Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Kitchen God's Wife
Amy Tan
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Kitchen God's Wife
Amy Tan
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Kitchen God’s Wife, by Amy Tan is the story of a large Chinese family and the culture that makes them who they are. Pearl is invited to her cousin Bao Bao’s engagement party for his fourth fiancé, she has to go because Aunt Helen has already counted her for the tables to come out right. Pearl’s husband, Phil, is upset that he has to drive to San Francisco from San Jose on a week-end with heavy traffic. He married into what he thinks is a crazy Chinese family.
Pearl has MS and tires easily. She has not told her mother. It is one of many secrets the reader will learn. It is also the day of Great auntie Du’s funeral. Pearl goes to the flower shop belonging to her mother and aunt, the Ding Ho Flower shop. Her mother believes logic is an excuse for accidents, tragedies, and mistakes. She has created beautiful bouquets for the party and the funeral.
The engagement party is worse than Pearl expected when her mother and aunt Helen argue over everything. Her mother tells Pearl’s daughters the story of the Kitchen God’s wife, who reports on everyone’s behavior, and decides who deserves good or bad fate. Grandma gives the girls an altar and they take it home as a toy. Pearl feels the increasing distance between her mother and herself.
Author Tan tells the reader that when Pearl and her brother Samuel were little ones, their mother, Winnie, thought she should have married Lin. She doesn’t tell Helen of her mistake. It’s like choosing a fish from a tank. You don’t know until you have tasted it. One of many Chinese proverbs.
When Winnie came to the United States, she felt she could put all her secrets away and start a new life. She sponsored Helen as her sister-in-law, married to her half brother, Kun, who said to have had died as a young man, but that is not true. Winnie decides to tell her daughter Pearl everything, to have no secrets. Her first husband was Wen Fu, Pearl’s father. When Winnie was six years old, her mother left their family. Winnie remembers her in ten thousand ways. She is still waiting for her to return. Winnie’s mother took her to many interesting places in a pedi-cab. Winnie remembers the sounds, the smells, the glove shop. Relatives told Winnie her mother had caused a scandal. Winnie never knew the truth. She cannot forget her mother.
Winnie tells Pearl how she and her friend, Peanut, went to the marketplace on the New Year and met Wen Fu. He was attracted to Peanut and bought her things she desired. Winnie carried their notes back and forth to each other. Wen Fu decided he loved Pearl instead and proposed to her. He was charming and she wed him. She was happy, though not in love with him. She saw marriage as a new chance at happiness. She and her aunts go to see her father, whom she had not seen for twelve years. His house was big and grand, with stained glass windows. Her aunts tell Winnie’s father about Wen Fu’s business, exaggerating. Father thinks Wen Fu will be a good match for his daughter. The next day, his senior wife takes Willie shopping for her dowry. Everything bought was first class: furniture, bedding, china dishes, silver ware and the best chopsticks. For some reason, Winnie hides the chopsticks in her bag. Someday she may need them.
Winnie and Peanut become close friends again. Peanut tells Winnie she has heard that business families sell their ancestor portraits to Americans and English people. This is a terrible thing. They laugh and talk about sex. Wen Fu joins the Chinese air force under Clare Channault. They live in a monastery with other recruits. Wen Fu makes Winnie do and say things a proper lady does not do or say. Winnie meets Helen, then called Hulan, who was married to a vice captain and was “fat like a steamed dumpling.” They take baths together and go to the tea house. Hulan’s husband is kind to her. They trade secrets from then on. Wen Fu is popular with the other men, though they are afraid of him and his temper.
When war came, the Chinese pilots flew to bomb the Japanese, but the planes had been ambushed and bombed Chinese civilians instead. Hulan does not want to hear these bad luck words. She helps Winnie patch her walls and floors to keep secrets out. This is how they patch their friendship. They cook a big dinner together for the pilots when they return from battle. They were moved to Nanking, but after a few days move out in an army truck as the Japanese bomb them. They felt guilty when they heard how terribly the Nanking civilians had been treated. Over 10,000 had been killed.
They are moved into a big house for six of them, pilots and wives. They play the old phonograph, gossip, and play mah jong. They had cooks and servants, but Hulan complained about them. Winnie became pregnant, but her baby died before birth, and they buried her in the foothills called “Sleeping Beauties.” Wen Fu had an accident in a jeep he had stolen. There had been a woman with him. At the hospital, he was nasty to the nurses. At home, Winnie had to care for him as nurses wouldn’t stay. When she invited the pilots for dinner, Wen Fu made her kneel in front of him and yelled at her. No one helped her. Author Tan shows us scenes so we know what happens to Winnie and Hulan.
When Wen Fu brings a concubine into their house, Winnie is glad. No more sex with him. His mistress teaches Winnlie dance steps and they dance as the phonograph plays jazz. The British close the Burma Road. The Chinese leaders bow to the Japanese. The motto is, “If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.”
During Christmas of 1941, a dance is held to celebrate Chennault’s Flying Tiger’s defeat of Japanese planes, with food, drink, and dance music. Winnie meets Jimmy Louie, a Chinese-American man who translates for the Information Department. He changes the names of the women there into American names: Peggy, Sally, Suzy, and Willie, as she was known, into Winnie. He called her Win-Win. And he names Wen Fu as Judas. Then he asks her to dance. When she got home, Wen Fu beat her and she decided to divorce him ASAP. But when she ran away, Wen Fu found her and made her miserable for many years. But eventually, “the stupid chicken flies out of its cage.” She and Jimmy Louie made plans and lived together. Her father gave her three gold pieces, and she had her valuable silver chop sticks that she had saved from her dowry.
Does their happiness last? Do Winnie and Hulan find each other again and re-new their friendship? Find this heart-warming novel with Amy Tan’s other books at your Mendocino Community Library.
Pearl has MS and tires easily. She has not told her mother. It is one of many secrets the reader will learn. It is also the day of Great auntie Du’s funeral. Pearl goes to the flower shop belonging to her mother and aunt, the Ding Ho Flower shop. Her mother believes logic is an excuse for accidents, tragedies, and mistakes. She has created beautiful bouquets for the party and the funeral.
The engagement party is worse than Pearl expected when her mother and aunt Helen argue over everything. Her mother tells Pearl’s daughters the story of the Kitchen God’s wife, who reports on everyone’s behavior, and decides who deserves good or bad fate. Grandma gives the girls an altar and they take it home as a toy. Pearl feels the increasing distance between her mother and herself.
Author Tan tells the reader that when Pearl and her brother Samuel were little ones, their mother, Winnie, thought she should have married Lin. She doesn’t tell Helen of her mistake. It’s like choosing a fish from a tank. You don’t know until you have tasted it. One of many Chinese proverbs.
When Winnie came to the United States, she felt she could put all her secrets away and start a new life. She sponsored Helen as her sister-in-law, married to her half brother, Kun, who said to have had died as a young man, but that is not true. Winnie decides to tell her daughter Pearl everything, to have no secrets. Her first husband was Wen Fu, Pearl’s father. When Winnie was six years old, her mother left their family. Winnie remembers her in ten thousand ways. She is still waiting for her to return. Winnie’s mother took her to many interesting places in a pedi-cab. Winnie remembers the sounds, the smells, the glove shop. Relatives told Winnie her mother had caused a scandal. Winnie never knew the truth. She cannot forget her mother.
Winnie tells Pearl how she and her friend, Peanut, went to the marketplace on the New Year and met Wen Fu. He was attracted to Peanut and bought her things she desired. Winnie carried their notes back and forth to each other. Wen Fu decided he loved Pearl instead and proposed to her. He was charming and she wed him. She was happy, though not in love with him. She saw marriage as a new chance at happiness. She and her aunts go to see her father, whom she had not seen for twelve years. His house was big and grand, with stained glass windows. Her aunts tell Winnie’s father about Wen Fu’s business, exaggerating. Father thinks Wen Fu will be a good match for his daughter. The next day, his senior wife takes Willie shopping for her dowry. Everything bought was first class: furniture, bedding, china dishes, silver ware and the best chopsticks. For some reason, Winnie hides the chopsticks in her bag. Someday she may need them.
Winnie and Peanut become close friends again. Peanut tells Winnie she has heard that business families sell their ancestor portraits to Americans and English people. This is a terrible thing. They laugh and talk about sex. Wen Fu joins the Chinese air force under Clare Channault. They live in a monastery with other recruits. Wen Fu makes Winnie do and say things a proper lady does not do or say. Winnie meets Helen, then called Hulan, who was married to a vice captain and was “fat like a steamed dumpling.” They take baths together and go to the tea house. Hulan’s husband is kind to her. They trade secrets from then on. Wen Fu is popular with the other men, though they are afraid of him and his temper.
When war came, the Chinese pilots flew to bomb the Japanese, but the planes had been ambushed and bombed Chinese civilians instead. Hulan does not want to hear these bad luck words. She helps Winnie patch her walls and floors to keep secrets out. This is how they patch their friendship. They cook a big dinner together for the pilots when they return from battle. They were moved to Nanking, but after a few days move out in an army truck as the Japanese bomb them. They felt guilty when they heard how terribly the Nanking civilians had been treated. Over 10,000 had been killed.
They are moved into a big house for six of them, pilots and wives. They play the old phonograph, gossip, and play mah jong. They had cooks and servants, but Hulan complained about them. Winnie became pregnant, but her baby died before birth, and they buried her in the foothills called “Sleeping Beauties.” Wen Fu had an accident in a jeep he had stolen. There had been a woman with him. At the hospital, he was nasty to the nurses. At home, Winnie had to care for him as nurses wouldn’t stay. When she invited the pilots for dinner, Wen Fu made her kneel in front of him and yelled at her. No one helped her. Author Tan shows us scenes so we know what happens to Winnie and Hulan.
When Wen Fu brings a concubine into their house, Winnie is glad. No more sex with him. His mistress teaches Winnlie dance steps and they dance as the phonograph plays jazz. The British close the Burma Road. The Chinese leaders bow to the Japanese. The motto is, “If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.”
During Christmas of 1941, a dance is held to celebrate Chennault’s Flying Tiger’s defeat of Japanese planes, with food, drink, and dance music. Winnie meets Jimmy Louie, a Chinese-American man who translates for the Information Department. He changes the names of the women there into American names: Peggy, Sally, Suzy, and Willie, as she was known, into Winnie. He called her Win-Win. And he names Wen Fu as Judas. Then he asks her to dance. When she got home, Wen Fu beat her and she decided to divorce him ASAP. But when she ran away, Wen Fu found her and made her miserable for many years. But eventually, “the stupid chicken flies out of its cage.” She and Jimmy Louie made plans and lived together. Her father gave her three gold pieces, and she had her valuable silver chop sticks that she had saved from her dowry.
Does their happiness last? Do Winnie and Hulan find each other again and re-new their friendship? Find this heart-warming novel with Amy Tan’s other books at your Mendocino Community Library.