11. The Kitchen God's Wife

[osprey_archer]

Amy Tan's The Kitchen God's Wife has all the things I've come to expect from an Amy Tan book - well-formed characters, graceful prose, a solid grasp of history - but it adds, finally, a cracking good plot to tie the whole thing together. Her other books are delightful but light; this is a meaty book.

The bulk of the book takes place in the 1930s and 40s in China, during and after the Japanese invasion, which certainly provides a good framework for the story. The descriptions of China are effortlessly evocative - there's no sense, as there often is in historical fiction, that Tan is attempting to shoehorn in references to all the main events of the time. (It's the historical fiction equivalent of a fantasy writer who wants her heroes to hit all the cool places on her map.)

But the story doesn't use the excitement of its setting as a crutch. The main character, Weiwei, and her relationships with her cruel first husband, her difficult friend Hulan, and (eventually) her second husband are the heart of the narrative and the driving force of the book. The result is occasionally (and quite realistically) depressing, always compelling, and sometimes unexpectedly beautiful.

This story is book-ended by a modern day interlude involving Weiwei's American born daughter, Pearl. In fact, Weiwei's story is presented as a story that she's telling Pearl. I'm of two minds about the framing device; on the one hand the first, modern-day chapters are easily the worst part of the book (really, the only boring part of the book), and it saddens me to think of readers turning away before they get to the good part.

But on the other hand, by the end the framing device has become so exquisitely intertwined with the story proper, and so necessary to the book's emotional resonance, that I really can't wish any changes in it except perhaps harsher editing of the first few chapters.

In short: an excellent book, highly recommended. There is some violence, sexual and otherwise (this is World War II, after all), but it's not graphic.

Comments

[silksieve.livejournal.com]

This book has been on my list for such a long time it's almost inexcusable that I haven't read it yet. I'm glad it was good. The framing device usually annoys me, but doesn't in Tan's writing, just because I kind of expect it now.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It occupied much the same place on my list for a long time too. Funny how books get stuck there and never move. :(

I usually don't like framing devices either - it rarely adds anything to the story, and is usually boring - but this one is pretty short, and does end up being important and useful.