Another book rescued from an eternity lost in storage. I've been thinking about trying some of Amy Tan's stuff lately, and apparently I just needed to start rooting around in my mother's attic and voila!

This copy of the book has obviously been read, and probably more than once since there are a lot of creases in the spine (and yet I somehow missed it? What's up with that?), but it's otherwise in fine shape.
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Oct 16, 2004 update:

This is a *very* good book. I especially liked the sections about China. I love the way they are written, and the descriptions of things are just gorgeous. They really give you a feeling for the mind and the culture of the woman narrating at the time. Here's an excerpt that really stuck with me:

"In China, everybody dreamed abut Kweilin. And when arrived, I realized how shabby my dreams were, how poor my thoughts. When I saw the hills, I laughed and shuddered at the same time. The peaks looked like giant fried fish heads trying to jump out of a vat of oil. Behind each hill, I could see shadows of another fish, and then another and another. And then the clouds would move just a little, and the hills would suddenly become monstrous elephants marching slowly toward me! Can you see this? And at the root of the hill were secret caves. Inside grew hanging rock gardens in the shapes and colors of cabbage, winter melons, turnips, and onions. These were things so strange and beautiful you can't ever imagine them."

Amy Tan did a good job of keeping the story going coherently, even though she had the book divided into 16 sections narrated by 8 different characters. Pretty impressive! So the story comes out more as a one about Chinese immigrants to the U.S. and the next generation as a whole instead of one specific character's story, but it really does work.

The whole time I was reading this book, I was thinking about how this was the start of that group-of-women stories trend. For a while, there was a run of stories about 4 friends, or a group of friends, or 3 generations of women, etc...both in print and at the movies. There were a number of books like that from the early '90's in the same box of books as as this one stored up in Mom's attic.

This may be a teensy bit of a spoiler, just to warn anyone who might want to know! Okay, I have one thing to say to the (okay, so they're fictional characters) daughters in this book (and please note that I am largely just joking around from here on out). Ladies, I'm sorry, but you don't get to claim your problems with getting your fellas through a meet-the-family dinners or family houseguests entirely on intercultural problems! Partially, of course, but entirely? Nope, no way. At least 2 of you did absolutely no prep work with your guys at all! I mean, it takes at least 10 minutes for me to tip any new guy off on how to charm my family, and that's for just the easy family members, and I'd certainly expect him to do the same for me. How long would it have taken to explain that dear old mom is really begging for compliments when she says her cooking didn't come out well this time, and that everyone is supposed to tell her it's the best meal ever and couldn't be better? Honestly, I noticed a distinct lack of effort on your parts, girls, leaving you with at least part of the blame for troubles in that area. Sheesh! ;)

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**THIS IS UP FOR A BOOKRING!** Please PM if you'd like to join!

List so far:
AceofHearts (in Canada, Int'l)
Amanida (In UK, Int'l)
walkthrulife (In Malaysia, Int'l) <----It's here!
bookharlot (In US, US)

rec'd today

I enjoyed this book. The cultural lessons this book gave me were very interesting. I could almost hear some of the Chinese mothers speak. Amy Tan did a great job of making the book so real in her narratives. One feels sorry for the immigrants and what they have gone through. Personally I would have liked to plow a fist into Waverly's nose
I do get caught up in books!!
Krissaean, I think you should spend more time up in your mother's attic.
Thanks
Mailing tomorrow

I have been in Asia over the holidays and this was waiting for me when I got back - thanks Ace of Hearts. I read The Kitchen God's Wife while away and loved it, so I'm looking forward to this one.

I loved the language and the stories, but I got a bit confused in remembering which daughter belonged to which mother and which storyline! And yes, I agree Waverly was a pain.
Off to walkthrulife in Kuala Lumpur when I can get to the post office.

Just received this book. I'll comment once finish reading it

TBR