This was the first Amy Tan book I've read and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. Far from being just another contemporary literary slice of life or mock serious thriller bestseller of the moment, The Bonesetter's Daughter has quite a story to tell. Set in Modern Day San Francisco, and pre-Communist China, the Bonesetter's Daughter concerns Ruth and her quirky, stubborn, Chinese immigrant mother Liu Ling. Ruth is your typical post-war baby. She was a hippy wannabe, is now a ghostwriter, afflicted once a year with a strange loss of speech, that lasts for a few days every August 12. Now in her late thirties (or so) she finds herself still butting heads with her tradition-concerned mother, Liu Ling. Liu Ling still wants Ruth to learn Chinese calligraphy, no matter Ruth has always bucked the idea. Besides, now she has too much to do, between her boyfriend Arthur, and his children, her friend Wendy, and her work on such non-fiction tomes as Internet Spirituality, and all the strange people her work brings into her life, Ruth has no time for her mother, and her mother's strange whims.

And yet, Ruth takes on the task of setting up a massive dinner for her extended family. What was she thinking, she wonders. Meanwhile, she begins to learn strange things about Liu Ling. Liu LIng insists that she keep a pile of old junk mail, believing every trash ad that arrives, Liu Ling badgers the tenants in the apartment building she manages, she insists her sister steals from her, and even tries to push her own "manuscript" on Ruth, insisting she "get it published".

Ruth doesn't know what to think of all this. And then, Liu Ling's doctor drops a bomb. Liu Ling has the beginnings of Alzheimer's Disease. Impossible, she thinks. How can that be? The doctor is a fool. But the more Ruth watches her mother, the more she can believe it. Especially when Liu Ling begins insisting that her mother isn't her mother, but this mysterious and lovely woman in a treasured photograph, a woman whom Liu Ling refers to as "Precious Auntie", and whom she's talked about to Ruth for decades, is. So Ruth barely takes all this in, and sets about trying to figure out what to do with Liu Ling. In the process, she finally turns her attention to the "manuscript" Liu Ling had given her. Herein, all things become clear. Liu Ling's life in China is laid out before her, and more importantly, it recounts the life of Precious Auntie. And now Ruth sees the truth for what it is. Her mother is daughter of the Bonesetter's daughter, and she did have an extraordinary life, just as she has been insisting.

That revealed, Ruth's life and work turns a corner, and though I don't want to say they all lived happily ever after, Ruth knows better how to deal with what life throws at her.

I was especially fascinated with how Amy Tan took the story of Precious Auntie, and Liu Ling's childhood and young adulthood as an opportunity to shift the focus of the tale from present day to past; there, in Liu Ling's manuscript, the Bonesetter's Daughter transforms from every day slice of 21st century life, into this glowing, nearly mythical account of 1920s/1930s China, laying out Liu Ling and Precious Auntie's story in the most beautiful fashion that has all the feel of a Chinese myth. Although there were some points i found personally painful to read, I enjoyed this book, immensely, and have since added her work to my ever-growing "to be read" list. If you have never read Amy Tan before, I am sure you will find this a captivating introduction. Do give The Bonesetter's Daughter a try.

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