The Bonesetter's Daughter - by Amy Tan (Paperback)

About the Book

As a child, Ruth was subjected to her mother's notions about curses and ghosts and her repeated threats to kill herself. But now LuLing Young seems happy. Struggling to hold onto the past, LuLing begins to write all that she can remember of her life as a girl in China. When Ruth discovers the papers, she finds each page reveals secrets about a mother's heart that LuLing cannot tell her daughter.

Book Synopsis

"The Bonesetter's Daughter dramatically chronicles the tortured, devoted relationship between LuLing Young and her daughter Ruth. . . . A strong novel, filled with idiosyncratic, sympathetic characters, haunting images, historical complexity, significant contemporary themes, and suspenseful mystery."
-Los Angeles Times

"TAN AT HER BEST . . . Rich and hauntingly forlorn . . . The writing is so exacting and unique in its detail."
-San Francisco Chronicle

"For Tan, the true keeper of memory is language, and so the novel is layered with stories that have been written down-by mothers for their daughters, passing along secrets that cannot be said out loud but must not be forgotten."
-The New York Times Book Review

"AMY TAN [HAS] DONE IT AGAIN. . . . The Bonesetter's Daughter tells a compelling tale of family relationships; it layers and stirs themes of secrets, ambiguous meanings, cultural complexity and self-identity; and it resonates with metaphor and symbol."
-The Denver Post

Review Quotes

"[An] absorbing tale of the mother-daughter bond . . . this book sing[s] with emotion and insight."--People

"Tan at her best . . . rich and hauntingly forlorn . . . The writing is so exacting and unique in its detail."--San Francisco Chronicle

"The Bonesetter's Daughter dramatically chronicles the tortured, devoted relationship between LuLing Young and her daughter Ruth. . . . A strong novel, filled with idiosyncratic, sympathetic characters, haunting images, historical complexity, significant contemporary themes, and suspenseful mystery."--Los Angeles Times

"For Tan, the true keeper of memory is language, and so the novel is layered with stories that have been written down--by mothers for their daughters, passing along secrets that cannot be said out loud but must not be forgotten."--The New York Times Book Review

"Amy Tan [has] done it again. . . . The Bonesetter's Daughter tells a compelling tale of family relationships; it layers and stirs themes of secrets, ambiguous meanings, cultural complexity and self-identity; and it resonates with metaphor and symbol."--The Denver Post

"As compelling as Tan's first bestseller The Joy Luck Club . . . No one writes about mothers and daughters with more empathy than Amy Tan."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Poignant and bittersweet . . . A story of secrets and revelation, estrangement and reconciliation."--Rocky Mountain News

"Compelling . . . Readers who loved Amy Tan's bestselling novels about the complex ties between mothers and daughters, The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God's Wife, will also be captivated by The Bonesetter's Daughter."--The Orlando Sentinel

"A woman's struggle to find her voice has long been a favorite theme of Amy Tan. Nowhere has she explored it with more compassion or charm than in this touching new novel."--The Richmond Times-Dispatch

"An enchanting story of a mother and daughter, the secrets they have kept from one another, and the common ground they finally come to occupy.... A powerful, luminously written saga in which past and present are bound together into the tangled skein of a human life."--The Anniston Star

"A riveting, multi-layered tale . . . Tan's storytelling skills are strong, and her plot line appeals to the rebellious daughter in all of us."--Toronto Globe and Mail

About the Author

Amy Tan is the author of The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, and two children's books, The Moon Lady and The Chinese Siamese Cat, which has been adapted as Sagwa, a PBS series for children. Tan was also the co-producer and co-screenwriter of the film version of The Joy Luck Club, and her essays and stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. Her work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages. Tan, who has a master's degree in linguistics from San Jose University, has worked as a language specialist to programs serving children with developmental disabilities. She lives with her husband in San Francisco and New York.