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The Valley of Amazement
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Published:
HarperCollins 2013
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description

Amy Tan's The Valley of Amazement is a sweeping, evocative epic of two women's intertwined fates and their search for identity, that moves from the lavish parlors of Shanghai courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a remote Chinese village.

Spanning more than forty years and two continents, The Valley of Amazement resurrects pivotal episodes in history: from the collapse of China's last imperial dynasty, to the rise of the Republic, the explosive growth of lucrative foreign trade and anti-foreign sentiment, to the inner workings of courtesan houses and the lives of the foreign "Shanghailanders" living in the International Settlement, both erased by World War II.

A deeply evocative narrative about the profound connections between mothers and daughters, The Valley of Amazement returns readers to the compelling territory of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. With her characteristic insight and humor, she conjures a story of inherited trauma, desire and deception, and the power and stubbornness of love.

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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
11/05/2013
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780062107336
ASIN:
B00BATG18K
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Amy Tan. (2013). The Valley of Amazement. HarperCollins.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Amy Tan. 2013. The Valley of Amazement. HarperCollins.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Amy Tan, The Valley of Amazement. HarperCollins, 2013.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Amy Tan. The Valley of Amazement. HarperCollins, 2013.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Grouped Work ID:
f206cc15-4430-661e-50b3-83f642e23d31
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Date Added:
Jun 12, 2018 15:17:39
Date Updated:
Jun 12, 2018 15:17:39
Last Metadata Check:
Mar 24, 2024 23:26:14
Last Metadata Change:
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        Amy Tan is the author of The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter's Daughter, The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life, Saving Fish from Drowning, and two children's books, The Moon Lady and The Chinese Siamese Cat, which was adapted into a PBS television series. Tan was also a coproducer and coscreenwriter of the film version of The Joy Luck Club. Her essays and stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, and her work has been translated into thirty-five languages. She lives with her husband in San Francisco and New York.

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fullDescription

Amy Tan's The Valley of Amazement is a sweeping, evocative epic of two women's intertwined fates and their search for identity, that moves from the lavish parlors of Shanghai courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a remote Chinese village.

Spanning more than forty years and two continents, The Valley of Amazement resurrects pivotal episodes in history: from the collapse of China's last imperial dynasty, to the rise of the Republic, the explosive growth of lucrative foreign trade and anti-foreign sentiment, to the inner workings of courtesan houses and the lives of the foreign "Shanghailanders" living in the International Settlement, both erased by World War II.

A deeply evocative narrative about the profound connections between mothers and daughters, The Valley of Amazement returns readers to the compelling territory of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. With her characteristic insight and humor, she conjures a story of inherited trauma, desire and deception, and the power and stubbornness of love.

reviews
      • premium: False
      • source: New York Times Book Review
      • content:

        "Here are strong women struggling to survive all that life has thrown at them, created by a writer skilled at evoking the roil of emotions and made exploits they experience when they follow their hearts." — New York Times Book Review

        "[A] novel that grabs your soul." — San Francisco Chronicle

        "This utterly engrossing novel is highly recommended to all readers who appreciate an author's ability to transport them to a new world they will not forget. As a plus, this reviewer sensed the harbinger of a sequel by the last page." — Library Journal (starred review)

        "Tan is a skilled storyteller. . . A satisfyingly complete, expertly paced yarn." — Kirkus Reviews

        "Tan's prodigious, sumptuously descriptive, historically grounded, sexually candid, and elaborately plotted novel counters violence, exploitation, betrayal, and tragic cultural divides with beauty, wit, and transcendent friendship between women." — Booklist (starred review)

        "The author of The Joy Luck Club and The Hundred Secret Senses can deliver a sweeping family saga like nobody else." — Newsday (Fall Preview)

        "Amy Tan is one of our blackest-belted scriveners, and this is her masterwork." — Mary Karr, author of the New York Times bestsellers The Liars' Club, Cherry, and Lit

        Fans of Tan's previous works (including The Joy Luck Club) will rejoice when they get their hands on this book. — Real Simple

        "[THE VALLEY OF AMAZEMENT is] akin to her earlier work, yet more sophisticated, and a fine reminder that Amy Tan is herself a master of illusion, and one of the best storytellers around." — NPR

        "It's been a long eight years since Amy Tan's last novel, but THE VALLEY OF AMAZEMENT proves that good things—breathtaking things—come to those who wait. [...] It's wonderful to be back in Amy's magical and amazing world." — Lisa See, author of international bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, and Shanghai Girls

        "Tan's beautiful, seamless prose presents fans with a true sense of time and place, catching them up in the heartbreaking tragedy of the plot... Tan's creativity is always a force, and in this epic tale her ability to captivate shines." — Romantic Times

        "[Tan] is a gifted storyteller... This is one writer's particular idiom and vision of the world - and within that she offers us a rich cast of characters who both repel and compel." — Financial Times

        "[Tan's] fans will appreciate the book's multigenerational narrative and compelling look at a society in which men held the power but women gave each other strength." — More magazine

        "Fans will recognize signature Tan themes: mother-daughter relationships, clashes between cultures... threads of hmor and emotional insight make Violet's struggle to survive, and ultimately forgive, a journey worth sharing." — People

        "[Tan] still sweeps you up in the wildly changing fortunes of a whip-smart courtesan." — Entertainment Weekly

        "This is an Amy Tan novel, so its heart is the push-pull of mother-daughter relationships... The journey with Violet, her mother and her daughter is one of separate winding paths, each woman struggling to reach the light." — USA Today

        "Amy Tan's latest novel is an engrossing, multigenerational saga....grounded by Tan's ability to bring tragically flawed characters...

      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        July 29, 2013
        In her first novel since 2005’s Saving Fish from Drowning, Tan again explores the complex relationships between mothers and daughters, control and submission, tradition and new beginnings. Jumping from bustling Shanghai to an isolated village in rural China to San Francisco at the turn of the 19th century, the epic story follows three generations of women pulled apart by outside forces. The main focus is Violet, once a virgin courtesan in one of the most reputable houses in Shanghai, who faces a series of crippling setbacks: the death of her first husband from Spanish influenza, a second marriage to an abusive scam artist, and the abduction of her infant daughter, Flora. In a series of flashbacks toward the book’s end, Violet’s American mother, Lulu, is revealed to have suffered a similar and equally disturbing fate two decades earlier. The choice to cram the truth behind Lulu’s sexually promiscuous adolescence in San Francisco, her life as a madam in Shanghai, and Violet’s reunion with a grown Flora into the last 150 pages makes the story unnecessarily confusing. Nonetheless, Tan’s mastery of the lavish world of courtesans and Chinese customs continues to transport. Agent: Sandra Dijkstra, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.

      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        February 24, 2014
        In Tan’s novel, Violet Minturn, the daughter of the American madam of the premiere courtesan house in Shanghai, experiences life quite differently from other children. Her privileged lifestyle provides opportunities, but like her mother before her, Violet must grapple with history, lovers, and family life. In this audio edition, the use of three narrators is well executed. Each reader provides a strong vocal representation of the characters. Although Tan’s performance is solid, she sometimes doesn’t have the skill and flair demonstrated by Wu and Bean, who offer up more nuanced readings. Still, Tan’s performance more than does justice to her novel and its characters. An Ecco hardcover.

      • premium: True
      • source: Booklist
      • content:

        Starred review from September 15, 2013
        Lulu, an American, is the only white woman running a first-class courtesan house in Shanghai in 1905. Burdened with secret anguish and loss, she relies on her loyal associate, Golden Dove, to help her create an enclave of confidentiality, courtly seduction, and voluptuous pleasure for the city's most influential men. Her lonely young daughter, Violet, has taken to eavesdropping and spying to survive. Shocked to be outed as half-Chinese, Violet thinks, half-breed, half-hated, and indeed, this exposure is only the beginning of an all-out assault against her sense of self and freedom. In her first novel in eight years, Tan (Saving Fish from Drowning, 2005) returns to her signature mother-daughter focus as she pulls back the curtain on an aggressively sexist society after the fall of the last Chinese dynasty precipitates monumental change. Reaching back to Lulu's San Francisco childhood and forward to Violet's operatic struggles and traumas and reliance on her smart, loyal mentor, Magic Gourd, this scrolling saga is practically a how-to on courtesan life and a veritable orgy of suspense and sorrow. Ultimately, Tan's prodigious, sumptuously descriptive, historically grounded, sexually candid, and elaborately plotted novel counters violence, exploitation, betrayal, and tragic cultural divides with beauty, wit, and transcendent friendships between women. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: An ambitious, 20-city author tour backed by extensive advertising and promotion will help make Tan's bold epic a blockbuster.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

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shortDescription

Amy Tan's The Valley of Amazement is a sweeping, evocative epic of two women's intertwined fates and their search for identity, that moves from the lavish parlors of Shanghai courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a remote Chinese village.

Spanning more than forty years and two continents, The Valley of Amazement resurrects pivotal episodes in history: from the collapse of China's last imperial dynasty, to the rise of the Republic, the explosive growth of lucrative foreign trade and anti-foreign sentiment, to the inner workings of courtesan houses and the lives of the foreign "Shanghailanders" living in the International Settlement, both erased by World War II.

A deeply evocative narrative about the profound connections between mothers and daughters, The Valley of Amazement returns readers to the compelling territory of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. With her characteristic insight and humor, she conjures a story of inherited trauma, desire and deception, and the...

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      • description: Fiction / Literary
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      • description: FICTION / Asian American & Pacific Islander