02 Mar / The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan [in What Do I Read Next? Multicultural Literature]
Since 1949, four Chinese-born women, now living in San Francisco, gather regularly to play mah-jong and share their lives. Together they make up the Joy Luck Club. They share stories of the old world, each having escaped a secret past, and indulge in the hopes of the New World, nurturing the lives of their four American-born daughters.
A timeless story of the enduring relationship between mothers and daughters, this work became the breakthrough mega-bestselling novel by an Asian American. In spite of criticism that its massive commercial appeal is a result of selling a white-washed, stereotypically exotic notion of the Chinese experience, the novel’s success continues decades later. Wayne Wang turned the bestseller into a film of the same name in 1993, backed by such Hollywood heavies as producer Oliver Stone, with a script written by Tan and Oscar-winning Ronald Bass (Rain Man)
Review: “Asian American Titles,” What Do I Read Next? Multicultural Literature, Gale Research, 1997
Readers: Adult
Published: 1989