book review: The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan

The book club selection for June was The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan. I wasn't familiar with Amy Tan's work (she authored The Joy Luck Club), so I didn't have preconceived thoughts about this book.

The book is about a mother/daughter relationship and takes place in the past (mother's childhood and young adulthood in China) and the present (in the US). I have to be honest. I had the hardest time getting through "part one" of this book. The relationship between the mother LuLing and daughter Ruth is not a warm one. Ruth also doesn't have a good realtionship with her live-in boyfriend and his two daughters. The first part of the book is quite depressing, which only means that Amy's talent lies in character development.

LuLing refuses to learn English, although she knows a little, which means that Ruth has been translating for her mother since Ruth was able to speak. This mirrors LuLing's relationship with her own mother, which we learn about in "part two." LuLing was afraid of forgetting the past so she wrote it down for her daughter... all in Chinese. The stack of pages were forgotten for years, lying in the bottom of Ruth's desk drawer.

"Part two" was a much quicker read for me because it was the translation of LuLing's writings. It was about LuLing's childhood in China, her youth and young adulthood in an orphanage, and her life in Peking before coming to the United States. During "part two" both the reader and Ruther gained insight into LuLing. And that's where the real beauty lies. Once you get through the rough stuff of part one, you are rewarded with the remainder of the book.