The Woman Who Ate Chinatown

Download The Woman Who Ate Chinatown full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online The Woman Who Ate Chinatown ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

The Woman Who Ate Chinatown

Author : Shirley Fong-Torres
Publisher : iUniverse
ISBN 13 : 0595891918
Total Pages : 206 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (958 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Woman Who Ate Chinatown by : Shirley Fong-Torres

Download or read book The Woman Who Ate Chinatown written by Shirley Fong-Torres and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2008-05-06 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For nearly three decades Shirley Fong-Torres and her Wok Wiz Chinatown Tour staff guided 20,000 visitors a year through San Francisco's Chinatown. This book shows why so many keep coming back for more. It's Chinese-American history with a bottomless appetite for quirky anecdotes, respected traditions and exquisite dumplings. " I love Shirley Fong-Torres. Her effervescence and passion make her irresistible. If she writes a book I'll buy it, if she hosts a tour, I'll take it, if she recommends a restaurant I'll eat there." -Gene Burns, KGO, San Francisco " Shirley Fong-Torres knows San Francisco's Chinatown better than anyone She's downloaded a chunk of what she knows in this book, filled with great information and a touching account of her family history." -Michael Bauer, San Francisco Chronicle " I thought I knew San Francisco Chinatown, that is, until I met Shirley." -Martin Yan, YAN CAN COOK " Shirley Fong-Torres has a contagious love of life, people, place and food I am rapt by her stories, energized by her passion and touched by her spirit." -Joey Altman, BAY CAF " This is Shirley Fong-Torres, a very bossy woman. But if you want to do business in San Francisco Chinatown you have to deal with her. She knows everybody and everything." -Comedian Martin Clune

The Woman Who Ate Chinatown

Author : Shirley Fong-Torres
Publisher : iUniverse
ISBN 13 : 0595448674
Total Pages : 206 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (954 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Woman Who Ate Chinatown by : Shirley Fong-Torres

Download or read book The Woman Who Ate Chinatown written by Shirley Fong-Torres and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2008 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For two decades Shirley Fong-Torres has guided 20,000 visitors a year through San Francisco¿s Chinatown. This book shows why so many keep coming back for more. It¿s Chinese-American history with a bottomless appetite for quirky anecdotes, respected traditions and exquisite dumplings. "I love Shirley Fong-Torres. Her effervescence and passion make her irresistible. If she writes a book I¿ll buy it, if she hosts a tour, I¿ll take it, if she recommends a restaurant I¿ll eat there." ¿Gene Burns, KGO, San Francisco "Shirley Fong-Torres knows San Francisco¿s Chinatown better than anyone¿She¿s downloaded a chunk of what she knows in this book, filled with great information and a touching account of her family history." ¿Michael Bauer, San Francisco Chronicle "I thought I knew San Francisco Chinatown, that is, until I met Shirley." ¿Martin Yan, YAN CAN COOK "Shirley Fong-Torres has a contagious love of life, people, place and food¿I am rapt by her stories, energized by her passion and touched by her spirit." ¿Joey Altman, BAY CAF "This is Shirley Fong-Torres, a very bossy woman. But if you want to do business in San Francisco Chinatown you have to deal with her. She knows everybody and everything." ¿Comedian Martin Clune

Interior Chinatown

Author : Charles Yu
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307948471
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (79 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Interior Chinatown by : Charles Yu

Download or read book Interior Chinatown written by Charles Yu and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2020-11-17 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • From the infinitely inventive author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe comes "one of the funniest books of the year.... A delicious, ambitious Hollywood satire" (The Washington Post). A deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play. Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life: he’s merely Generic Asian Man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but always he is relegated to a prop. Yet every day, he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He’s a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy—the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. Or is it? After stumbling into the spotlight, Willis finds himself launched into a wider world than he’s ever known, discovering not only the secret history of Chinatown, but the buried legacy of his own family. Infinitely inventive and deeply personal, exploring the themes of pop culture, assimilation, and immigration—Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu’s most moving, daring, and masterful novel yet.

Chinatown Pretty

Author : Valerie Luu
Publisher : Chronicle Books
ISBN 13 : 1452175837
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (521 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Chinatown Pretty by : Valerie Luu

Download or read book Chinatown Pretty written by Valerie Luu and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2020-09-22 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chinatown Pretty features beautiful portraits and heartwarming stories of trend-setting seniors across six Chinatowns. Andria Lo and Valerie Luu have been interviewing and photographing Chinatown's most fashionable elders on their blog and Instagram, Chinatown Pretty, since 2014. Chinatown Pretty is a signature style worn by pòh pohs (grandmas) and gùng gungs (grandpas) everywhere—but it's also a life philosophy, mixing resourcefulness, creativity, and a knack for finding joy even in difficult circumstances. • Photos span Chinatowns in San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, and Vancouver. • The style is a mix of modern and vintage, high and low, handmade and store bought clothing. • This is a celebration of Chinese American culture, active old-age, and creative style. Chinatown Pretty shares nuggets of philosophical wisdom and personal stories about immigration and Chinese-American culture. This book is great for anyone looking for advice on how to live to a ripe old age with grace and good humor—and, of course, on how to stay stylish. • This book will resonate with photography buffs, fashionistas, and Asian Americans of all ages. • Chinatown Pretty has been featured by Vogue.com, San Francisco Chronicle, Design Sponge, Rookie, Refinery29, and others. • With a textured cover and glossy bellyband, this beautiful volume makes a deluxe gift. • Add it to the shelf with books like Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton, Advanced Style by Ari Seth Cohen, and Fruits by Shoichi Aoki.

Mambo in Chinatown

Author : Jean Kwok
Publisher : National Geographic Books
ISBN 13 : 1594633800
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (946 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Mambo in Chinatown by : Jean Kwok

Download or read book Mambo in Chinatown written by Jean Kwok and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2015-07-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee and Girl in Translation, an inspiring novel about a young woman torn between her family duties in Chinatown and her escape into a more Western world. Twenty-two-year-old Charlie Wong grew up in New York’s Chinatown, the older daughter of a Beijing ballerina and a noodle maker. Though an ABC (American-born Chinese), Charlie’s entire life has been limited to this small area. Now grown, she lives in the same tiny apartment with her widower father and her eleven-year-old sister, and works—miserably—as a dishwasher. But when she lands a job as a receptionist at a ballroom dance studio, Charlie gains access to a world she hardly knew existed, and everything she once took to be certain turns upside down. Gradually, at the dance studio, awkward Charlie’s natural talents begin to emerge. With them, her perspective, expectations, and sense of self are transformed—something she must take great pains to hide from her father and his suspicion of all things Western. As Charlie blossoms, though, her sister becomes chronically ill. As Pa insists on treating his ailing child exclusively with Eastern practices to no avail, Charlie is forced to try to reconcile her two selves and her two worlds—Eastern and Western, old world and new—to rescue her little sister without sacrificing her newfound confidence and identity.

The Case of the Goblin Pearls

Author : Laurence Yep
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0064405524
Total Pages : 196 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (644 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Case of the Goblin Pearls by : Laurence Yep

Download or read book The Case of the Goblin Pearls written by Laurence Yep and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 1998-01-23 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What would you do if your famous movie-star aunt asked you to be a jar of ointment in Chinatown's New Year's parade? And what if disaster struck in the middle of the parade and someone stole the priceless Goblin Pearls right in front of you? Worse still, what if your great-aunt still thought she was the famous action heroine Tiger Lil and decided to catch the thieves? What else could you do but become her sidekick? Lily is excited when Auntie Tiger Lil comes to San Francisco to arrange the Lion Salve float and marching unit for the New Year's parade. Most famous for the Tiger Lil series of action movies, she's now dabbling in publicity, and the Lion Salve account could finance her movie comeback. The float is sure to be the centerpiece of the parade, especially since Miss Lion Salve will be wearing the ancient Goblin Pearls that day. The Goblin Pearls have always been trouble, and the day of the parade is no exception. When they're stolen in broad daylight, Tiger Lil isn't about to let some punks ruin her plans -- if the cops can't catch the thieves, she will. But everything is not what it seems, and Tiger Lil and Lily soon find themselves in the middle of a plot worthy of one of Auntie's movies. Will this be the end of Tiger Lil and her trusty sidekick, or will they live to sleuth another day?

Chinatown Beat

Author : Henry Chang
Publisher : Soho Press
ISBN 13 : 1569476845
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (694 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Chinatown Beat by : Henry Chang

Download or read book Chinatown Beat written by Henry Chang and published by Soho Press. This book was released on 2007-11-01 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Detective Jack Yu is assigned to the Chinatown precinct as the only officer of Chinese descent. He investigates a series of attacks on children and a missing mistress, shifting between the world of street thugs and gangs and the Chinatown of the rich and powerful. When Detective Jack Yu is transferred to New York’s Chinatown, he isn’t ready to face the changes in his old neighborhood. His childhood friends are now hardened gangsters, his father is dying, and he is constantly reminded of this teenage blood brother, murdered in front of him years before. Then community leader and tong boss Uncle Four is gunned down and his mistress goes missing. But unlike the rest of the culturally clueless police department, Jack knows his district’s gritty secrets. He will have to draw on his knowledge in order to catch this killer in a crime-ridden precinct where brotherhoods are just as likely to distribute charity as mete out vigilante justice.

The Snakehead

Author : Patrick Radden Keefe
Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 0385530218
Total Pages : 434 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (855 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Snakehead by : Patrick Radden Keefe

Download or read book The Snakehead written by Patrick Radden Keefe and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2009-07-21 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this thrilling panorama of real-life events, the bestselling author of Empire of Pain investigates a secret world run by a surprising criminal: a charismatic middle-aged grandmother, who from a tiny noodle shop in New York’s Chinatown managed a multi-million dollar business smuggling people. “Reads like a mashup of The Godfather and Chinatown, complete with gun battles, a ruthless kingpin and a mountain of cash. Except that it’s all true.” —Time Keefe reveals the inner workings of Sister Ping’s complex empire and recounts the decade-long FBI investigation that eventually brought her down. He follows an often incompetent and sometimes corrupt INS as it pursues desperate immigrants risking everything to come to America, and along the way, he paints a stunning portrait of a generation of illegal immigrants and the intricate underground economy that sustains and exploits them. Grand in scope yet propulsive in narrative force, The Snakehead is both a kaleidoscopic crime story and a brilliant exploration of the ironies of immigration in America.

Tong Wars

Author : Scott D. Seligman
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 039956229X
Total Pages : 370 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (995 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Tong Wars by : Scott D. Seligman

Download or read book Tong Wars written by Scott D. Seligman and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-07-12 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A mesmerizing true story of money, murder, gambling, prostitution, and opium in a "wild ramble around Chinatown in its darkest days." (The New Yorker) Nothing had worked. Not threats or negotiations, not shutting down the betting parlors or opium dens, not house-to-house searches or throwing Chinese offenders into prison. Not even executing them. The New York DA was running out of ideas and more people were dying every day as the weapons of choice evolved from hatchets and meat cleavers to pistols, automatic weapons, and even bombs. Welcome to New York City’s Chinatown in 1925. The Chinese in turn-of-the-last-century New York were mostly immigrant peasants and shopkeepers who worked as laundrymen, cigar makers, and domestics. They gravitated to lower Manhattan and lived as Chinese an existence as possible, their few diversions—gambling, opium, and prostitution—available but, sadly, illegal. It didn’t take long before one resourceful merchant saw a golden opportunity to feather his nest by positioning himself squarely between the vice dens and the police charged with shutting them down. Tong Wars is historical true crime set against the perfect landscape: Tammany-era New York City. Representatives of rival tongs (secret societies) corner the various markets of sin using admirably creative strategies. The city government was already corrupt from top to bottom, so once one tong began taxing the gambling dens and paying off the authorities, a rival, jealously eyeing its lucrative franchise, co-opted a local reformist group to help eliminate it. Pretty soon Chinese were slaughtering one another in the streets, inaugurating a succession of wars that raged for the next thirty years. Scott D. Seligman’s account roars through three decades of turmoil, with characters ranging from gangsters and drug lords to reformers and do-gooders to judges, prosecutors, cops, and pols of every stripe and color. A true story set in Prohibition-era Manhattan a generation after Gangs of New York, but fought on the very same turf.

Shanghai Girls

Author : Lisa See
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 1408811804
Total Pages : 279 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (88 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Shanghai Girls by : Lisa See

Download or read book Shanghai Girls written by Lisa See and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-03-29 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shanghai, 1937. Pearl and May are two sisters from a bourgeois family. Though their personalities are very different - Pearl is a Dragon sign, strong and stubborn, while May is a true Sheep, adorable and placid - they are inseparable best friends. Both are beautiful, modern and living a carefree life ... until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away the family's wealth, and that in order to repay his debts he must sell the girls as wives to two 'Gold Mountain' men: Americans. As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, the two sisters set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them through the villages of southern China, in and out of the clutches of brutal soldiers, and even across the ocean, through the humiliation of an anti-Chinese detention centre to a new, married life in Los Angeles's Chinatown. Here they begin a fresh chapter, despite the racial discrimination and anti-Communist paranoia, because now they have something to strive for: a young, American-born daughter, Joy. Along the way there are terrible sacrifices, impossible choices and one devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel by Lisa See hold fast to who they are - Shanghai girls.

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

Author : Jennifer B. Lee
Publisher : Twelve
ISBN 13 : 0446511706
Total Pages : 236 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (465 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by : Jennifer B. Lee

Download or read book The Fortune Cookie Chronicles written by Jennifer B. Lee and published by Twelve. This book was released on 2008-03-03 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you think McDonald's is the most ubiquitous restaurant experience in America, consider that there are more Chinese restaurants in America than McDonalds, Burger Kings, and Wendys combined. New York Times reporter and Chinese-American (or American-born Chinese). In her search, Jennifer 8 Lee traces the history of Chinese-American experience through the lens of the food. In a compelling blend of sociology and history, Jenny Lee exposes the indentured servitude Chinese restaurants expect from illegal immigrant chefs, investigates the relationship between Jews and Chinese food, and weaves a personal narrative about her own relationship with Chinese food. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles speaks to the immigrant experience as a whole, and the way it has shaped our country.

The White Devil's Daughters

Author : Julia Flynn Siler
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 1101875275
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (18 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The White Devil's Daughters by : Julia Flynn Siler

Download or read book The White Devil's Daughters written by Julia Flynn Siler and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2019-05-14 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the first hundred years of Chinese immigration--from 1848 to 1943--San Francisco was home to a shockingly extensive underground slave trade in Asian women, who were exploited as prostitutes and indentured servants. In this gripping, necessary book, bestselling author Julia Flynn Siler shines a light on this little-known chapter in our history--and gives us a vivid portrait of the safe house to which enslaved women escaped. The Occidental Mission Home, situated on the edge of Chinatown, served as a gateway to freedom for thousands. Run by a courageous group of female Christian abolitionists, it survived earthquakes, fire, bubonic plague, and violent attacks. We meet Dolly Cameron, who ran the home from 1899 to 1934, and Tien Fuh Wu, who arrived at the house as a young child after her abuse as a household slave drew the attention of authorities. Wu would grow up to become Cameron's translator, deputy director, and steadfast friend. Siler shows how Dolly and her colleagues defied convention and even law--physically rescuing young girls from brothels, snatching them from their smugglers--and how they helped bring the exploiters to justice. Riveting and revelatory, The White Devil's Daughters is a timely, extraordinary account of oppression, resistance, and hope.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

Author : Lisa See
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 150116631X
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (11 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by : Lisa See

Download or read book The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane written by Lisa See and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-03-21 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been adopted by an American couple. Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate—the first automobile any of them have seen—and a stranger arrives. In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest seller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See introduced the Yao people to her readers. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change. Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city. After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security and insularity of her village to encounter modern life while Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite Haley’s happy home life, she wonders about her origins; and Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for generations. A powerful story about a family, separated by circumstances, culture, and distance, Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond that connects mothers and daughters.

Eating Wildly

Author : Ava Chin
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451656203
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (516 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Eating Wildly by : Ava Chin

Download or read book Eating Wildly written by Ava Chin and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chin, who writes the "Wild Edibles" column for the New York Times, goes looking for love, blackberries, and wild garlic in this wildly uneven, yet warmly exhilarating memoir. Trekking through Central Park and other urban beaten paths and backyards, Chin leads us on a journey of discovery as she searches for the tender shoots poking through cement cracks and hardy wild plants resisting winter's bite.--

A Feather on the Breath of God

Author : Sigrid Nunez
Publisher : Picador
ISBN 13 : 1429944943
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis A Feather on the Breath of God by : Sigrid Nunez

Download or read book A Feather on the Breath of God written by Sigrid Nunez and published by Picador. This book was released on 2005-12-27 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Sigrid Nunez, the National Book Award-winning author of The Friend, comes A Feather on the Breath of God: a mesmerizing story about the tangled nature of relationships between parents and children, between language and love A young woman looks back to the world of her immigrant parents: a Chinese-Panamanian father and a German mother. Growing up in a housing project in the 1950s and 1960s, she escapes into dreams inspired both by her parents' stories and by her own reading and, for a time, into the otherworldly life of ballet. A yearning, homesick mother, a silent and withdrawn father, the ballet--these are the elements that shape the young woman's imagination and her sexuality.

China Dolls

Author : Lisa See
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 1408853264
Total Pages : 473 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (88 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis China Dolls by : Lisa See

Download or read book China Dolls written by Lisa See and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2014-06-03 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's 1938 and the exclusive Oriental nightclub in San Francisco's Forbidden City is holding auditions for showgirls. In the dark, scandalous glamour of the club, three girls from very different backgrounds stumble into each other lives. All the girls have secrets. Grace, an American-born Chinese girl, has fled the Midwest and an abusive father. Helen is from a Chinese family which has deep roots in San Francisco's Chinatown. And, as both her friends know, Ruby is Japanese passing as Chinese. Then, in a heartbeat, everything changes. The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and paranoia, suspicion, and a shocking act of betrayal, threaten to destroy their lives.

The Joy Luck Club

Author : Amy Tan
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101502738
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (15 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Joy Luck Club by : Amy Tan

Download or read book The Joy Luck Club written by Amy Tan and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-09-21 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The Joy Luck Club is one of my favorite books. From the moment I first started reading it, I knew it was going to be incredible. For me, it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime reading experiences that you cherish forever. It inspired me as a writer and still remains hugely inspirational.” —Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians Amy Tan’s beloved, New York Times bestselling tale of mothers and daughters, now the focus of a new documentary Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir on Netflix Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's "saying" the stories. 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. Rather than sink into tragedy, they choose to gather to raise their spirits and money. "To despair was to wish back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable." Forty years later the stories and history continue. With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of their matriarchal ties. Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery.