"The Bonesetter's Daughter"

Amy Tan is such a talented writer!  This book did not disappoint, of course.  I do have to mention, though that I enjoyed the second part of this book better than the first part.  I think it has to do with the Chinese history that was part of the second half of the book.  The Bonesetter's Daughter is about a young Chinese-American woman and her mother.  They struggle through life balancing the old Chinese ways but living in America.  The Mother is not a likeable woman in the first part of the book.  She mostly nags and makes her daughter feel like she never does enough for her.  In  the second part of the book, you learn the Mother's story, her life.  It is then that you understand her.  A prominent part of the book is the mother developing Alzheimers.  The disease that steals the mind.  Ruth is protective and loving yet doesn't know much about Luling.  When Luling realized she was forgetting things she wrote her life story down so Ruth would know.  And what a life she had.  You understood immediately why she was the way she was. 

It took me a while to find some of those sentances that I love.  I was becoming discouraged, and then there it was... page 138 (I told you it took a while), "The diary would be proof of her existence, that she mattered, and more important, that someone somewhere would one day understand her, even if it wasn't in her lifetime."  Isnt that was everyone wants?  Some one to understand them? 

" Wisdom from a childs lips, simple yet true."  Don't even have to explain why I liked that one!

And my last and the most favorite of all, "A Mother is always the begining.  She is how it all begins."  I suppose I identify the most with being a mother in life.  I went from a girl to a mother inside of a year, skipping over the time where I was supposed to grow into a woman.   I'm only now figuring out the woman I want to be 16 years later and closer to 40 every second. 

PS.  Please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors..I'm tired and need to go to bed!