• The Bonesetter's Daughter

  • By: Amy Tan
  • Narrated by: Amy Tan, Joan Chen
  • Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,204 ratings)

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The Bonesetter's Daughter  By  cover art

The Bonesetter's Daughter

By: Amy Tan
Narrated by: Amy Tan, Joan Chen
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Publisher's summary

Set in contemporary San Francisco and in a Chinese village where Peking Man is being unearthed, The Bonesetter's Daughter is an excavation of the human spirit: the past, its deepest wounds, its most profound hopes.

The story conjures the pain of broken dreams, the power of myths, and the strength of love that enables us to recover in memory what we have lost in grief. Over the course of one fog-shrouded year, between one season of falling stars and the next, mother and daughter find what they share in their bones through heredity, history, and inexpressible qualities of love.

©2001 Amy Tan (P)2005 Phoenix Audio. All Rights Reserved.

Critic reviews

"In the end, it's the novel's depth of feeling that resonates and lingers. Tan writes with real soul." (Washington Post Book World)
"Storytelling in its oldest and truest form." (AudioFile)

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What listeners say about The Bonesetter's Daughter

Average customer ratings
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    5 out of 5 stars

I love this story. I didn't want it to end. Great!

This was a very enjoyable book I did not want the story to end. My favorite part of the book was when Lou Ling was at the orphanage and fell in love. This is a beautiful love story not only for man and woman but mother and daughter.

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I loved this book

no review here. just a very enthusiastic recommendation to anyone who loves a good story with humor, life, pain, and mystery. if you don't laugh, cry, hurt, and feel inspired, you are not human.

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  • Overall
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Beautifully told Story

Beautiful but such a sad story. So beautifully told and so rich in history. Amy is such a good writer.

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    5 out of 5 stars

Compelling remembrance of broken dreams

I was less certain of this book until the second part. Once the story becomes one of how rage daughter and mother reclaim their relationship through understanding the grandmother’s trials, it became more expansive, more, compelling, and more memorable for me. It is in many ways an immigrant story and one of lost and recovered pasts that have shaped us.
Performance and writing are straightforward and even “plain”. But the final effect is an insightful look into how our experiences can be shaped by ancestors we never knew.

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  • Overall
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Beautifully written

I love the way Amy Tan writes and builds up her characters and storyline. The reviews are correct, this is one of her best novels. I couldn’t stop listening. I would definitely recommend.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Absorbing, but light

Amy Tan specializes in intergenerational conflicts, especially between immigrant Chinese and their Americanized offspring. This time, at least, the immigrant generation wins on charm, interest and spunk. The American heroine, Ruth, is a bit of a drip, and the present-day narrative is a thinly veiled research report on Alzheimer's and options for dealing with it -- all useful and well and good, and sometimes funny. But the story of Ruth's mother, discovered by Ruth in a hidden memoir, is truly gripping. It forms the central portion of the book, book-ended by Ruth's drab story of anxiety and redemption, and provides an excellent reason to read this book. Very well narrated!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

loved it

Not being asian it is always a treat to get insight in the the traditions and history of another culture from an authentic storyteller. And it brings it full circle when we can make the ass0ociation that as much as we are different, there we are, just human with the same issues good and bad. I always enjoy amy tan's work.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A glimpse of the past and the sandwich generation

Since I am a health care professional specializing in geriatrics, I was particularly intrigued by the caregiving aspect of this novel, intertwined with another interest, family history. A recent trip to China and having read other books about China in preparation for the trip meant that I made many connections in my mind while listening to this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the two parallel stories and the resolution of the missing name. I do want to know which reader was Amy Tan!!

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Another Good Listen

The book has a slow start and a bit confusing in the beginning as the author jumps around the past and the present. Once you get settled in, it’s fantastic!

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Fabulous Story

Wonderful insights into relationships, cultures and the human condition. Very well read. I enjoyed it throughout.

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