Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club isn't really a novel. It's more of a collection of short stories that tie into each other a little. This is a minor nitpick.

Amy Tan writes such wonderfully rich characters, it is easy to attach yourself to one or more of them. There is an emotion there that engages you to her characters; mostly it's pathos, sympathy or empathy. In large part, there's sadness and tragedy, but as she can only do, Tan injects a sliver of happiness, or of hope into the story, that makes you realize that all the difficulties are really steps in a journey to understanding, learning and acceptance.

Part of what makes Tan's work so brilliant is that her stories are about the love of your family; in particular, mothers and daughters. They are stories that every woman and girl will be touched and affected by.

While The Joy Luck Club is Tan's first and most famous book, having been made into a movie, I don't think it was her best. But it is the only book that ever made me cry twice during the course of the story. Even the fact that I was in a public place at the time couldn't stop the tears welling up.

Worthwhile.