Grand Valley Review
Volume 5 | Issue 2
Article 30
1-1-1990
Book Review: The Joy Luck Club
Roberta Simone
Grand Valley State University
Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/gvr
Recommended Citation
Simone, Roberta (1989) "Book Review: The Joy Luck Club," Grand Valley Review: Vol. 5: Iss. 2, Article 30.
Available at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/gvr/vol5/iss2/30
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Grand Valley Review by an
authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact [email protected].
T
These stories soar and sing-two words
that are keys to the tone of the whole anthology. In fact, those words-and words
synonymous-echo throughout: Sylvia
Watanabe's "Talking to the Dead" ends,
"And she sings, she sings, she sings; and
the last words in Kingston's excerpt from
01ina Men are, "I have heard the land sing.
I have seen the bright blue streaks of
spirits whisking through the air." The final
image in Linda Ty-Casper's "Hills, Sky, and
Longing• is "a peregrine flying without
wings.· Though the stories are not universally optimistic, most are; the gaze of the
people renected here is upward, the mood
generally joyful. It's a glorious collection.
William Osborn
Amy Tan, The joy Luck Club, New York:
G. P. Putnam, 1989.
During the bombing of Kweilin, as
Suyuan tells her daughter Jing-Mei Qune),
she gathered together three other young
women to play mah jong, for, "How long
can you see in your mind arms and legs
hanging from telephone wires and starving dogs running down the streets with
half-chewed hands dangling from their
jaws? (24) The only way to survive the horror and the loss of family was to hold on
to some tradition, to seek joy wherever
one could find it: • ...we decided to hold
parties and pretend each week had become the new year.... Each week we could
forget past wrongs done to us. We ...
laughed, we played games, lost and won,
72·
we told the best stories. And each week,
we could hope to be lucky. lhat hope was
our only joy. And that's how we came to
call our little parties joy Luck" (25).
But as the Japanese army approached
the city, Suyuan fled on foot with her baby
twin daughters to find her Army Officer
husband. The babies had to be abandoned with "hope for luck; and Suyuan
awoke delirious in a hospital to learn that
her husband was dead. After searching
unsuccessfully for the babies, she and her
new husband became refugees in San
Francisco, where she began a new version
of the club, with three women from the
Chinese Baptist Church, which she joined
out of polite gratitude for the two dresses
given to her by the missionary ladies of
the refugee welcome society. Together,
these transplanted Chinese, their husband<; and children would make a new extended family; the club would become
Americanized enough to include stock investments, which, unlike mahjong, "relied
on luck more than skill" and allowed
everyone to be winners, "so everyone can
have some joy." (30) Mter Suyuan's sudden
death, the "aunties" pool their investment
earnings to send June to China to meet
her newly found half-sisters, whom
Suyuan had relentlessly searched for by
mail. Such is the bare frame for this
remarkable novel, the first and last of the
sixteen stories that compose it.
The rest of the stories are told by the
other mothers and daughters of the "new
family": Lindo and Waverly Jong, YingYing and Lena St. Clair, and An-Mei and
Rose Hsu. Throughout the entire novel, we
see the mothers' concern that their histories be transmitted to their daughters,
jtL'it as their spirits and bodies had already
been passed on a1
Simultaneously, we
desires to be free
their mothers, to
Chinese, even thm
and something uc
they cannot.
lhe book is div
of four stories, eac
bolic fable. In the
from a Thousand L
where things beg1
their childhoods i1
mothers, tales of
ranged marriages :
and privilege, of v
the fourth section,
Western Skies," the
cape from China, 1
new world, their I
because, as Ying-'Y
my daughter. She
same body. Ther•
that is part of mit
born, she sprang f
fish, and has been
since. All her life,
though from anot
must tell her every
is the only way to
pull her to where s
All of the mothers,
States, while ada(:
taking advantage
tunities, have stru
dignity of their cu
and wisdom of the
culture that sees 1
their traditions as o
In the two 1
daughters speak
Malignant Gates·
es. And each week,
JCky. lhat hope was
,t's how we came to
y Luck" (25).
e army approached
n foot with her baby
ad her Army Officer
es had to be abanlr luck," and Suyuan
hospital to learn that
ad. After searching
e babies, she and her
me refugees in San
began a new version
·ee women from the
rch, which she joined
le for the two dresses
missionary ladies of
:1e society. Together,
l Chinese, their hus;vould make a new exclub would become
gh to include stock in11like mahjong, "relied
n skill" and allowed
ners, "so everyone can
' After Suyuan's sudden
pool their investment
une to China to meet
I half-sisters, whom
lessly searched for by
:bare frame for this
the first and last of the
compose it.
stories are told hy the
l daughters of the "new
d Waverly jong, YingCiair, and An-Mei and
10ut the entire novel, we
concern that their histted to their daughters,
and bodies had already
been passed on at the children's births.
Simultaneously, we learn of the daughters'
desires to be free and independent of
their mothers, to be American and not
Chinese, even though, through fear, guilt,
and something unnamed and mystical,
they cannot.
The book is divided into four sections
of four stories, each preceded by a symbolic fable. In the first section," Feathers
from a Thousand Li Away," from "the East,
where things begin," the mothers tell of
their childhoods in China and their own
mothers, tales of concubinage and arranged marriages at childhood, of wealth
and privilege, of war and separation. In
the fourth section, "Queen Mother of the
Western Skies," the mothers tell of their escape from China, their adjustment to the
new world, their lives up to the present,
because, as Ying-Ying explains, •... I love
my daughter. She and I have shared the
same body. There is a part of her mind
that is part of mine. But when she was
born, she sprang from me like a slippery
fish, and has been swimming away ever
since. All her life, I have watched her as
though from another shore. And now I
must tell her everything about my past. It
is the only way to penetrate her skin and
pull her to where she can be saved" (242) .
All of the mothers, refugees in the United
States, while adapting to new rules and
taking advantage of surprising opportunities, have struggled to maintain the
dignity of their culture and the authority
and wisdom of their parenthood in a new
culture that sees them as outdated and
their traditions as out of place.
In the two middle sections the
daughters speak. In "The Twenty Six
Malignant Gates" they remember their
own childhoods and their mothers' fears
for and expectations of them. At age six,
Waverly jong learns from her mother the
"art of invisible strength" (89) and becomes a child chess champion. june Woo
is pushed and prodded to be anything that
will get her into Ripley's book, for Suyuan
believes that you can be anything you
want to be in America: •... you can be
prodigy ... • (132). But june is American
and as strongly believes that her birthright
allows her to be ordinary. She works hard
at not playing the piano well. Rose Hsu
jordan remembers the day when her
young brother drowned at a family beach
outing and her mother lost her belief that
faith and fate were the same things. And
Lena St. Clair listens to her mother's fear of
the lack of balance in the crowded apartments leaning out of the steep hills, where
"A man can grab you off the streets, sell
you to someone else ...• (106).
In "American Translation" the
daughters are grown and while still trying
to justify their Americanness to their
mothers also realize their Chineseness and
the strength of their mothers' influence.
Rose Hsu jordan talks to a psychiatrist
about her failing marriage, but her mother
senses and communicates bcuer than he
can, without explanations. Lena St. Clair
comes to see that her marriage is not
equal, despite a strict sharing of bills,
when her visiting mother puts a vase on a
table poorly designed in his youth by
Harold, and both crash to the floor and
shatter. Waverly jong fears that her
mother will object to her marriage to redhaired, freckled Rich, whose warmhearted American manners seem rudeness
at her mother's Sunday dinner: when
Lindo dispraises her best dish, he tells her
. 73
it can be fixed just fine by adding soy
sauce. June Woo, the only unmarried
daughter, still working on being a failure,
tries to take the worst crab, one without a
leg, at the New Year's dinner; but her
mother prevents her, takes it herself and
removes it to the kitchen uneaten.
One reads along compelled by these
stories despite the obliqueness of the
overall plot, for the several plots start and
stop, weave in and out, until, at the end,
one is aware of a rich tapestry and wants
to read all over again from the beginning
and, at the same time, to trace some of the
pictures. Although the sixteen stories
together make one intricately patterned
novel, you can also read the sections as
four novelettes. Or you can read the four
families' stories, one at a time. For instance, the Jong family is chronicled in I, 3;
II, 1; Ill, 2; and IV, 3). So that there are four
"vertical" novelettes. You could see the
eight stories of the mothers (two each) as
a half-novel of the immigrant experience
and the eight stories of the daughters as a
half-novel of the experience of those
caught between two cultures. And finally
you could read eight accounts of two
stories each that make up the thoughts of
the eight characters. Reading in these
ways brings the full tapestry richness to
another cover-to-cover reading.
But in another sense, the novel's unusual structure is like an evening of mah
jong, a game which, Suyuon suggests to
her daughter is like life, at least as the
Chinese see it Each of the novel's four sections of four stories represents a direction
and one of the four winds; Just as the
players face east, south, west, and north,
and each other, taking turns to travel
around the board and make one's own
74·
little kingdom from among the four sets of
tiles. And thematically the families both
cooperate with each other-come
together for companionship and joy-and
compete with each other for success and
recognition.
But there is a great deal more to commend the book than the untl'mal structure.
We get a first-hand account of life for
women in China in the early part of this
century, told to us, intimately, as if by our
own mothers. And we learn, almost as if
from a sister or cousin, what it is like to
grow up as a part of two such different
cultures in San Francisco. June says, " ...
my mother and I spoke two different languages .... I talked to her in English, she
answered back in Chinese.... We translated each other's meanings and I seemed
to hear less than what was said, while my
mother heard more" (34-37). In this atmosphere of one culture slipping away
and another in the process of being
formed, the intensity of the motherdaughter relationship seems to increase,
since each must struggle all the more to
know the othe.r, for although their faces
are alike, their backgrounds, their expectations, as well as their natural languages are
diverse. The mothers are more sure of
who they are-transplanted Chinese. But
what are the daughters? Lindo tells
Waverly, "When you go to China ... you
don't even have to open your mouth.
l11ey already know you are an outsider....
They know just watching the way you
walk, the way you carry your face" (253).
Conversely, they are spotted immediately
in America as Chinese. Or at least as
Orientals: Rose llsu says to her date's
mother, "Mrs. jordan, I am not Victname.se.
... And I have no intention of marrying
your son." (118) Ar
nia, two years a
migrated there in 1
experience.
But a novel is m
study or biographi
an artist of high qu
in a mixture of tht
Impressionist styl
from China and frc
An-Mei remembet
from the floatin~
family, servant bo
raft, with a divin~
ring arour1d its nee
and cannot swallc
from the depths ~
again. The boy p
bird's throat and
another, onto the 1
where they are r'
gutted by an old
who then turns t1
head of a large tur
Beheaded with c
turtle body drain~
Lindo Jong desc
Chinatown: the "l
with a big Chinese
lou- 'wheat,' 'east,'
(259). And "I saw
each side of the :
were the entran
temple. But when
the pagoda was
topped with stac~
If you looked or
pretend-pagodas, 1
became narrow a
dirty" (260).
Tan's ear is as a,
is through turns 1
mong the four sets of
.lly the families both
!ach other-come
ionship and joy-and
>thee for success and
deal more to comthe unusual structure.
l account of life for
the early part of this
1timately, as if by our
~e learn, almost as if
sin, what it is like to
f two such different
cisco. June says, " ...
•ke two different lano her in English, she
ninese .... We trans~anings and I seemed
it was said, while my
:" (34-37). In this atJiture slipping away
e process of being
;ity of the motherip seems to increase,
•ggle all the more to
although their faces
rounds, their expcctanaturallanguages are
:rs are more sure of
;:>!anted Chinese. But
:hters? Lindo tells
1 go to China ... you
'open your mouth.
ou are an outsider....
tching the way you
my your face· (253).
spotted immediately
1ese. Or at least as
u says to her date's
I am not Vietname~'iC.
1tention of marrying
!l
your son." (118) Amy Tan, born in California, two years after her parents immigrated there in 1952, clearly writes from
experience.
But a novel is more than a sociological
study or biographical account; and Tan is
an artist of high quality, perhaps brushing
in a mixture of the Chinese and Western
Impressionist styles of painting. Scenes
from China and from San Francisco linger.
An-Mei remembers at age four watching
from the floating pavilion of her rich
family, servant boys catching fish from a
raft, with a diving bird, a rope tied to a
ring around its neck so that it must return
and cannot swallow the fish it brings up
from the depths of the river again and
again. The boy pulls the fish out of the
bird's throat and tosses them, one after
another, onto the deck of the family boat,
where they are robotically scaled and
gutted by an old bent servant woman,
who then turns to lure with a stick the
head of a large turtle from out of its shell.
Beheaded with one sudden blow, the
turtle body drains its blood into a bowl.
Lindo jong describes San Francisco's
Chinatown: the "McDonald's restaurant
with a big Chinese sign that says mai dong
lou- 'wheat,' 'east,' 'building.' All nonsense•
(259). And "I saw two pagodas, one on
each side of the street, as though they
were the entrance to a great Buddha
temple. But when I looked carefully, I saw
the pagoda was really just a building
topped with stacks of tile roofs, no walls. ..
If you looked on either side of these
pretend-pagodas, you could see the streets
became narrow and crowded, dark, and
dirty" (260).
Tan's ear is as acute as is her eye, and it
is through turns of phrases that we are
aware of irony and sense of humor, particularly in the adaptive English of the
mothers. Ying-Ying says of her daughter's
not wanting babies: "She and her husband
are too busy drawing places that someone
else will build and someone else will live
in. I cannot say the American word that
she and her husband are. It is an ugly
word .... Arty-techy.' • And she is not appeased by their American style of provision for her old age: "money to add to my
so-so security" (243). To An-Mei, her
daughter's counselor is a "psyche-atricks"
(188). Suyuon calls her daughter a "college
drop-off" (37) and Auntie Ying not "hard
of hearing• but "hard of listening" (35). A
cookie fortune reads "Money is the root of
all evil. look around you and dig deep" in
English, and "Money is a bad influence.
You become restless and rob graves· in
Chinese. Says Lindo, "lhese are not fortunes, they are bad instructions· (262).
Suyuan is unabashed about her
Chauvinism, telling of a family table made
of "a very fragrant red wood ... hon mu,
which is so fine there's no English word
for it" (24).
Because there is very little physical
description of the characters, they may, in
one way, be meant to be representative.
But there is no question that each maintains an inner distinction, as we follow
them from childhood to marriage and
motherhood, distinctions that cannot be
encapsulated, though we may want to say
wistful Rose Hsu, subtly domineering
Lindo, self-apologetic June. 111e master
artist selects details carefully, and yet a
painting can only hint at the depth of its
subjects. I feel as if I know the characters
intimately yet could well hear the characters objecting as Suyuan docs to her
·75
T
daughter: "You don't even know little percent of me!" (27) Amy Tan's China and San
Francisco may be picturable, but the
characters are never predictable.
In this novel the matrilineal is stressed.
Suyuan tells June, "They are all dead, your
grandparents, your uncles, and their wives
and children, all killed in the war, when a
bomb fell on their house. So many
generations in one instant. ... Our whole
family is gone. It is just you and I" (272).
In doing so, she ignores the very much
alive husband and father. And why? Perhaps to right the imbalance of the centuries of patriarchy and patrilinealism in
China For instance, after Lindo's betrothal
at the age of two, her mother no longer
called her daughter. She was henceforth
the daughter of her mother-in-law: "My
mother did not treat me this way because
she did not love me. She would say this
biting back her tongue, so she wouldn't
wish for something that was no longer
hers." When she was twelve, Lindo would
live with her husband's family, would be
expected to "raise proper sons, care for the
old people, and faithfully sweep the family
burial grounds ... • (51). There could be
no divorce or remarriage, and any
daughter she had would be similarly given
away. An-Mei says, "I was raised the
Chinese way: I was taught to desire nothing .. ." (215). The Amah scolds little YingYing: "Haven't I taught you-that it is
wrong to think of your own needs? A girl
can never ask, only listen· (71). But in
America, they believed, it could be different. In the fable that precedes Section
One a woman sails to America, carrying
with her a swan's feather, symbol of ambition. There, she thinks, • I will have a
daughter just like me. But over there
76·
nobody will say her worth is measured by
the loudnes..c; of her husband's belch" (17).
An-Mel describes the matrilineal descent (and ascent?) in a metaphor: "... she
was born to me and she was born a girl.
And I was born to my mother and I was
born a girl. All of us are like stairs, one step
after another, going up and down, but all
going the same way• (215). But there is
also a spiritually physical connection.
Young An-Mei,separated from her mother
shortly after her birth, had immediately
known her mother though she had never
seen her in "all my memory." When her
mother returned, • she looked up ... and I
saw my own face looking back at me" ( 45).
Similarly the metaphor in fable three
describes the female line as endlessly
reflective. A mother hangs a mirror at the
headboard of her daughter's marital hed
to balance the mirror at the foot of the
bed: "In this mirror is my future
grandchild. . . . And the daughter
looked-and .... There it was: her own
reflection looking back at her" (147). In
fable four the metaphor is cyclical: the
laughing baby sitting on her
grandmother's lap has "lived forever, over
and over again" and has come back to
teach her mother "How to lose [her] innocence but not [her] hope. How to laugh
forever."
In America the cycle seems only superficial. Instead of"funny Chinese dresses
with stiff stand-up collars and blooming
branches of embroidered silk sewn over
their breasts," the mothers wear "slacks,
bright print blouses, and different versions
of sturdy walking shoes" (28); and the
daughters find it • fashionable to use their
Chinese names· (37). In reality, the
mothers fear, as June senses when she ac-
cepts the money
their daughters ;
truths and hope
America.... The
bear grandchildn
necting hope pa
generation; wh
mother is in your
them, June Woo,
both cultures an
out of the trail
spiritual connec
the past: "I also h:
seen this a long, (,
most forgotten•
her half-sisters v
shot of them de1
see their mothe
them
Amy Tan dedi
to "my mother ~
mother."
1
Roberta Simon
orth is measured by
sband's belch. (17).
the matrilineal dea metaphor: •... she
ihe was born a girl.
y mother and I was
e like stairs, one step
1p and down, but all
• (215). But there is
ysical connection.
ted from her mother
h, had immediately
,ough she had never
temory: When her
e looked up ... and I
:ing back at me· ( 45).
1hor in fable three
e line as endlessly
1angs a mirror at the
ughter's marital hed
>r at the foot of the
·ror is my future
\nd the daughter
ere it was: her own
1ck at her· (147). In
>hor is cyclical: the
sitting on her
s "lived forever, over
:1 has come back to
low to lose[her) inhope. How to laugh
cepts the money for her trip to China, that
their daughters are "unmindful of all the
truths and hopes they have brought to
America.... They see daughters who will
bear grandchildren born without any connecting hope passed from generation to
generation," who will forget that "your
mother is in your bones" ( 4()-41). For all of
them, June Woo, in China, is able to bridge
both cultures and generations. Looking
out of the train window, she feels a
spiritual connection with the place and
the past: "I also have misty eyes, as if I had
seen this a long, long time ago, and had almost forgotten" (268). And as June and
her half-sisters watch the Polaroid snapshot of them developing, they suddenly
see their mother's face looking back at
them
Amy Tan dedicates The joy Luck Club
to "my mother and the memory of her
mother:
Roberta Simone
1
:le seems only supernny Chinese dresses
ollars and blooming
jered silk sewn over
tothers wear "slacks,
md different versions
;hoes· (28); and the
;hionable to use their
37). In reality, the
: senses when she ac-
·77