The Valley of Amazement

The Valley of Amazement is the new novel by Amy Tan. This book is set in Shanghai at the turn of the century and follows the lives of an American mother who runs a high class courtesan house and her half-Chinese daughter, who has never met her father.

Tan is a great writer of historical fiction, and often explores mother-daughter relationships, as she does here. However, I felt like this thick book needed to be edited down from 600 pages to about 400. The story got off track so many times, it became tedious and hard to stick with. The section on how to be the perfect courtesan was way too long and mostly unnecessary.

I stuck with it to the end, and fans of Tan will probably enjoy it, but I found it tiresome.