The Kitchen God's Wife (1991)

by Amy Tan

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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7,086	82	1,395	(3.83)	167
For decades-in China and in San Francisco-Winnie Louie and Helen Kwong have kept each other's confidences, but those secrets are about to be revealed. Convinced that she is dying, Helen decides to celebrate the Chinese New Year by unburdening herself of hidden truths-not only hers, but those of Winnie and of Winnie's daughter, Pearl. So begins a series of comic misunderstandings and heartbreaking realizations about luck, loss, and trust-about the things a mother cannot tell her daughter, about the secret that daughters keep, and about the miraculous resiliency of love. Read by Amy Tan, this second novel by the author of The Joy Luck Club was a New York Times bestseller.… (more)

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The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (albavirtual, Elizabeth088)
Elizabeth088: Amy Tan's first book and my personal favourite.

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Een oude Chinese vrouw in San Francisco vertelt haar dochter over haar jeugd in China in de eerste helft van de 20e eeuw.

Vrouwenbibliotheek | Dec 30, 2024 |

As is my habit, I brought home a new stack of library books and read the first page of each to decide what to read next. Though I'd seen the excellent movie "The Joy Luck Club," I wasn't actually looking for an Amy Tan book. But there it was, perched on display on the library shelf by, I suppose, an astute librarian, and it caught my eye. Needless to say, the first page hooked me, so this was the book I read, as I couldn't put it down. And I stayed hooked the whole way through. A very rich read.

I loved the voice of the mother, how her English wasn't quite native, yet her meaning was always clear. And her words sounded so natural as she told her daughter the story of her life. (

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casey2962 | Dec 16, 2024 |

This was so good, I liked it even more than Joy Luck Club, great powerful stories (

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hellokirsti | Jan 3, 2024 |

Read 80 of the 400 pages. Couldn’t get into it. DNF (

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ChristineMiller47 | Nov 25, 2023 |

This is fascinating story of women during war time in China. You learn about the many ways women learn how to survive. Being resourceful and looking out for each other, are things that are needed to survive wartime. This story stayed with me for long time. (

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CascadeHouse | Nov 20, 2023 |

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thingScore 63

Where Ms. Tan writes about contemporary Chinese-Americans, her portraits are often witty and complex. You want to know more about people like Uncle Henry Kwong, who insists on videotaping the funeral of a relative, or Roger Bao-bao, who feels ready to be one of the pallbearers because he has been "pumping iron." But the plight of a maiden victimized by an arranged marriage seems very old stuff. Amy Tan can probably do better. One hopes that she soon will.

added by jlelliott | editThe New York Times, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt (Jun 20, 1991)

Within the peculiar construction of Amy Tan's second novel is a harrowing, compelling and at times bitterly humorous tale in which an entire world unfolds in a Tolstoyan tide of event and detail.

added by jlelliott | editThe New York Times, Rob Foreman Dew (Jun 16, 1991)

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (25 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Amy Tan	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Dabekaussen, Eugène	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Publisher Series

Goldmann (42182)

Is contained in

The Joy Luck Club / The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan

The Joy Luck Club / The Kitchen God's Wife / The Opposite of Fate by Amy Tan

Has as a student's study guide

CliffsNotes on Tan's The Kitchen God's Wife by Mei Li Robinson

A Study Guide for Amy Tan's "The Kitchen God's Wife" by Elizabeth Thomason

▾Awards and Honors

Distinctions

New York Times bestseller (Fiction – 1991)

Notable Lists

500 Great Books by Women (Mothers and Mothering)

Erica Jong's Top 100 20th Century Novels by Women

Journal book lovers pick their own top 100

Notable Books List (1992)

St. Mark's additional 100 best English language novels of the XX century

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The Kitchen God's Wife

Original title

The Kitchen God's Wife

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Epigraph

Dedication

To my mother, Daisy Tan,
and her happy memories of
my father, John (1914-1968),
and my brother Peter (1950-1967)
with love and respect

First words

Whenever my mother talks to me, she begins the conversation as if we were already in the middle of an argument.

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The Kitchen God's Wife

▾Book descriptions

For decades-in China and in San Francisco-Winnie Louie and Helen Kwong have kept each other's confidences, but those secrets are about to be revealed. Convinced that she is dying, Helen decides to celebrate the Chinese New Year by unburdening herself of hidden truths-not only hers, but those of Winnie and of Winnie's daughter, Pearl. So begins a series of comic misunderstandings and heartbreaking realizations about luck, loss, and trust-about the things a mother cannot tell her daughter, about the secret that daughters keep, and about the miraculous resiliency of love. Read by Amy Tan, this second novel by the author of The Joy Luck Club was a New York Times bestseller.

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