I’m one of those people who hasn’t read many of the interesting books that pass for high school required reading. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is one such book. Someone gave me a copy a few years ago and I put it on my shelf, thinking that someday I’d return to it. Someday came a month or two ago.
The Joy Luck Club is a fascinating series of intertwining stories told by Chinese women who emigrated to the U.S. and their daughters. The book asks the question, “What does it mean to be Chinese?” I think it’s a question that many second-generation immigrant children ask regarding their roots. Though the answers vary widely, when asked together by many different people at the same time, it sounds like this: “What does it mean to be American?”
Joy Luck is a mind-bending view into the perspective of the Chinese mind. Even having spent a summer in China, it was a glimpse that was totally unexpected. I wish I would have read it before going to China to better understand the radical difference in worldview.
A recommended read. 4 out of 5 stars.