Amy Tan, The Kitchen God's Wife

Bella Adams (University of Sunderland)
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Still in the tradition of matrilineal literature, Amy Tan's second novel,

The Kitchen God's Wife

(1991), relinquishes the multiple micronarrative approach that helped make

The Joy Luck Club

into such a success. Not quite a blockbuster, but definitely a best seller,

The Kitchen God's Wife

represents just one mother-daughter relationship between Winnie Louie and Pearl Louie Brandt. Narrowing the focus even more (at Daisy Tan's request), the Chinese mother dominates the novel with a lengthy monologue about her Chinese past. The remaining chapters, of which there are only three, are left to the American-born daughter, who is preoccupied with the present and family events/duties. Pearl does not discuss her childhood in any great detail, let alone devote a whole chapter to it à la

The Joy Luck

3409 words

Citation: Adams, Bella. "The Kitchen God's Wife". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 November 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=440, accessed 19 March 2024.]

440 The Kitchen God's Wife 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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