Tuesday 24 May 2016

88. The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan


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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