Evan Sarah Epstein

I really enjoy stories about women and their relationships – both friendship and familial, so it is kid of surprising that I took so long to pick up a copy of The Joy Luck Club.

The story centers around four Chinese women born and raised in China before 1949 and their four American-born daughters. Each chapter comes from the perspective of a different woman and a different era and each story plays off of and works with the others.  What I appreciated most about the book (in addition to Amy Tan’s seamless writing style) is that seemingly insignificant incidents like what people do and say at a dinner party are used to illuminate a number of challenges for women, from social rules and expectations to cooking and child rearing.  I also appreciated that no character in this book is presented as a sum of her faults.  Taken on their own – many of the chapters would leave you thinking less of the characters, but when combined with their life stories, everything comes into view and makes sense – whether you agree with the actions the characters take or not.

On a completely different note, reading this book always left me wanting to eat!  Food always seems to take on some sort of role in each chapter and I cannot tell you how much I yearned for some good dim sum while reading this book.  So in addition to enjoying the story, I also gained a bit of inspiration while reading and ventured into Chinese cooking.  I still have a ways to go (obviously), but this book certainly gave me the push I needed to try my hand at something from which I would have otherwise shied away.

In all: good stories and good inspiration!

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