Filed under: Note: Usually I reserve my book responses for iluv2read, but I may start cross-posting them here… Not sure yet.
The Kitchen God’s Wife was not my favorite Amy Tan book, but I did love it. More than any other, this focused on the mother’s story in China, and it was a wrenching one. (Usually there’s a pretty good balance between the mother and daughter generations.) Because of what I read in The Opposite of Fate, Amy Tan’s memoir of sorts, I found myself thinking of this as her own mother’s true story, which may or may not be a fair assumption. And my heart broke for this woman and all that she endured, all her suffering, the lows and — thankfully — the eventual highs. It made me wonder about my own mother, how little I know, how much she might have to tell me. Will we wait until we think it’s almost too late to finally share all our secrets with one another? Will I have to reconstruct her life in a novel in order to understand her?
Anyway, good book. Check out my iluv2read post for favorite passages.
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phhhst says:
You make me want to sit down with a good book and read all day. Very thoughtful post.
Adam says:
I just watched the joy luck club last night!
(need to read sometime, though)
Just needs some soy sauce!
Kristan says:
phhhst-
Hehe, thankfully that’s how I spend several hours each week, since I consider it part of my job as a writer. I’m glad you enjoyed.
Adam-
What’d you think?
HAHA that dinner scene is PRICELESS. To be honest, I like the movie better than the book (b/c I grew up with that first, and b/c it’s a little more upbeat) but they’re both wonderful, IMHO. I tried to get Andy to watch it, but he really didn’t seem to appreciate it. (He was not fully engaged, though…)
NP says:
I’ve read audacity of hope, while mario’s read dreams from my father. I think audacity of hope is pretty inspiring, but it’s much more political than dreams from my father, since there’s a lot of policy and history (and a bit of politics) in it.
Just my two cents.
Kristan says:
Thanks! Good to know. That’s the second comment that makes me think I’d prefer Dreams from My Father, or at least that I should start there.