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Woman's fate eyed
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The same fascination with mother-daughter relationships that made Amy Tan's debut novel, The Joy Luck Club (1989), so captivating drives her latest work The Bonesetter's Daughter.
Beautifully structured around three themes -- bones, ghosts and ink -- this novel tells the stories of three generations of women, beginning at the turn of the 20th century in a small Chinese village, where the bonesetter (接骨师), a skilled healer, defies tradition and teaches his daughter everything he knows. Intelligent and willful, she strongly rejects the marriage proposal of the vulgar (粗俗的) coffin (棺材) maker, who curses her, thus setting in motion a tragic sequence of events that continues to unfold a century later in San Francisco.
Although Ruth Young's a ghostwriter for New Agey self-help books, the advice she formulates hasn't helped her achieve genuine intimacy with her boyfriend or cope with her argumentative mother, Luling. Widowed since Ruth was born, China-born and -raised calligraphy artist Luling still speaks stilted English in spite of decades of California life, and now she has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
As Ruth moves back home to care for Luling, she finds two packets of papers written in Chinese calligraphy by Luling. One bundle is titled Things I Know Are True and the other, Things I Must Not Forget.\
In these documents Luling has set down a record of her birth and family history, determined to keep the facts from vanishing as her mind deteriorates.
The story begins in China in the remote, mountainous region where anthropologists (人类学家) discovered Peking Man in the 1920s. Here superstition and tradition rule over a succession of tiny villages. And here Luling grows up under the watchful eye of her hideously (丑陋地) scarred (有疤痕的) nursemaid, Precious Auntie.
Luling's family, a clan (家族) of ink makers, believes itself cursed by its connection to the bonesetter. And indeed, a great deal of bad luck befalls Luling, who finally discovers that Precious Auntie, the bonesetter's daughter, is actually her mother.
Tan explores the conflicts faced by many women who seek independence while caring for partners, children and family. She writes with compassion about the tension between immigrant parents and American-born children caused by differences in language and cultural upbringing.
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 will be adapted as a PBS series for children.
Tan was a co-producer and co-screenwriter for 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 25 languages. Tan, who has a master's degree in linguistics from San Jose State University, has worked as a language specialist to programmes serving children with developmental disabilities. She lives with her husband in San Francisco and New York.
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