In

the novel, The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, it tells of four Chinese women drawn

together in San Francisco to play mah jong, and tell stories of the past.

These four women and their families all lived in Chinatown and belong to the

First Chinese Baptist Church.   They were not necessarily religious, but found

they

could improve their home China.   This is how the woo's, the Hsu's, the Jong's

and the St Clair's met in 1949.

The first member of the Joy Luck Club to

die was Suyuan Woo.   Her daughter, Jing-mei "June" Woo, is asked to sit in

and take her mother's place at playing mah jong.   Memories of the past are

shared by the three women left, An-mei Hsu, Lindo Jong and Ying-ying St Clair.

June Woo learns of the real secret her mother carried to her grave from her

mother's friends.   The twin baby girls, her half sisters, Suyuan pushed in

a Wheelbarrow as she escaped from the Japanese.   Due to sickness, Suyuan can

no longer carry her babies, and is forced to leave them on the side of the

road.   She lives her whole life not knowing if they are alive or dead.

In

the book, the Woo's left for America to build a better life for themselves.

Suyuan Woo wanted to have a daughter like herself, and no one would look down

on her.   It was important that she speak perfect English and hopefully not

share in the same tragedies and sorrows she had known.

The movie brought

this concept out very vividly.   You were able to imagine the time and place

and the emotions of the characters.   Their anger in the early years, how women

and children were treated as possessions.

The book spoke of Rose Hsu Jordan,

daughter of An-mei Hsu, who had seven brothers and sisters.   A very tragic

time in her life when her brother Bing drowns at age 1 while she was in charge

of watching him.

The movie does not touch upon this tragic event and brings

out the rich family Rose marries into, and the instant rejection from her boyfriends

mother.   Rose unhappiness in her... [continues]

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