THE VALLEY OF

AMEZEMENT
Amy Tan
HISTORY OF THE VALLEY OF
AMAZEMENT
AUTHOR`S EDITION By
t
Amy Tan WA he
Y
Born Thi
s
in Oakland, California, The United States  AM IS
Y
Website TAN
[Link]
Twitter
amytan
Genre
Literature & Fiction
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
TO AMY TAN 1
Amy Tan (Chinese: 譚恩美 ; pinyin: Tán
Ēnměi; born February 19, 1952) is an
American writer whose works explore
mother-daughter relationships and what it
means to grow up as a first generation
Asian American. In 1993, Tan's adaptation
of her most popular fiction work, The Joy
Luck Club, became a commercially
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
OFhasAMY
She written TAN 2 books, including The
several other
Kitchen God's Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, and
The Bonesetter's Daughter, and a collection of non-
fiction essays entitled The Opposite of Fate: A Book of
Musings. Her most recent book, Saving Fish From
Drowning, explores the tribulations experienced by a
group of people who disappear while on an art
expedition into the jungles of Burma. In addition, Tan
has written two children's books: The Moon Lady
(1992) and Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat (1994),
which was turned into an animated series airing on
PBS. She has also appeared on PBS in a short spot on
encouraging children to write.
THIS IS THE
BOOK`s
COVER
BOOK SUMMARY
Amy Tan's The Valley of Amazement is a
sweeping, evocative epic of two women's
intertwined fates and their search for identity,
that moves from the lavish parlors of Shanghai
courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a
remote
SpanningChinese village.
more than forty years and two
continents, The Valley of Amazement resurrects
pivotal episodes in history: from the collapse of
China's last imperial dynasty, to the rise of the
Republic, the explosive growth of lucrative
foreign trade and anti-foreign sentiment, to the
inner workings of courtesan houses and the lives
of the foreign "Shanghailanders" living in the
BOOK SUMMARY
A deeply evocative narrative about the
profound connections between mothers and
daughters, The Valley of Amazement returns
readers to the compelling territory of Amy
Tan's The Joy Luck Club. With her characteristic
insight and humor, she conjures a story of
inherited trauma, desire and deception, and the
power and stubbornness of love.
 EXCERPT Chapter 1
Hidden Jade Path

Shanghai
1905–1907
Violet
When I was seven, I knew exactly who I was: a thoroughly American
girl in race, manners, and speech, whose mother, Lulu Minturn, was
the only white woman who owned a first-class courtesan house in
Shanghai. 
My mother named me Violet after a tiny flower she loved as a girl
growing up in San Francisco, a city I have seen only in postcards. I
grew to hate my name. The courtesans pronounced it like the
Shanghainese word vyau-la—what you said when you wanted to get
rid of something. "Vyau-la! Vyau-la!" greeted me everywhere. 
EXCERPT
My mother took a Chinese name, Lulu Mimi, which
sounded like her American one, and her courtesan house
was then known as the House of Lulu Mimi. Her Western
clients knew it by the English translation of the
characters in her name: Hidden Jade Path. There were no
other first-class courtesan houses that catered to both
Chinese and Western clients, many of whom were among
the wealthiest in foreign trade. And thus, she broke
taboo rather extravagantly in both worlds. 
EXCERPT
That house of flowers was my entire world. I had no peers or little American
friends. When I was six, Mother enrolled me in Miss Jewell's Academy for Girls.
There were only fourteen pupils, and they were all cruel. Some of their
mothers had objected to my presence, and those daughters united all the girls
in a plot to expel me. They said I lived in a house of "evil ways," and that no
one should touch me, lest my taint rub off on them. They also told the teacher
I cursed all the time, when I had done so only once. But the worst insult came
from an older girl with silly ringlets. On my third day, I arrived at school and
was walking down the hallway when this girl walked briskly up to me and said
within hearing distance of my teacher and the younger class girls: "You spoke
Chinee to a Chinee beggar and that makes you Chinee." I could not bear one
more of her insults. I grabbed her ringlets and hung on. She screamed, and a
dozen fists pummeled my back and another bloodied my lip and knocked out a
tooth that had already been loose. I spit it out, and we all stared for a second
at the glistening tusk, and then I clutched my neck for dramatic effect and
shrieked, "I've been killed!" before collapsing to the floor. One girl fainted, and
the ringleader and her pack scampered off with stricken faces. I picked up the
EXCERPT
Confused, I told her what I had said to the old beggar: "Lao
huazi, let me by." Until she told me that lao huazi was the Chinese
word for "beggar," I had not known I was speaking a hodgepodge
of English, Chinese, and the Shanghainese dialect. Then again,
why would I know the word beggar in English when I had never
seen an American grandpa slumped against a wall, mumbling with
a slack mouth so that I might have pity on him? Until I went to
school, I had been speaking my peculiar language only in Hidden
Jade Path to our four courtesans, their attendants, and the
servants. Their syllables of gossip and flirtation, complaints and
woe, went into my ear, and came out of my mouth, and in
conversations I had with my mother, I had never been told there
was anything amiss with my speech. Adding to the mess, Mother
also spoke Chinese, and her attendant, Golden Dove, also spoke
EXCERPT
I remained troubled by the girl's accusation. I asked
Mother if she had spoken Chinese as a child, and she
told me that Golden Dove had given her rigorous
lessons. I then asked Mother if I spoke Chinese as well
as the courtesans did. "In many ways, yours is better,"
she said. "More beautifully spoken." I was alarmed. I
asked my new tutor if a Chinese person naturally
spoke Chinese better than an American ever could. He
said the shapes of the mouth, tongue, and lips of each
race were best suited to its particular language, as
were the ears that conducted words into the brain. I
asked him why he thought I could speak Chinese. He
said that I studied well and had exercised my mouth to
EXCERPT
I worried for two days, until logic and deduction enabled me to
reclaim my race. First of all, I reasoned, Mother was American.
Although my father was dead, it was obvious he had been an
American, since I had fair skin, brown hair, and green eyes. I wore
Western clothing and regular shoes. I had not had my feet
crushed and wedged like dumpling dough into a tiny shoe. I was
educated, too, and in difficult subjects, such as history and
science—"and for no greater purpose than Knowledge Alone," my
tutor had said. Most Chinese girls learned only how to behave.
EXCERPT
What's more, I did not think like a Chinese person—no
kowtowing to statues, no smoky incense, and no ghosts. Mother
told me: "Ghosts are superstitions, conjured up by a Chinese
person's own fears. The Chinese are a fearful lot and thus they
have many superstitions." I was not fearful. And I did not do
everything a certain way just because that was how it had been
done for a thousand years. I had Yankee ingenuity and an
independent mind; Mother told me that. It was my idea, for
example, to give the servants modern forks to use instead of
ancient chopsticks. Mother, however, ordered the servants to
return the silverware. She said that each tine was more
valuable than what a servant might earn in a year, and thus,
the servants might be tempted to sell the forks. The Chinese
READING GUIDE QUESTIONS
Amy Tan did extensive research on courtesan culture in Shanghai during the
turn of the twentieth century, making The Valley of Amazement her most
extensively researched book by far. Do you feel like the book effectively
transported you to that world? If so, what details were the most helpful? If
not, what was lacking or felt anachronistic to you?
Amy Tan describes the sexual acts of the courtesans and their clients in
unflinching detail. Do you feel that the level of detail in these scenes helps
to deepen the portrayals of the courtesans? Do the descriptions of the more
quotidian aspects of their lives do as much to develop their characters as do
the frank depictions of their sexual acts?
Though there are complex power dynamics in the relationship between a
courtesan and her client, the relationship involves an exchange of sex for
money. Did you struggle with the fact that Violet ends up marrying the man
who was her first client, and paid to take her virginity as a young courtesan?
MY BOOK REVIEW OF AMY
TAN`S THE VALLEY OF
AMAZEMENT
The Valley of Amazement follows the twisted and
tortured turns of Violent Minturn’s extraordinary
life. Spanning 50 years and two continents, the
reader is drawn into the world of Shanghainese
courtesans, their love lives and sexual secrets.
The book starts off in 1905. We are introduced to Violet, a strong-willed
seven year old whose mother is the American mistress of the city’s most
successful courtesan house. In a cruel twist of fate, Violet is separated
from her mother and forced to become a “virgin courtesan”. The reader
is drawn into intimate aspects of Violet’s life from losing her virginity to
falling in love and later facing heartbreak. With her trusty motherly
companion Magic Gourd at her side, we see Violet develop from a naïve
teenager to a shrewd and strong businesswoman. We meet the key men
in her life - a Chinese playboy, a kind-hearted American and a truly
twisted poet. As Violet tries to come to terms with her abandonment
issues, we witness the psychological challenges of the mother-daughter
relationship. In the latter half of the book, the narrative switches to
Violet’s mother, Lucia and the reader finally discovers the truth about
Violet’s parents and their tormented love story.
It had been eight years since I had read an Amy Tan book. Yet
from the first paragraph, I was once again drawn into her
compelling narrative. I finished the 589-paged book in three late
night sittings. Even though I found the protagonist annoyingly
stubborn at times, I could not help gunning for her. I found
myself immersed in the story and strangely looked forward to
discovering what horrific atrocity would plague the life of Violet.
Tan’s sound storytelling abilities sucked me into the heartbreak
and cruelty of Violet’s life. I started to secretly hope that Violet
would have a happy ending.
 
There were some beautifully written paragraphs that stayed with
me long after the book was finished. My favorite paragraph was
in Chapter 10, when Violet speaks about a relationship that has
become irreparably broken, “He didn’t love me, I didn’t love him,
and never had. But now I was like a bird, my wings once carried
on a wind of lies. I would beat those wings to stay aloft, and
when the wind suddenly died or buffeted me around, I would
keep beating those strong wings and fly in my own slice of wind.”
Books about Chinese courtesans have never been at the
top of my reading list, nor have sweeping epic love
stories. Yet, despite the subject matter, I did enjoy The
Valley of Amazement. The way in which Tan writes has an
easy flow and accessibility that people from all
backgrounds and cultures can appreciate. To the critical
literary eye, Amy Tan’s prose is not as lyrical as many
prize-winning books. But to be honest, many prize-
winning books can be more hard work than a pleasure. I
know which type of book I’d prefer. What is the point of
writing books that only a niche audience will like? The
Valley of Amazement is the perfect kind of novel to curl
up to in icy cold weather. You don’t need to agonise too
much about the subtext or whether paragraphs have six
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SALAMAT!