The Joy Luck Club by: Amy Tan

I do remember this book, and after I read the book I watched the movie. Also, I learned that my grandmother who had passed read this book and I found that interesting. Reading was a way to connect us and for me to relate to her even though she is no longer here. It especially seemed appropriate for this book which regards family and generations.

I liked this book - my only complaint is I wanted more. We were given many different stories all connected together and I just wish I knew the endings of the stories; however, I do feel that fragmented feeling was supposed to be there.

Page 15: "She will know my meaning, because I will give her this swan- a creature that becomes more than what was hoped for."

Page 15: "And then she had to fill out so many forms she forgot why she had come and what she had left behind."

Page 22: "We all had the same stink, but everybody complained someone else smelled the worst."

Page 22: "Can you imagine how it is, to want to be neither inside nor outside, to want to be nowhere and disappear?"

Page 24: "But to despair was to wish back fro something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable."

Page 72: "A boy can run and chase dragonflies, because that is his nature," she said. "But a girl should stand still. If you are still for a very long time, a dragonfly will no longer see you. Then it will come to you and hide in the comfort of your shade."

Page 165: "Fallen down," she says simply. She doesn't apologize. "It doesn't matter, " I say, and I start to pick up the broken glass shards. "I knew it would happen." "Then why you don't stop it?" asks my mother. And it's such a simple question.

Page 191: "It was only later that I discovered there was a serious flaw with the American version. There were too many choices, so it was day to get confused and pick the wrong thing."

Page 217: "'Now you see,' said the turtle, drifting back into the pond, 'why it is useless to cry. Your tears do not wash away your sorrows. They feed someone else's joy."

This is a good book to read to get a point of view of what it is like from the other side - a younger generation looking at an older generations' perspective and vice versa.