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.
5 responses to “The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan”
You make me want to sit down with a good book and read all day. Very thoughtful post.
I just watched the joy luck club last night!
(need to read sometime, though)
Just needs some soy sauce!
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…)
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.
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.