The Joy Luck Club - Finished

This morning, I finished reading The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, and I just had to watch the movie! This is one of my favorite books and movies. I love the multi-generational story told from multiple points of view, and that this story spans so many hopes and joys, disappointments and sorrows.

Although the novel is about a group of Chinese women and their mothers, I believe it transcends nationality or generationality, but I wonder how much it appeals to or is truly understandable by men. Guys, chime in here! I recall reading it in a high school English class, but I really don't recall what anyone thought about it. I was so in love with the novel, even then, that I don't recall what anyone else thought.

I loved The Joy Luck Club as a teenager and young woman, but now that I've read it a few times as a mother, I have a totally different understanding of the novel. That understanding and appreciation has deepened as my son and I have gotten older. Although it is a tale of mothers and daughters, it has appeal for mothers of sons as well.

I was waiting to finish the novel before starting Amy Tan's memoir, The Opposite of Fate. I will be starting The Opposite of Fate today.

As I type this post, I am watching the movie version of The Joy Luck Club. It is one of the few novel to movie adaptations I have enjoyed. From the opening scene of the movie:

A fantastic conversation with Amy Tan:
I also have read a bit more of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I am almost 40 pages in, and I have begun to actually enjoy it! The first 30 pages were challenging, but now I'm starting to appreciate the multiple layers that Dostoevsky has stitched together to create a full picture. I can hear and smell and feel the different textures and layers of the main character's life.