Bought today for the m-bag going to The Netherlands for Moem's OBCZs and any other Dutch BookCrossers she wants to share with!

In case you're wondering how I chose what books I would buy, I chose books by popular authors, recognizable titles, and in good shape.

I think I bought too many books I'm interested in reading :) Hope I can get to this one before it ships out too!

From the back of the book:

Like most daughters, Pearl keeps secrets from her mother. But Pearl's mother, Winnie Louie, has been keeping secrets from her -- secrets that Winnie now tells with hypnotic power in Amy Tan's luxuriant bestselling novel.

The Kitchen God's Wife comprises Chinese myth and family history; vanished mothers and dead children; the ordeals of marriage and the atrocities of war. Most of all, it is a novel about the ten thousand hurts and deceptions with which mothers and daughters hold each other at bay -- and about the sudden recognitions that sometimes bring them together.

I really really liked this book! I *did* get it read before it was time to ship off the m-bag, but I forgot I hadn't journalled it :) Let's see if all the bookmarks I left throughout the book, marking interesting spots will help jog my memory enough to write a decent journal entry . . .

First, I'm always interested to read what I would call "ethnic" books. Where neither the author nor the story are about white-bread Americans. My dad came to America from the old country (The Netherlands), and even though this mom comes from China, there are still some similarities to stories. I was also intrigued by Pearl's relationship with her mom. These types of relationships are always interesting, and although my exposure to Amy Tan is only this book and the movie of The Joy Luck Club (haven't read the book yet, but I will), I know that this is a relationship she has studied in depth. I can hear the conversations in my head when I read them!

This book jumps around a bit from the author's perspective. At first, it's a little confusing to know if it's Pearl or her mother, Winnie, speaking. But once you get into it, it makes sense.

This book is very hard to describe without giving away a lot of information. Basically, Pearl is sick, and part of her dilemma is that most everyone around her knows . . . except her mother. She was all set to bring it up and tell her, but every time she tried, her mother started talking. Next thing she knew, a lot of time had passed, and it was like a secret she was keeping from Winnie. ". . . that's when it hits me the hardest: I have this terrible disease and I've never told her. I meant to tell her. There were several times when I planned to do exactly that. When I was first diagnosed, I said, 'Ma, you know that slight problem with my leg I told you about. Well, thank God, it turned out not to be cancer, but --' And right away, she told me about a customer of hers who had just died of cancer, how long he had sufferered, how many wreaths the family had ordered."

Shortly after this, the storyteller role jumps out of Pearl's hands and into Winnie's. Winnie is very matter-of-fact, and says really shocking things in a completely normal way. "I never told you about my mother? That she left me? Oh. That's because I never wanted to believe it myself. So maybe that's why I did not tell you about her."

One of the best descriptions of Winnie is by Jimmy Louie. "'. . . the way you could do anything, dance with broken shoes or in your bare feet. Fragile-looking, yet strong and brave, the kind of person nothing could stop.' This is true, your father said that. He thought I was a strong person. I had never thought about myself that way. I don't know why he believed that. The rest of his life he believed that about me." Reading this book, you definitely feel her strength. The things she goes through are so heavy. Only a truly strong person would actually live through them.

There's so much more, to talk about in this book, but the reader will have to experience it for themselves!

I'm really glad I stumbled on this book, and even happier that I got to read it before it gets in the mail!

Another book from the great big surprise bag full of wonderful books. Thank you so much!
To be left at an OBCZ, or handed to another Bookcrosser.

I read this one in Dutch, and I liked it a lot, as Ant did!
It is very well written. It tells you a lot about the time and place, in a casual way, not lecturing you.

This is a bookring. The list:


eMeReS
Impuls

I have received this book at the meet-up in Nijmegen today. It was actually supposed to go to Digimike first, but she had so many books to take with her for the OBCZ in Enschede that we decided to reverse the order for this ring.

Thanks. I will read this as soon as I have finished the other ring I have received today: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.

I have held on to this book longer than I meant to, sorry for that. I have had some turmoil in my life lately and it prevented me from reading much. I did start the book, but couldn't get into it. But in June I went to New Zealand and being as far away from my troubles as I could be really helped to get some peace and perspective and I started where I had stopped before. This time I was grabbed by the story immediately.

The first chapters in which Pearl, her mother, and her aunt are introduced are painfully funny. The shift in perspective was surprising and the history that unfolded made me want to read on and on. There is so much tragedy, but told in a matter of fact way that on the surface seems to diminish the impact, but makes it so much more ghastly when you think about it.
It was also an interesting look into a part of Chinese history, I have to admit that I knew practically nothing about that. It would be interesting to fill that gap some more in the future.

I will ask Digimike now for her address and finally send the book on to her.
Edit: Digimike has read the book in Dutch in the meantime, so that looked like the end for this ring. However, a new reader has been found, I will hand the book over to Impuls this afternoon in Castricum.

I got this book from eMeReS at the castricum meeting. I've tried to start in it 3 times now and i am dangerously close to giving up. Somehow it's not grasping me and I feel too little urge to read on...

I'll have a look if somebody else is interested on the forum...

Sent by mail yesterday to eMeReS, to cross to het personal friend in New Zealand!

The book is back with me, thanks for sending it, Impuls. I will give it to Pluisje when I see her next week. She had already started to read it when I visited her in New Zealand last June. Since I wasn't the last in the ring I had to take it back before she finished, it seems only fair to give her a second chance :)

Thank you eMeReS for returning the book to me so I could finish it. I read the book on the plane from The Netherlands to Kuala Lumpur.
I had read the first few chapters a few months ago when eMeReS was visiting me here in New Zealand. The beginning of the book is so funny that I did start all over again. By coincidence I had come exactly to the point where the perspective changes from Pearl to her mother which came as a huge surprise to me.
A captivating story, I was so grabbed by it that the poor stewards on the plane got the grumpy treatment when "disturbing me" for meals or drinks:-)

I have read "Chinese" books before, for some reason always written by women. This book refreshed my admiration for these strong women that fight for their own rights and happiness in a society that does not seem to give them much personal space or authority to develop as an individual.

I am sure there are more people out there that are interested in reading this story.

RELEASE NOTES:

I never realised this was still a bookring-my mistake. Sorry for the delay but the book is finally on its way back to Moem in Arnhem. It is a lovely book, most people around me have read and enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing Moem.

The book arrived home safely. Thank you, Pluisje! I must have missed a PM from you. But you sent the book home anyway. Good work!

I have given the book to a nice lady when I had finished painting her hallway. I hope she enjoys it.