By Anna Genna
When I first heard about my Ethnic Literature class reading The Joy Luck Club, I was intrigued. I had never read a book in class that reflected my Asian background, and it is a book that my mom likes quite a bit. I had high hopes, but I don’t tend to appreciate books that are read in school. I feel that analyzing a book repeatedly can ruin the fun and experience of reading.
The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan, is the stories of four Chinese immigrant mothers and American daughters. The book is stunning, with descriptive literary elements that allow the reader to experience the book along with the characters. Many, Asian or not, connect to the book and its heartfelt description of the struggles and joy that make up a mother-daughter relationship, especially with generational and cultural differences. And while the book’s writing itself is easy to digest and empathize with, I find issues with the composition.
Mainly, the short stories that comprise the total of the book, vignettes if you will. The story is told in shorter sections, with each character getting two chapters to narrate. These chapters are not in chronological order, or are tied together in an overarching storyline. Instead, there are bits and pieces that relate to other stories, and while that is great to analyze for English class, it makes it almost uncomfortable to read.
Each chapter requires new exposition to introduce the reader to a completely new world that the next story will take place in. A character’s history has to be defined in order for actions to make sense, and it is easy to mix up the chapters. This method of writing is simply too prone to confusion, and detracts from the story itself.
Again, this is my opinion, many people really enjoy this story. I would still recommend people read it; it is a classic piece of Asian-American literature, and can be a story many can relate to.