Amy Tan (1) (1952–)

The structuring of this 'novel' intrigues me: four pairs of mother-daughter, two stories allocated to each individual, adding up to sixteen stories spread across four delineated sections. As balance is a recurring theme, I wonder whether there isn't some unstated significance to this? Each of the sixteen chapters is a wonderful whole and delicately written with its own beginning and end; any one of them could be excerpted and presented independently. The challenge lies in remembering whose daughter or mother is whose, and filtering which stories I'd already read that belonged to them. I was frequently flipping back to confirm these things, or referencing the helpful list at the front that pairs the mother-daughter sets, so I'd not recommend an e-book version.

In the first section we're providing with the background of the mothers' lives in China, with exposure to the different place and culture they grew up in, the hardships unique to those circumstances that they had to overcome - fleeing from war, or an arranged marriage, etc. In the second section we're given the childhood perspective of their daughters: children who do not know or understand this background we've been given, trying to interpret and absorb their mothers' lessons as they are growing up in America. The third section presents the daughters as adults probing in search of new adult relationships with their mothers (including my favourite chapter, "Four Directions"). The concluding section belongs again to the mothers, completing their stories by describing how they came to America. For all that the daughters feel burdened by what their mothers say, they've little idea about the weight of what has not been told.

The result is eight well-rounded characters: four who are wise with age, and four who have struggled under the shadow of that wisdom but are beginning to find their own. Four pairings that complement one another to produce a fulsome picture of Chinese immigration and integration with the West, but also a wonderful portrait of mother-daughter relationships and the handing down of knowledge and culture.… (mere)