The Valley of Amazement

By: Amy Tan

Narrated by: Nancy Wu, Joyce Bean, Amy Tan

Length: 24 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author of The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan brings us her latest novel: a sweeping, evocative epic of two women's intertwined fates and their search for identity - from the lavish parlors of Shanghai courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a remote Chinese village

Shanghai, 1912. Violet Minturn is the privileged daughter of the American madam of the city's most exclusive courtesan house. But when the Ching dynasty is overturned, Violet is separated from her mother in a cruel act of chicanery and forced to become a "virgin courtesan." Half-Chinese and half-American, Violet grapples with her place in the worlds of East and West - until she is able to merge her two halves, empowering her to become a shrewd courtesan who excels in the business of seduction and illusion, though she still struggles to understand who she is.

Back in 1897 San Francisco, Violet's mother, Lucia, chooses a disastrous course as a sixteen-year-old, when her infatuation with a Chinese painter compels her to leave her home for Shanghai. Shocked by her lover's adherence to Chinese traditions, she is unable to change him, despite her unending American ingenuity.

Fueled by betrayals, both women refuse to submit to fate and societal expectations, persisting in their quests to recover what was taken from them: respect; a secure future; and, most poignantly, love from their parents, lovers, and children. To reclaim their lives, they take separate journeys - to a backwater hamlet in China, the wealthy environs of the Hudson River Valley, and, ultimately, the unknown areas of their hearts, where they discover what remains after their many failings to love and be loved. Spanning more than forty years and two continents, The Valley of Amazement transports listeners from the collapse of China's last imperial dynasty to the beginning of the Republic and recaptures the lost world of old Shanghai through the inner workings of courtesan houses and the lives of the foreigners living in the International Settlement, both erased by World War II. A deeply evocative narrative of the profound connections between mothers and daughters, imbued with Tan's characteristic insight and humor, The Valley of Amazement conjures a story of inherited trauma, desire and deception, and the power and obstinacy of love.

©2013 Amy Tan (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

yes. everyone does want to know they are loved.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Excellent book making great use of creative chronology.

What did you like best about this story?

Aye yo!

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narration of this book was superb. It had so many different language and subtle culture shifts that the narrators seemed to express perfectly.

If you could take any character from The Valley of Amazement out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Wait, is this a solicitation for a cortizan?

Any additional comments?

Aye yo! Does it really take 24 hours of audio to express the sentiment that all of us want to be loved and it is our greatest fear that we are not?

Nice read

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, nice story, good characters, interesting descriptions of historical social customs

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

Narrators made the separate characters recognizable; good pace

All I can say is Wow

This was a fantastic story. Told though different perspectives and spanning time and space. Amy Tan is one of my favorite authors. I have been a fan of hers since the Joy Luck Club. However, this is a much darker story. The characters were very complex and interesting. I never would have guessed that the story would go in the direction that it did but I was not disappointed. I have to admit that it started off really slow for me. But once I committed to finishing it, I could not stop listening. I must mention trigger warning for Sexual abuse, domestic violence, infidelity rape, mutilation and sex slavery.

Simply Amazing

A wonderful story focusing on three generations of women, yet extending even further. Read with emotion enough to give the listener a real sense of imagery in tone and inflection. The readers capture the unique mannerisms of each character.

Sorry about the Sappy ending

Is there anything you would change about this book?

A lot to like, but I did get tired of the main characters whining that their mother's didn't love them. Lots of good parts, I couldn't put it down, but I felt let down by the sappy ending.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Too much wallowing about past pain. We have all been hurt, most of us try to move forward, which the characters did in the early parts of the novel, but when things turned out well, they went on like they were in a bad romance novel.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I LOVE Amy Tan and the readers were great, but this one was a disappointment.

Could you see The Valley of Amazement being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

I hope not

Amy Tan is amazing.

The Valley of Amazement was a great listen. Years ago I had read the Joy Luck Club and was fairly certain the author could not have written anything as beautiful as that. I was wrong. This was so rich and vivid that you could reach out and touch the characters. # AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW sweepstakes Entry.

My 1st audio book

I found the book harsh, crude yet so detailed in it's places things etc. I wanted to finish this book though at times was depressed and found it so difficult to imagine how these wondrous characters could have endured.

A gutwrenching and beautiful story!

From start to finish, this novel moved me. It's poetic without the idealistic romanticism of less believable fiction.

You won't be disappointed!

Would you listen to The Valley of Amazement again? Why?

Yes, love Amy Tan's stories of mother and daughters complex relationships.

What did you like best about this story?

Violet's transition from pampered child to pampered Courtesan, then her appreciation of the love that was always there but she never appreciated until it was almost to late.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Violet

An Amazing Immersion in Culture

Like in Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan has created believable and deep female characters who become the readers' friends. The deep understanding of Chinese culture conveyed to the reader through setting and details makes the weaving of this novel realistic.

The flaw was in two sections which easily could/should have been left out. The courtesan's etiquette was dry and boring beyond words. I nearly stopped listening at this point. Thankfully I persisted because I had to know more about the fate of the character.
While a long book, it is worth the time learn of the times and relationships of three generations of women lost between two cultures.