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What readers think of The Bonesetter's Daughter, plus links to write your own review.

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The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan

The Bonesetter's Daughter

by Amy Tan
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Feb 1, 2001, 400 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jan 2002, 416 pages
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Page 4 of 5
There are currently 33 reader reviews for The Bonesetter's Daughter
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Trisha

I personally liked the book....It was very interesting to read. It suggests that family ties should never be broken and it almost put me to tears at some parts. Even though the book started off kinda slow, it picked up towards the end of part one. This book should be read by people who understand and enjoy Chinese historical fiction and Amy Tan's other books.
DBuddy

Yes, this is a good book. But, one thing in particular bothered me. By the time you get to the part of the book where the mother tells who Precious Auntie was and what happened to her in the end, it has been set up so much that you already know who she is and what's going to happen (in fact you'll know near the beginning of the book) - it's just the details of how it happened that are filled in by the mother's story. So I found it quite painful to read through this part of the book, it was such a bleak march toward predetermined tragedy. And the way it was told made the mother seem less like a realistic person than a character whose sole function was to be the instrument of misfortune and regret. The story of the family secret resembled some Chinese fables, and I thought it'd be more effective in a short fable than in a novel.
Amy

I found that although the novel is interesting, there are many points that drag on causing the overall impression of the novel not to be to fabulous. I agree that it was very confusing and there is just a lot of complaining, I feel like it was just Amy Tan's way of venting her own frustrations with her mother.
Raul

Could it start any slower? Most of the rankings are from people who chose to read it, while i had to read it as an assignment. Unless you are an old woman this is a bad book.
skye

i might be only 16 but ive read books so im telling u this one sucks.
u wanna no why? well coz u gotta read like half the book till u get anywhere....u no what i mean? like ok once uve read up to a seten bit (and uve aged a 100 yrs) the books alright. but maybe ur reading this coz u like her style, im not really into the way she writes it takes her like 10 yrs to get to da point.
soluna

I read this book in three days. I found it extremely confusing and it really made no sense to me. I don't doubt Amy Tan's ability as a great writer, but unfortunately this book in my opinion is not really one that I would like to read again. It has strong characters but the story itself goes from one character to the other. All of this may leave readers like myself wondering what just happened. This story goes from present, to past, to present again and so forth through different characters and different points of view. In my opinion, this book is basically just about a case of miscommunication, if you read this book then you'll understand why I say this.
Laura

ehh
I truly despised this book. I predicted the ending before I even got through half of it. My prediction was correct! It just was NOT capturing my attention. At all.
julie

it put me to sleep...and she's a confusing writer

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