The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is the February Left Coast Culinary Book Club selection. This was Tan’s first published work and it has been around 30 years. There was also a popular-ish movie based on the book in 1993. I remember the title distinctly but I never saw it.

The book is termed fiction, but Tan said that it was loosely based on her life’s experience. It is structed in four parts with four chapters. There are 8 characters four women and four daughters. The story bounces around with the first section being the stories of the young moms and the next section of the young daughters. Then it is old women and grown up daughters.

I don’t know if I mentioned this or not but I am now the head of the book club. I have decided to nudge the club in a slightly new direction. I am breaking the direct coupling between the the books and the food. Half the members don’t read the book anyway and part of them don’t make recipes or food from the book either. I really wanted to have some kind of Chinese New Year dinner. I may have been able to find some kind of cookbook or something but I wanted to loosen the book affiliation more.

It is often hard to find a relevant book to fit the theme of dinner or vice versa for that matter. The group voted on the book but I suggested it. I did some internet searches for novels with Chinese food. I am sad to say that there was not that much in the way of food but that is OK. I really don’t want to read technical manuals all the time either.

I cant say too much about the story because it really wasn’t cohesive. It was basically 16 anecdotes. They were really only related because all the mothers were part of the social group Joy Luck Club or it was the mother daughter story. I have to say that I really didn’t find this story that enjoyable.

I found Joy Luck Club to be manic and disjointed. It reminded me of the TV show Gilmore Girls with emotional bickering and little resolution with each sub story other than they loved each other. The book ended with a stronger want to know this Chinese component of the inner soul but the entire story did little to help it get there.

My wife has not read the book yet. I have a feeling that she will like the book because I think women would probably identify with the struggles and dynamics. Additionally, I suspect that people of Chinese descent might like because there just aren’t that many written, familiar stories. Of course, these are just speculations on my part.

My opinion is to pass on this one. I get it that it is literature and that I do not appreciate the subtlety and nuance being a white male. For that reason, I guess I would simply say that I don’t identify with the characters or the story. It doesn’t mean that the story is worthless, just does not resonate with me.

End Your Programming Routine: I read almost anything that comes across my path. It is interesting that since I have been reviewing books, I have definitely become more discriminating in my opinions. It is the activity of thinking about what I like and didn’t that has developed that skill. I noticed that acutely with my dystopian reviews lately. So, the lesson is that you have to focus on objective qualities to refine your opinions. Even with that, just because I didn’t like something doesn’t make me right, just my thoughts.