Book Review: The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan is a beautifully layered novel about memory, identity, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. Tan once again proves her mastery in weaving past and present, myth and memory, into a poignant story that resonates across generations.
The novel follows Ruth, a Chinese American ghostwriter living in San Francisco, and her aging mother, LuLing, whose memory is beginning to slip away. When Ruth discovers a manuscript written by LuLing in Chinese, she sets out to translate her mother’s story — and in doing so, uncovers a life of tragedy, resilience, and buried truth that spans from a remote Chinese village to the hills of California.
LuLing’s story, revealed in the middle section of the novel, is especially captivating. As she recounts her upbringing, the mystery of her “Precious Auntie,” and the deep losses she endured, we begin to understand the roots of her pain — and how it shaped Ruth’s life, even in silence. Tan gives voice to the women of the past with compassion and grace, honoring their strength without ignoring their wounds.
What makes The Bonesetter’s Daughter so moving is its exploration of how unspoken trauma is passed down through generations. Tan handles this theme with sensitivity, showing how storytelling can become a path to understanding and healing. The novel is not only about uncovering truth, but about reclaiming it — and finding connection through it.
Rich in cultural detail and emotional insight, The Bonesetter’s Daughter is a haunting, hopeful novel that speaks to the universal desire to be seen, heard, and remembered. It is a tribute to the strength of women, the legacies they leave behind, and the fragile, fierce bonds between mothers and daughters.
About The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
Ruth Young and her widowed mother have always had a difficult relationship. But when she discovers writings that vividly describe her mother’s tumultuous life growing up in China, Ruth discovers a side of LuLing that she never knew existed.
Transported to a backwoods village known as Immortal Heart, Ruth learns of secrets passed along by a mute nursemaid, Precious Auntie; of a cave where dragon bones are mined; of the crumbling ravine known as the End of the World; and of the curse that LuLing believes she released through betrayal. Within the calligraphied pages awaits the truth about a mother’s heart, secrets she cannot tell her daughter, yet hopes she will never forget. . . .
Conjuring the pain of broken dreams and the power of myths, The Bonesetter’s Daughter is an excavation of the human spirit: the past, its deepest wounds, and its most profound hopes.
