Reviews on Three Books for Chicks

Sorry guys but this review is geared toward the ladies.  And ladies when I say "chick lit",  I'm not talking 50 Shades of Grey chick lit.  I'm simply going to review three books about women and their relationships with men.  The first is by the popular author of The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan.  Her books are always about the troubling relationships between daughters and mothers ...and men.  Her latest, The Valley of Amazement, is no different.  This time it's about an American girl living during the early 1900's who travels from San Francisco to Shanghai and then becomes the most popular madam of the most popular "courtesan" house in that jaded city.  Lulu Mimi, as she is known, has a daughter that she names Violet.  And Violet turns into one very precocious child.  She has a ferocious pet cat that terrorizes everyone and she surreptitiously watches as the courtesans ply their trade with both Western and Eastern clients. Of course this being a Tan book, the plot twists and turns, Lulu Mimi is tricked into leaving Violet behind while Lulu Mimi intends for both of them to go to San Francisco, and that is when the story of Violet takes over.   Read more...