By Halle Fukawa

Copy Editor

   “The Joy Luck Club” is renowned writer Amy Tan’s first published work, and is less of a book and more like a mirror reflecting the life and experiences of mothers torn between countries and daughters battling between cultures. Though originally published in 1989, the stories and morals in this novel are still extremely relevant and poignant.

   Points of view shift constantly between seven characters; three mothers and four daughters. Because of this, the book is split up into many different stories, some from 1940’s China and others from 1970’s America. Through these different narratives, each character and their motives are explored with such detail that I felt like I knew each of them by the time I finished.

   As a Chinese-American girl myself, I found this book incredibly insightful, sometimes with uncanny similarities to my own experiences. I resonated mostly with the daughters, as their stories focused mainly on balancing cultural identity, family relationships, living up to expectations, and self-worth. 

   However, it was the narratives told by the mothers of the book that captivated me the most. Reading about the motives behind the mothers’ actions and words made me realize how little I know about my own mother and my grandmother, who is an immigrant herself. 

   It was not only comforting to see stories reflecting my own experiences, but also extremely intuitive the way Tan embodied each of these characters and fitted them with their own strengths and vulnerabilities based on their lives. Each chapter felt like I was having a conversation with the character, and it’s casual language made it easy to read as well as extremely life-like and touching. 

   “The Joy Luck Club” offers a realistic portrayal of immigrant women and Chinese-American daughters each struggling to find a home in this country and in themselves. It’s a brilliant and clever book filled with loss, acceptance, pride, wit, and unbreakable spirit; I would recommend it to anyone, no matter their heritage, as it has since inspired me to connect to my family in ways I had never considered before. 

   Since it’s release date, “The Joy Luck Club ” has since sold over 2 million copies and was adapted into a movie directed by Wayne Wang in 1993. It’s exposure and influence was a major stepping-stone for Asian-American representation in Hollywood, paving the way for movies like “Crazy Rich Asians.”