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Amy Tan: The Bonesetter's Daughter

Prairie_Girl

Prairie_Girl

New Member
I finished this about an hour ago, and was actually suprised with how much I enjoyed it. Found it reminded me VERY strongly of The Joy Luck Club, but it had been long enough since I read it that it didn't really bother me. very mild spoiler
I found the decline into dementia
really interesting to see, as it's not often something we experience in literature from the perspective of an immigrant.
I went to this book from about page 400 of The Corrections which I finally gave up on and abandonned, and found it to be a nice transition.
 
I read The Bonesetter's Daughter, and liked it well enough. I've been to a writer's conference and have heard Amy Tan speak about her writing, and I like her well enough, but am I hearing that you didn't get through The Corrections?????????

Was it too, too -- what was it 'too' for you?

Amy Tan's storys are a little bit dark (or something) for me. Difficult. Not funny! Maybe I need funny in order to like a book.
 
I really enjoyed The Corrections for a while but around the middle of the cruise is started to feel like WORK to read it. I devoted a solid week of all of my reading time to the book and the only reason I didn't get through it was because I didn't want to feel that that week was wasted.
It's still on the TBR list, but I'm going to read it at a time when I have long periods of time to sit and read as opposed to the 15-20 minutes at a stretch I've had since I went back to work last week.
I put a lot of faith into your reccomends Still, you think it's worth finishing?
 
I feel like what I'm doing might be called "highjacking" your thread, Prairie Girl, and maybe I really should start another one? Also, I'm feeling terrible about making you read The Corrections when you were trusting me with my recommendations!

You know how sometimes it's just maybe the wrong time in your life to read a certain book, but sometimes it's just simply the wrong book for you altogether?

I googled TC and saw it described as "richly realistic, darkly hilarious [and] deeply humane" link and those words beautifully describe it insofar as I'm concerned. I also have to admit that it just simply appealed to my warped sense of humor.

I either know, knew, or identify with each of the characters in it, but maybe you just don't, in which case you are probably fortunate (and obviously you also don't reside in California.) ;)



Does the book seem a tad bit mean-spirited to you? If so, it may simply be the case that you are just too nice a person to enjoy it as much as I did. :eek:

Some of the best scenes occur on the cruise ship. :D


Okay, back to The Bone Setters Daughter.
 
I love Amy Tan; she's one of my favorite authors. The Bonesetter's Daughter was not my favorite book of hers, but it was certainly still worth reading.

I have to agree with you about The Corrections. I had heard so many good things about it so I was anxious to read it and find out about it. I disliked all of the characters and found it unpleasant reading and I must have given it up about the same place you did. It didn't make me laugh, I found it really depressing! I finally decided it wasn't the book for me and went on to something else.
 
i really enjoyed The Bonesetter's Daughter. I got to see Amy on her book tour for it, and it was really great to hear her talk about the novel.

Bonesetter's Daughter was light years better than her latest, Saving Fish From Drowning.
 
Prairie_Girl said:
Thank You!!!!
Which of Tan's books is your favourite Paula?
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The Kitchen God's Wife is my favorite, I think.

I just find Tan's writing to be so enlightening. She tells a wonderful story but she's also explaining Chinese culture and the way Chinese people think. On top of that she talks of the relationship between mothers and daughters and how difficult it can be for them to truly understand one another and for daughters to appreciate their mothers. All in all I think you end up feeling like you know more than you did when you started.

A few years back a bookstore was having Amy Tan at a book signing and I was planning to go but the weather was nasty and I decided to stay home instead. I've regretted it ever since!
 
I went to a writer's conference at which Janet Fitch (White Oleander) Amy Tan and Anne Lamott all spoke. What a combination! Tan seemed composed, poised, and quietly purposeful. Fitch seemed forthright, friendly and maybe even a little bit shy (I thought) about her newish success, while Lamott was simply Lamott-over-the-top (as always.)

Tan was beautifully dressed in silk and high heels; Fitch in (what was probably) 100% linen and sensible flats, while Lamott wore ripped jeans, dreadlocks and (I have no reason to doubt) old Birkenstocks.

I recently heard Tan being interviewed on NPR (I think) the other day, and it sounds as if her mother was and is an incredibly important figure in her life, and of course, her books show that to be true.

I haven't read Saving Fish from Drowning yet. I love the story about where the title came from.

Ooops. Another needless detour. Sorry, PG!
 
My wife loves Amy Tan. For some reason she's very interested in stories of Chinese from China... life is tough there then, and we all can vouch for a touch of familiarity with some of the anecdotes from her stories - our grandparents come from China after all.

She has read The Bonesetter's Daughter and remembers enjoying it, however she feels that she likes Adeline Yen Mah just that little bit more at present.

(ah, I just realized I'm writing this post on her behalf. Interesting).

ds
 
I really liked the Joy Luck Club & the Kitchen God's Wife, and I have the Bonesetters Daughter & the Hundred Secret Senses in boxes on the way here. It's so hard being seperated from one's books:(

the Corrections is on it's way too. I hope it's not all that bad:eek:
 
Ronny said:
I really liked the Joy Luck Club & the Kitchen God's Wife, and I have the Bonesetters Daughter & the Hundred Secret Senses in boxes on the way here. It's so hard being seperated from one's books:(

the Corrections is on it's way too. I hope it's not all that bad:eek:
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Ronny, if your sense of humor is even the tiniest little bit warped (which I suspect it is), you will probably love The Corrections. :D
 
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