The Joy Luck Club

 The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989) 332 pages

Every good book deserves a rereading, and this is another one I reread recently. Jing-mei "June" Woo's mother died three months ago and the other Chinese-born women with whom her mother played Mah Jong want June to take her mother's place at the table. During the course of the story, we learn about all four of the older women who grew up in China before they immigrated to the US. Some grew up in wealthy families, some were poor. We also learn about their American-born daughters and the interactions between the mothers and daughters. 

June has been unmoored, not knowing what to do with her life at age 36. Clearly this was an issue that caused conflict between her and her mother. Their storyline has an additional twist: during war between China and Japan, her mother tried to get to Chungking to locate her first husband—an army officer—and get to safety. She brought along her twin babies, but had to leave them behind when the going got too difficult. Now June learns from her mother's friends that before her death, her mother was attempting to find out if those babies survived so many years ago.

Maybe it's a fact that mothers and daughters will always have conflicts, even without accounting for the extra stresses these women had. The Chinese mothers resort to what sounds to their daughters like superstition and folklore to explain so much. But in a way, these explanations almost work. A fascinating book.