The Kitchen God's Wife - Amy Tan > Reviews

Advantages: Very funny, unexpected depth, excellent characters.
Disadvantages: Frustrating and emotionally hard to read at times.

The Kitchen God's wife is, essentially, a story about family secrets and how they're often better out in the open - even if you think otherwise. Pearl's secret is that she is suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. She hasn't told her mother, Winnie, because she knows Winnie will try to place blame on everything and anything, making Pearl feel worse. Pearl claims to be saving her mother (and herself) the worry by saying nothing. Winnie has her own secrets ... Read review

Advantages: A cultural and historical revelation; Fabulous insight into relationships between women and mothers and daughters
Disadvantages: The novel ends too soon!

...renowned than they are. Alas, from the pen of Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club) I’ve just finished reading The Kitchen God’s Wife. Let me explain this rather obscure title. In China there are many gods representing many different things: Money gods, Love gods to name a couple. The Kitchen God, according to one of our narrators of the novel, originates from a story from China about a farmer named Zhang. Zhang was married to a hardworking ... Read review

Advantages: Uncovering secrets in Chinese American family
Disadvantages: Basic knowledge of C20th China useful

...had a best seller with The Joy Luck Club when this was published in the UK in 1991, but I came to her as an unknown author. I discovered a lot about Chinese culture and customs, and was gripped by the story of a woman who migrated to America to escape a violent marriage. The book opens as Pearl takes her young family to visit her mother in the family home in San Jose, California, for the Buddhist funeral of Great Auntie Du. Then the story moves ... Read review

Advantages: Great historical fact
Disadvantages: Slow to start and quick ending

...mother-daughter relationship - you know the one where sometimes you love your mother to death but at other times you just wonder what she's about? The story introduces Pearl and her mother but then goes on to give the early life of Winnie. The story is a fantastic history lesson, telling the story of war-torn China in World War II. The story is initially slow, and you DO wonder where it is going, but it pulls you in slowly and your interest ... Read review