I really, really wanted to love this book, but I found myself just, well, liking it. It was an excellent story, fantastically well-written, and had some excellent characters. And, believe me, between starting a job and working hard to make sure I spend time with my husband relaxing when I'm home, I really appreciated the shortness of the novel. Still, I couldn't fall in love with this book, possibly due to the fact that I had to read it in small sections during breaks/lunch/downtime at home. I definitely think I may re-read this one in the future when I'm not so busy, and I'm sure that I'll enjoy it much more that way.
The novel traces the story of four Chinese immigrant women and their U.S.-citizen daughters as they work to develop a relationship with the world and with U.S. culture, working against stereotyping in their new home and harsh memories from their old one. Each woman has their own experiences that shape the interactions between the generations. Tan does a fantastic job describing the communication gap between the younger generation and the older based upon changing ideas of social expectations, and I really enjoyed reading about the experiences of different women and comparing them to my own relationship with my mother and other inter-generational relationships I've watched in others.
The writing is simple, which allowed me to focus on the story itself rather than any sort of struggle with the structure of the novel.
I really hope that you look at these other reviews to see what others thought about it!
My rating: 8.5/10
Other reviews:
A Guy's Moleskine Notebook
Book Addiction
Ramya's Bookshelf
(If you've reviewed The Joy Luck Club and I missed you, let me know, and I'll add your review to the links!)
Up next: Maybe some non-fiction or re-reading Kingsolver's The Bean Trees so I can read its sequel Pigs In Heaven. I'll figure it out sometime this evening.
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