Amy Tan's 1989 novel spans two generations of Chinese American mothers and daughters. In this series, a Chinese American mom and daughter trio discusses the novel's successes, failings and Asian American historical Legacy.
Bad Pinyin Mothers of the Western Skies
On this final episode of The Joy Luck Book Club, we discuss Amy Chua (booooooo), multifaceted immigration stories, and the pacing issues in the last section of the novel.
A special thanks to our listeners for reading and following along with us!
6/27/2022 • 24 minutes, 29 seconds
American Divorces
This week, Rui, Ruibai and Amy look at the failing marriages of the daughters, why you can't eat crab that's been dead for too long, and Amy requested that we use the world's tiniest violin for outro music. Also, Amy Tan's views on autobiographical readings of her novel.
5/31/2022 • 24 minutes, 40 seconds
Navigating the Malignant Gates
This episode of The Joy Luck Book Club, Rui, Ruibai and Amy discuss the second section of the Joy Luck Club, Chinese Churches and Amy Tan's rather confusing reusage of plot points.
5/23/2022 • 24 minutes, 40 seconds
Sorrow, Feathers and Coca-Cola
Rui, Ruibai and Amy start off their readthrough of the Joy Luck Club by discussing Chinese history, Amy Tan's underedited Pinyin, and the stereotype of the evil mother-in-law.
The Joy Luck Book Club is a month (or so) length readthrough of Amy Tan's classic novel, discussed by (who else?) A Chinese mom and her daughters. We go through what she got right, what we have questions about, and the opportunities and limits of literary representation.
Our references this episode:
Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir
The Writings of Yilin Wang