Dreams of Joy (Lisa See)

In my early twenties I read The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. The story traces the lives of four mothers, four daughters, and four families whose histories mesh and shift depending on who is 'saying' the stories. The stories of unspeakable loss and hope grab you in to the last page; and since then I've been hooked. Hooked on Amy Tan's books and hooked on reading as much as possible about this strange and foreign country full of strong and resourceful people. 

I've been a fan of Lisa See for many years. Her stories are rich, yet accessible;  heartbreakingly sad but uplifting; and at the end I never want to read the last page and close the book on the characters with whom I have become so entranced with and whose lives I've become entrenched in - I always want to know more about them and their trials and tribulations. So when I read the story of May and Pearl in Shanghai Girls I was so glad that I could pick up Dreams of Joy  and submerse myself in their world after leaving China and making their way to mainland United States.

Dreams of Joy is about 'mother love'—the love Pearl feels for Joy; that Joy feels for her mother; that Joy experiences with the birth of her own daughter; and the on-going struggle between Pearl and May over who is Joy’s true mother. The story highlights all the secrets, disappointments, fear, and overwhelming love for a child that all mothers feel. Pearl asks the questions that are on every mother's lips - 'What tactic do we, as mothers, use with our children when we know they’re going to make, or have already made, a terrible mistake?  We accept blame.' And then we have to 'hide [our] sadness, anger, and grief.'

Dreams of Joy is a torrid read from anyone's perspective - Chinese or non-Chinese. When Joy abandons her mother and goes to the People's Republic of China to live in a commune I felt enormous rage that this could happen - and I realised the rage was the result of the unspeakable loss, desolation and grief a mother must feel when their child chooses to 'run away' as a course of action, chooses a different life for themselves - a life that totally denounces family history and all a family stands for.

Dreams of Joy also highlights how a not too distant time in Chinese history has shaped the people who live there and of those who migrated. In true historical novel style we catch more than a glimpse into 1957 Chinese life - including the food that was eaten, the clothes that were worn, the effect of the family and village structures of the time on social development, the social graces expected and the tyranny endured by the common people.

Even though I have read many novels about China in Mao's time, I'm never bored or feel I've 'read it all' before. It's the people, the characters, their emotions and the incredible journeys they make through their lives, both metaphorically and in miles that keep me going back for more.