Generations and Misconceptions

Title: The Bonesetter’s Daughter
Author: Amy Tan
Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication Date: 2001
Rating: B+

Amy Tan’s novel The Bonesetter’s Daughter explores the frustrations of a generation now dealing with ailing parents. But intermingled with this story is the history that is passed down from generation to generation, specifically between LuLing Lui and her daughter Ruth. Ruth finds their roles have reversed due to LuLing’s bouts of dementia, and she really knows very little about her mother’s past.

Tan brilliantly displays LuLing’s childhood through documents she’s written for her daughter. The reader gains a glimpse of the hardships LuLing and her biological mother had to endure in China. Many puzzle pieces fall into place for Ruth when she finally sheds light on her mother’s past.

But it is Ruth’s character that makes this novel fall short of a masterpiece. Her overly compensating nature is most times annoying. Sandwiched between the stories of LuLing’s past is Ruth’s relationship struggles with her mother and her boyfriend Art. These moments pale in comparison to Tan’s prose describing China in the early part of the 20th century, the philosophies and superstitions of the characters and their actions in response to these superstitions.