.Virtual Book Club

The Joy Luck Club

by Amy Tan

From the publisher's website: 

In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan’s debut novel—now widely regarded as a modern classic—examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between these four women and their American-born daughters.

USF Libraries holds physical copies of the audio book, feature film based on the book, and the play based on the book. Visit our stacks, or request the items via Interlibrary Loan!

*** WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! ***

Each week, VBC discusses sections of the book together. Below is a collection of weekly discussion questions posed by VBC leadership and members. Be aware that these likely include spoilers, so please do not scroll further if you have not read the book.

Week 1: Orientation meeting

• Judge a book by its cover! What does this cover make you think/how does it make you feel? Have you seen other covers? If so, how do those speak to you?
• Without sharing spoilers! - Have you seen the movie version? What did you think?
• Is it okay to have secrets in a family? Are some secrets more okay than others?
• What is “the American dream”? What does it mean to you?
• Do you believe in astrology? If so, what type? What impact does this belief have on how you live your life?
• What role do folktales play in society? In your family or culture? Share any favorites.

Week 2: Feathers from a Thousand Li Away

• Would this book be as popular if it was published today? Why or why not?
• Discussion of the impact of reading a book with different cultural/generational lenses.
• What do you think is the significance of the Joy Luck Club meetings to the women who attend them? Why is it important for Jing-mei to join in?
• Why do you think it’s so important to the aunties that Jing-mei go to China to meet her half-sisters? Why do they react so strongly when she asks, “What will I say? What can I tell them about my mother? I don’t know anything. She was my mother.”
• Sacrifice and loss are major themes within the first section. How do you see those manifesting in this section? What impact does this have on the book so far?
• Whose story do you find most interesting so far? Which resonates the most with you? Why?
• Share your favorite quotes so far!

Week 3: The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates

• This section opens with a story that highlights the tensions between the mother/daughter pairs, as the mothers try to impart their knowledge while the daughters seek independence. Did you look up the “26 Malignant Gates” book referred to in the prologue? Can you think of such cautionary tales in another culture’s writings? Did this literary device created by Tan to illustrate the cultural and generational themes within the story spark your interest as a reader? What is a literary device that you often enjoy and usually holds your attention as a reader?

• Waverly’s mother Lindo taught her to develop “invisible strength.” Instead of openly demanding what she wanted, Waverly learned to manipulate a situation to her advantage: “My mother imparted her daily truths so she could help my older brothers and me rise above our circumstances” (89). This directly ties into Lindo’s story of how she escaped her marriage using her wits. Similarly, Waverly finds that strategizing helps her beat her chess opponents because it is a game of secrets in which one must show and never tell. Do you think this is an important lesson for children to learn? Why or why not? Do you consider yourself to have greater “invisible strength” or “obvious strength”? Do you feel people underestimate you or overrate you, and do you wish to change that during your college years?

• Waverly desires to be the queen of her story, not a pawn. Waverly wanted her success to be the result of her own innate talent, not a reflection of her mother Lindo’s parenting. Page 101 states: “Why do you have to use me to show off? If you want to show off, then why don’t you learn to play chess?” What was your reaction to Waverly’s disapproval of her mother proudly paraded her around the neighborhood? Do you think that Lindo punishing Waverly by telling the family to ostracize her was an appropriate response? Why so, or why not?

• Lena grows up afraid of what she can’t see: the demons haunting Ying-ying. Lena constantly expects the worst to happen. Page 106 states: “And after that I began to see terrible things. I saw these things with my Chinese eyes, the part of me I got from my mother. I saw devils dancing feverishly beneath a hole I had dug in the sandbox.” What was your opinion of Lena and Ying-ying’s mother/daughter dynamic? Do you believe that a child carries the negative or positive energy of their parent(s)? Where do you go to feel positive energy

• When Lena’s mother arrived from China, her father filled out her immigration papers with the name “Betty” and changed her year of birth. What does this symbolize and/or tell the reader about Lena’s father? In your opinion, is this a positive or negative decision he makes? Do you believe this was something that “Betty” desired? Why or why not?

• Page 128 states: “And although my father was not a fisherman but a pharmacist’s assistant who had once been a doctor in China, he believed in his nengkan, his ability to do anything he put his mind to. My mother believed she had nengkan to cook anything my father had a mind to catch. It was this belief in their nengkan that had brought my parents to America.” Do you have a belief in nengkan? What have you done that you “have put your mind to”? Do you think that anyone can really do anything they put their mind to? Why do you believe so?

• Page 140 states: “You have to pay attention to what you lost. You have to undo the expectation.” What do you think Rose means by this statement?

• An-Mei urges Rose to fight for her marriage, not to passively accept divorce. Based upon what you read about Ted and Rose’s relationship dynamic, do you agree or disagree with An-Mei and why?

Week 4: American Translation

• Discussion of general thoughts so far.
• Rose seeks the counsel of her friends, but they can’t help her decide what to do about her life with Ted either: “My mother once told me why I was so confused all the time. She said I was without wood”. An-Mei means that Rose is too prone to listening to the opinions of others rather than her own heart. Do you consider yourself with or without wood? Do you wish to change it?
• Suyuan wanted Jing-Mei to be a child protegee. Do you believe Suyuan genuinely wished to encourage her daughter or to control her? Why? How do you personally tell the difference when someone wants to encourage you versus control you?
• Lena grew up fearful, with a mother who seemed supernaturally able to understand what others couldn’t. In the present, Ying-ying sees that Lena is unhappy: “My mother knows, underneath all the fancy details that cost so much, this house is still a barn”. Lena feels irritated that, as usual, her mother only sees bad signs, but in her heart Lena knows that her mother realizes that Lena’s marriage is failing, a truth that Lena has tried to hide from herself. Why do you think Lena doesn’t want to accept her failing marriage? Was there anything that Lena says or does that indicates she doesn’t want to accept her failed marriage?

Week 5: Queen Mother of the Western Skies

• Discussion of general thoughts so far.
• Even under the terrible conditions in Kweilin during the Japanese occupation, Suyuan decided to create happiness for herself and her friends. The Joy Luck Club is the embodiment of her belief that laughter and companionship can overcome sorrowful circumstances. Even her greatest sorrow, the loss of her twin babies, didn’t deter Suyuan from making a happy life in America, and she never gave up looking for them. Do you feel the title of the book reflected the action of the novel? Why or why not? If not, what do you suppose a better title could have been for the novel?
• The alternating first-person point-of-view motif used throughout a novel is a literary device that allows the author to create a richer narrative and sequence revelations. In many instances, the same event is described from both sides of the mother/daughter, demonstrating that their perspectives matter greatly to their description of what transpires. Do you think Tan was successful in using this literary device for The Joy Luck Club? On a scale from 1-10, 10 being masterful, how effective was Tan is using this literary device to engage you as a reader? 
• The grandmother in the opening story relished her carefree baby granddaughter’s life. The woman lamented that the hardships of her life caused her to teach her daughter lessons that were intended to spare her heartache but ultimately left her daughter unhappy. On page 239 she says: “Then you must teach my daughter this lesson. How to lose your innocence but not your hope. How to laugh forever.” How do you interpret this quote? What does it mean to lose your “innocence” and retained your sense of “hope”? Is this possible? How so?
• On page 288 Lindo says about her daughter: “How can she think she can blend in? Only her skin and her hair are Chinese. Inside – she is all American-made. It’s my fault she is this way. I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix?” Is it possible for a culture’s circumstance to mix with another culture’s character? Why or why not?
• Mahjong in the novel signifies strategic thinking and familial heritage. Considering the mothers' skillful navigation of life's challenges to secure a better future for their children, should the daughters be expected to carry forward these traditions and strategies, or is it acceptable for them to chart their own paths, perhaps diverging from their cultural roots? On page 289 Waverly proudly proclaims: “I’m my own person.” This is a very “American” way of thinking, which Lindo cannot fathom. To her, all people should remain eternally connected to those that came before them and those who come after. Do you agree with Waverly? Is discovering one's heritage essential for personal growth, or can it become a burden that overshadows individual aspirations? Are you connected to your personal culture and its history and traditions? Or, are you more non-conforming to the ideals of your heritage? What part of your heritage do you wish to connect more to, if any?