Books with title Joy Luck Club

A New York Times Bestseller In 1949 four Chinese women - drawn together by the shadow of their past - begin meeting in San Francisco to play mah jong, invest in stocks, eat dim sum, and say stories. They call their gathering the Joy Luck Club. Nearly forty years later, one of the members has died. When her daughter comes to take her place, she learns of her mother's lifelong wish, and the tragic way in which it has come true.

Amazon.com Review: Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's "saying" the stories. In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Rather than sink into tragedy, they choose to gather to raise their spirits and money. "To despair was to wish back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable." Forty years later the stories and history continue. With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of their matriarchal ties. Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery.

From English classes to book clubs, Amy Tan's bestseller The Joy Luck Club has become a staple of contemporary American fiction. Its heartrending and powerful stories speak volumes about the trials both of the immigrant experience in America and of mother-daughter relationships in any family. The Companion takes you inside this favorite:What are the Joy Luck Club daughters expected to do with the stories their mothers tell them?How autobiographical is Tan's novel? Which daughter did she base on herself?What role does the past play in the lives of immigrants and their children?