ReplyDeleteI didn't choose the same book, so everything that I just read is really new. In a way, I kinda understand what you mean by "I do like this book for the most part, but it does get confusing at times" because I'm having the same feeling with the book I chose. That story is not confusing, but the grammar flows from 1st to 3rd person every time and I feel lost once in a while.
Since I haven't read your chosen book, I don't know the plot, but I found it interesting that you said that the theme may be appreciating the origins. It may be a stereotype that we have, but Chinese people do seem to care a lot about their origins...
Hi Laura,
ReplyDeleteGosh, it does sound like a difficult book to read. Does it switch back and forth from first to third person or once she switches is it pretty consistent?
It sounds like a very interesting read though! I am sure the first generation to be born and raised in a new country has to be such a challenge. It is hard to expect your parents to just automatically become accustomed to the culture, but the first generation to be born here wouldn't know or understand where their parents came from.
I am interested to keep following your analysis / close readings of this story!
Thank you for sharing.