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At this point, in Part Three, the reader returns to Ruths perspective in present day U.S. As
LuLings story is uncovered by Ruth, she reaches new understandings concerning her mother
and thus becomes enlightened about her relationship with her mother and with her partner.
Reaction:
The development of the characters is so incredibly well done. Whether you like the
characters or not (and they are each deeply flawed), you can still empathize with them because
they are so rich in description. Similarly, Tan does an excellent job of vividly describing the
setting of the story so that you feel you are actually there experiencing the same things as the
characters. So, I do feel that the storytelling is very engaging. But, by the same token, I did
sometimes feel that some things dragged on to the extent that I was left wondering What is the
purpose of this paragraph? I found this to especially be the case with regards to the
descriptions of food. For example:
In the vegetable aisle, Ruth headed toward a bin of beautifully shaped turnips. They were each
the size of apples, symmetrical and scrubbed, with striations of purple. Most people did not
appreciate the aesthetics of turnips, Ruth thought as she chose five good ones, whereas she
loved them, their crunchiness, the way they absorbed the flavor of whatever they were
immersed in, gravy or pickling juice. She loved cooperative vegetables. And she loved turnips
best when they were sliced into wedges and preserved in vinegar and chilies, sugar and salt.
while the writing is beautiful and the narrative rich, I found the story itself to be underwhelming.
Further, I felt that the characters in the book were stereotypical to the extent that it made me
uncomfortable in some parts. But then, it was written by a woman whose parents were Chinese
immigrants, so I guess she would know! But, at the end of the day, the story was very slow to
develop I would call it a sleepy yarn of a story and I simply did not find it that memorable.