The Valley of Amazement in Around the World

Jan 18, 2015 Marieke rated it liked it

Shelves: united-states, 2015, fiction, history, china, asia

Finally. I suppose it would have taken a week rather than a month, pre-baby. But still: this book is too long. It could have been a two-to three-hundred page book and would have been a much stronger story. Or, the middle could have been rewritten. Or the whole thing organized differently. It was quite epic-like, in the family saga sense, but the pacing was very strange. And rather than get the reader 100% involved in the lives of the characters, she spent an inordinate amount of time describing ...more

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Jul 28, 2015 Kate Z rated it liked it

I've suffered from "China fatigue" for a while now. There was a period of time when it seemed that everything in the "LitFic" genre was related to China in some way so it was with some reluctance that I decided to embark on this book. Add to that the fact that I've not, historically, been an Amy Tan fan (although I quite liked Saving Fish from Drowning), and it was something of a rough start for me. I ultimately decided to read it because my mom's local book club was reading it and so, since I h I've suffered from "China fatigue" for a while now. There was a period of time when it seemed that everything in the "LitFic" genre was related to China in some way so it was with some reluctance that I decided to embark on this book. Add to that the fact that I've not, historically, been an Amy Tan fan (although I quite liked Saving Fish from Drowning), and it was something of a rough start for me. I ultimately decided to read it because my mom's local book club was reading it and so, since I had it on hand, I thought I'd read it to discuss with them.

I didn't make it to the book club (and my mom didn't read the book) but apparently the book club didn't like the book. Surprisingly, I had a different experience. I was amused to hear that the book club didn't like the emphasis on sex (something I didn't personally find to be the case in the book). This is, after all, a book about courtesans. Merriam Webster defines a "courtesan" as "a woman who has sex with rich or important men in exchange for money : a prostitute who has sex with wealthy and powerful men." Sex is the trade of the courtesan so, at least in my view, some focus in the book on sex seems appropriate. With that said, I found the sex to be minimal and mostly just mentioned, nothing titilating and no long passages about it

The book started slowly for me and I had to look up what a courtesan was. I had a vague idea but a little bit of historical reference and understanding went a long way for me in terms of helping me understand the nature of what the book was about. After that I enjoyed the book. I had the experience of many of the really good historical fiction books: I was transported to a different time and place and I learned something about what it might have been like to live in that time.

I'm always interested in titles and the reference to this book's title came early in the novel. The title refers to a painting that was painted by Lu Shing, the main character Violet's father. Violet discovers the paintings among her mother's things. "The painting reminded me of those illusions that changed as you turned them upside down or sideways, transforming a bearded man into a tree. You could not see the painting both ways at the same time. You had to choose. which one it was originally meant to be. How would you know which was right unless you were the one who had painted it?"(italics mine)

The Valley of Amazement comes back into the book several more times both as a painting when Violet ends up in Lu Shing's house for a period of time and also when she goes to Moon Pond Village. It seemed to me that the quote above was a major theme of the novel. How could you know which perspective was right? You had to choose. What do we think of Violet, the courtesan? Is she immoral? Or a product of her circumstances?

Another quote resonated with me and I think it is the main thrust of the novel: "Only American's think that they have rights," Magic Gourd said. "What laws of heaven give you more rights and allow you to keep them? They are words on paper written by men who make them up and claim them. One day they can blow away, just like that." (italics mine)

Amy Tan has made her literary reputation on Chinese American women thrust into various circumstances as a lens through which to view culture. In The Joy Luck Club she pits Chinese American daughters against their more traditional Chinese mothers and grandmothers. It's a culture clash of tradition. Here Tan did something slightly different: Violet is American in Chinese society. Although Violet is half Chinese (Lu Shing is her Chinese father whom she does not know of until she is 14) she appears almost completely Western or "white."

I enjoyed Violet's story and learning about a world (Shanghai, turn of the century, Revolutionary China, flu epidemic, courtesans) of which I knew nothing. Her story was interesting and compelling and caused me to reflect on the idea of "rights" and how much luck and timing plays a roll into any of our lives and also the idea that we choose our own perspective, if not our own fate and circumstances. In previous books Tan has explored this kind of "culture clash" between generations, here she pits Western and Eastern ideas against one another. Lu Shing says about fate: "I am Chinese.... I cannot recommend it highly enough." and when Lucia first sees the painting The Valley Of Amazement she has the feeling that she has been in that valley before, that Lu Shing has captured in his painting "all the moments of immortality." Violet, half Chinese and half American, is caught between these ideals. She does not simply accept her "fate" but rallies against it, following the very American tradition of constantly trying to improve her station in life. At one point she asks, "Is it American destiny or Chinese fate that brought us here?"

I was surprised then, at page 440 or so to have the novel abruptly turnback in time to the story of Lulu/Lucia/Lucretia Minturn, Violet's mother. Looking back, I'm grateful that Tan did not take the current trend of alternating the narrative between Violet and Lucia Minturn. If I have had "China Fatigue" it's nothing compared with "Alternating Narrative Fatigue." Still, it was quite a jolt to have 440 pages of one novel (Violet's story) and then, with 150 pages to go, be thrust backwards in time to the "back story" of Violet's mother. This novel did not need that (or benefit from it).

Had this book stopped at page 440 I would have given it 4 stars. ...more

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Feb 17, 2017 Suzanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, geocaching-challenge-2016, 2017-survey-says-annual-challenge

I love Amy Tan's writing, and in particular, I'm attracted to books about life in old China. The Valley of Amazement drew me in immediately. It's a saga about an American woman who falls in love with a Chinese artist in San Francisco, and follows him to Shanghai around the turn of the last century.

The story of women who suffer in China is an old one, and typically authors keep the characters at arm's length, because getting too close to them would make it difficult for a reader to accept their f ...more

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Sep 12, 2013 Sara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: china, audio-book, historical-fiction, 2014, around-the-world-in-52-books

3.5 stars.

This was not the typical Amy Tan book, however; I truly enjoyed the historical aspects of the novel and also some of the Chinese Custom's of 1800 which are still practiced in China more or less. ...more

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