The Bonesetter's Daughter

THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER

by Amy Tan

 

Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2003, Women's Prize Longlist 2001

 

Date Read: June 4, 2004

 

I’m not gonna lie – I love Amy Tan dearly. I find her novels a beautiful and often difficult view into the Chinese culture. The Bonesetter’s Daughter is no different.

 

Ruth Young and her widowed mother, LuLing, have always had a tumultuous relationship. Now, before she succumbs to forgetfulness, LuLing gives Ruth some of her writings, which reveal a side of LuLing that Ruth has never known. 

 

In a remote mountain village where ghosts and tradition rule, LuLing grows up in the care of her mute Precious Auntie as the family endures a curse laid upon a relative known as the bonesetter. When headstrong LuLing rejects the marriage proposal of the coffin-maker, a shocking series of events are set in motion – all of which lead back to Ruth and LuLing in modern San Francisco. The truth that Ruth learns from her mother’s past will forever change her perception of family, love, and forgiveness.

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