BOOK REVIEW: The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
When I was in high school, my school library was fortified
with books that suited my mature reading abilities. I loved books on culture,
tradition and taboos of people of various races. But one author made me hooked
on Chinese tradition: the food, the filial piety and many other reflections of
Chinese culture that gave me a vivid view of Oriental people. That author is
none other than Amy Tan, who is also the author of The Joy Luck Club and The
Kitchen God’s Wife, both of which I repeatedly read for the beauty of
Orientalism mixed with Westernism.
The Valley of Amazement is an evocative epic of two women’s
intertwined fates and their search for identity – from the lavish parlors of
Shanghai courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a remote Chinese village.
In Shanghai in the year 1912, Violet Minturn is the daughter
of the American madam of the city’s most exclusive courtesan house. But when
the Ching dynasty is overturned, Violet is separated from her mother and forced
to become a “virgin courtesan”.
Spanning more than 40 years and 2 continents, Amy Tan’s
newest novel maps the lives of 3 generations of women connected by blood and history
– and the mystery of an evocative painting known as “The Valley of Amazement”.
Moving from the collapse of China’s last imperial dynasty,
to the rise of the Republic, the growth of lucrative foreign trade and
anti-foreign sentiment, and the inner workings of courtesan houses, this book
interweaves the story of Violet, a celebrated Shanghai courtesan on a quest for
both love and identity, and her mother, Lucia, an American woman whose search
for penance leads them to an unexpected reunion.
The Valley of Amazement is a deeply moving narrative of
family secrets, legacies, and the profound connections between mothers and
daughters, reminiscent of the compelling territory the author so expertly
mapped in The Joy Luck Club.
With her characteristic wisdom, grace, and humour, Tan
conjures up a story of inherited trauma, desire, deception, and the power and stubbornness
of love.
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