The Bonesetter's Daughter

AMY TAN AND JOAN CHEN MADE ME LAUGH AND MADE ME SOB IN THE SPACE OF MOMENTS.I HAVE NEVER BEEN AS MOVED.IT IS AN EXERCISE IN PERFECTION.MISS TAN REVISITS THE TERRITORY INTRODUCED IN THE JOY LUCK CLUB AND NOW IT IS EVEN MORE RIVETING.THIS WAS THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME.

In Bonesetter's Daughter, Amy Tan follows the rules that many current authors follow. Her characters lace their conversations with four letter words that are sexually related. They have no regard for family values. They live together without benefit of marriage etc. etc. It is definitely not a candidate for my preferred reading list!

The story stared off quite slow, but really pulled itself together by the middle, remaining strong to the end. The story is complex, blending Old World situations and tradition with modern thinking. The author has developed a number of strong characters and allows the reader to enjoy the family mysteries as they are told over three generations. I listened to the unabridged audio version of this book and both readers were solid.

Like many people, my introduction to Amy Tan was her novel, The Joy Luck Club. Thus, I was unsurprised to find another story, still exploring relationships between mothers and daughters, over time, culture changes, and intangibles that somehow seemed to keep a perceived chasm in their ability to communicate with one another. This story of a Chinese American woman raised by her mother- who had come alone to the United States believing in the certainty that she and her child were doomed. It is also about the attempts of her daughter to understand her mother and herself. The book is excellent, though I heard it on cassette tapes. I believe this made my experience of absorbing this story much richer, because one professional actress delivers the narrative, and the voice of the daughter's story, and I believe the voice of the mother, telling her story is read by the author herself. This enhances the book because of the pronounciation of the Chinese words, spoken correctly by both readers, the faint accent of the mother, and the frequently humerous hysterical imitations of the mother's english. It's an excellent book especially for those of us daughters seeking to understand both our mothers, and through them, ourselves.