Welcome to the 5th weekly recap of The Joy Luck Club read-along!  Below is the schedule.  Each Saturday I’ll post a recap (with clearly marked spoilers for those who get a little behind).  The final review of the book will be on Saturday, October 24th.

• Sep. 7th – 12th: Chapters “The Joy Luck Club” and “Scar”
• Sep. 13th – 19th: Chapters “The Red Candle” and “The Moon Lady”
• Sep. 20th – 26th” Chapters “Rules of the Game”, “The Voice from the Wall”, and “Half and Half”
• Sep. 27th – Oct. 3rd: Chapters “Two Kinds” and “Rice Husband”
• Oct. 4th – 10th: Chapters “Four Directions”, “Without the Wood”, and “Best Quality”
• Oct. 11th – 17th: Chapters “Magpies” and “Waiting Between the Trees”
• Oct. 18th – 23rd: Chapters “Double Face” and “A Pair of Tickets”

This week, we read three chapters, each about one of the daughters.  So many feelings.  I’m not exactly sure where to start…

[Spoilers] So I’ll begin with Waverly Jong and her mom, Lindo.  “You don’t know my mother,” I said.  She never thinks anybody is good enough for anything.”  I was right there with Waverly until she and Lindo come to some bizarre understanding of each other.  I feel that, had I read this a few years ago, I would have believed that my mom and I had had one of those moments, and everything was better afterward.  We didn’t and it wasn’t, and so I’m skeptical about Waverly and Lindo having a better mother-daughter relationship.  I don’t think that much emotional damage and negativity can be fixed so easily.  I’m happy that Rose is finally taking back control of her life.  I know what it’s like to be in a relationship in which one person slowly gives up control of the decisions little bit by little bit until the other person is making all the choices.  My Ex came to see it as his right to decide on things without consulting me.  When I finally woke up to reality, my life was in shambles, and I don’t even know when he stopped caring.  It was a long process to put everything back together again, but, like Rose, it was exhilarating to be back in the driver’s seat.  I think Jing-mei has a long way to go before she comes into her own and gains back her self-esteem.  The hurtful words that come out of Waverly’s mouth during the Chinese New Year dinner make me like her a little less, but I can’t help think she learned her spitefulness from her mother.  [End Spoilers]

What do you think?  Comment away!  Just be sure to mark clearly any spoilers 🙂