The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan

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Family relationships are always complicated. From siblings to parents, there are many times where you can feel as though the people living closest to you are actually really far when it comes to perspectives and opinions. In Amy Tan’s debut novel, The Kitchen God’s Wife, I saw a beautiful relationship between a mother and daughter who seem almost worlds apart, until they take time to see the world through each other’s eyes. Written in way that switches between the perspectives of the two main protagonists, I got to see so many aspects of  family bond, experiences, and understanding. 

To set the scene, the daughter has recently been diagnosed with a disease. Knowing that her mother is very over dramatic when it comes to these things, she avoids telling her, and instead tells her aunt. On the other side of this story, her mother hides along and deep past from before her daughter was born. These struggles involve her move from China to the US, her marriage with her daughter’s biological father, and the past that she left behind and that still haunts her to stay. The only person who knows this besides the mother is the aunt, who insists that they admit their past and their real identities.

The novel then moves to describe the mother’s life, including her success and struggles as she grew up before her daughter was born. We see the mother and daughters life side-by-side and compare their struggles, even though they live in two completely different time periods. To give some of my thoughts, I really enjoyed reading this novel. It surprised me a lot because when I first opened the book, I thought I’d mostly be seeing the perspective of the daughter. To be honest, I was also caught off guard by how much the daughter complained about her mother (although I can sometimes relate).

It was very surprising to see the novel take a sudden turn and to see the entire experience and story of the mother. The whole time, I was so immersed in her struggles, achievements, losses, loves, and heartache that the mother had to go through to get to that certain point of her life. It really put the definition in don’t judge a book by its cover! Moreover, I think this novel was a wonderful read and I would definitely recommend it to someone looking for a slice of life, feel good novel that can bring you a different world and see it through someone else’s eyes. 

Review by Teen Volunteer, 10/16/24.