La valle delle meraviglie

I am always astounded by reviewers who compare, always unfavorably, the book they have to some book that they feel should have been written. Many of the reader reviews I read here fall into that category. Taken on its own, The Valley of Amazement is a marvelous, nutritious and fulfilling novel, a ri Leggi tutto

I actually really liked the book and I want to echo another reader's sentiment that this would make for a really good show or mini series. I can see why others might not have enjoyed it. The book is quite long and at times detailed in a way that might be tedious, though personally I found that aspec Leggi tutto

There is so much to like about this novel but ultimately it is let down by too many unlikely character motivations. The characters that Amy Tan draws for us - strong, savvy and resilient women - would simply NOT turn into nitwits overnight and make the poor decisions she depicts. If a child of yours Leggi tutto

Don’t call them prostitutes. That’s the first rule of the Shanghai courtesans in Amy Tan’s exhausting new novel, “The Valley of Amazement.” Just because these women provide sex in exchange for money, they’re not prostitutes, so don’t even think that. Deception and misperception are the stock in trade Leggi tutto

I read Tan's The Hundred Secret Senses years ago and loved it; I quite enjoyed The Bonesetter's Daughter as well. I'm one of the few people on the planet who didn't much like The Joy Luck Club, but it was Tan's first novel and my reaction had more to do with the way she chose to tell the story than

Amy Tan’s derivative new novel covers the familiar themes she has recycled from her previous novels about mother-daughter relationships. Spanning 50 years in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the saga takes place largely in the courtesan houses of Shanghai, when vast changes were occurring dur Leggi tutto