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G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS, 2001
(available in paperback from Ballantine, 2002)
IN CONTEMPORARY San Francisco, Luling, an elderly Chinese widow, struggles with dementia and remains haunted by the notion that a curse from the past still plagues her family.
Her American-born daughter, Ruth, a ghostwriter of self-help books, is distanced from her Chinese heritage and knows little of her mother’s past. Ruth faces her own challenges: her dissatisfaction with her harried lifestyle; her relationship with Art, her Caucasian partner, and his two daughters; her career—in addition to her tense relationship with her mother.
Her mother’s declining memory and unpredictable behavior alarm Ruth. Caring for the ailing Luling, she discovers her mother’s diaries, written in Chinese ideograms, and has them translated. Luling has documented the “things I must not forget”—the story of her childhood in the 1930s, in a remote mountain village known as Immortal Heart. Luling’s diaries reveal a tragic history she has never been able to communicate to her daughter about the life of her own mother, the daughter of a famous bonesetter, a Chinese doctor who mends bones, and Luling’s beloved caregiver, Precious Auntie. Reading of her mother’s struggles, Ruth comes to understand Luling’s fears and superstitions.
In The Bonesetter’s Daughter, Amy Tan interweaves Luling’s childhood story with that of Luling and Ruth in modern San Francisco, exploring the bond and conflict between mothers and daughters and the often difficult dynamic between first-generation Americans and their immigrant parents.
In Tan’s novel, the contrast and conflict between American and Chinese cultures is underscored by the characters’ culinary preferences. Ruth’s American partner, Art, won’t eat the prawns in shells she loves, while the pickled turnips Ruth craves repulse Art’s daughters.
This divergence is highlighted during a family gathering Ruth hosts during the Full Moon Festival, a Chinese holiday when family reunites to watch the full moon and eat moon cakes. Ruth has carefully planned this “Chinese Thanksgiving” reunion for Luling and Ruth’s Auntie Gal, and for Art, his daughters, his parents, and surprise guests: Art’s ex-wife and her family.
The Fountain Court restaurant is packed for the Full Moon Festival. Ruth has selected the Fountain Court “because it was one of the few restaurants where her mother had not questioned the preparation of the dishes, the attitude of the waiters, or the cleanliness of the bowls.” Ruth knows that no matter what transpires, they will have a delicious meal.
Dinner starts off with some of Luling’s favorites, such as jellyfish—dishes the non-Chinese guests find unappealing—which, to Luling’s consternation, results in teasing from the children. Ruth becomes tense as things begin to unravel. But, just in time, new dishes arrive, including eggplant sautéed with fresh basil leaves and a lion’s head clay pot of meatballs and rice vermicelli. Luling notes that even the Caucasians are enjoying these foods.
San Francisco’s Fountain Court is a real restaurant frequented by Amy Tan, and it is often jammed for the Full Moon Festival, says owner Doreen Chin. “With both parents working these days, many people tend to eat out for the holidays,” she adds. “They have moon cakes and go home to enjoy the moon.”
The dishes Tan describes in the family reunion dinner scene are on the restaurant’s menu. Chef Terry Chin demonstrated preparation of Eggplant Sautéed with Fresh Basil and the Lion’s Head Clay Pot of Meatballs and Rice Vermicelli, two Fountain Court favorites, for The Book Club Cookbook. Courtesy of the Chins, you can bring the fabulous flavors of the Fountain Court to your discussion of The Bonesetter’s Daughter.
NOTE: The eggplant can be prepared with less oil, but hot deep-frying will retain the lovely purple color.
The bean sauce in this recipe is a brown bean sauce made from fermented soybeans, available in Asian groceries, and is different from black bean sauce, which has a much sharper flavor.
¾ pound Chinese eggplant (2–3 eggplants) Vegetable oil for deep-frying, plus 2 tablespoons for stir-frying |
1 teaspoon minced garlic 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger ½ tablespoon brown bean sauce (see note) |
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1 tablespoon soy sauce 1½ tablespoons sugar ½ cup fresh basil leaves, packed |
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in a little water 1 teaspoon sesame oil |
Wash the eggplant; cut off and discard ends. Cut crosswise into thirds, and then quarter each piece lengthwise into wedges.
Heat the oil in a wok or deep fryer to 400°F. Add the eggplant and fry for about 1 minute, until the white part starts to brown. Drain eggplant on paper towels.
In a wok, heat the 2 tablespoons vegetable oil on high heat. Add the garlic and ginger, and stir-fry just until aromatic. Add the bean sauce and stir briefly. Add the water, soy sauce, and sugar, and stir to combine. Add fried eggplant and basil, and cook about 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Add enough cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken the sauce slightly. Stir in the sesame oil. Serve with steamed rice.
Yield: 4 appetizer servings
Terry Chin recommends using a fatty cut of pork, such as the leg, for the meatballs, and slicing and chopping it yourself. Ground pork can be substituted, but the fatty pork produces moist, tender, more flavorful meatballs. You can panfry the meatballs instead of deep-frying, but use as much oil as possible and turn the meatballs gently so they don’t lose their shape. Although any soup tureen will suffice, the dish is traditionally served in a clay pot to preserve heat.
For the meatballs
1½ pounds fatty pork ½ tablespoon cornstarch
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2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon sugar ½ teaspoon salt |
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¾ teaspoon minced fresh ginger |
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or sake Vegetable oil (cottonseed or safflower) for deep-frying |
For the soup
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8–10 cups water 2 tablespoons oil (cottonseed or safflower) 1 teaspoon sugar
1 pound Napa cabbage, cut in 1 × 2-inch pieces |
4 dried black Chinese mushrooms, soaked in hot water to reconstitute, drained ¼ pound bean-thread rice noodles (saifun), soaked in warm water for 20 minutes and drained |
To make the meatballs: Slice pork as thinly as possible, then cut the slices into very thin strips. Mince the strips into tiny pieces.
Dissolve the cornstarch in the water. Place pork, soy sauce, sugar, salt, sesame oil, white pepper, ginger, rice wine, and cornstarch mixture in a large bowl. Mix together with your hands until ingredients are completely blended. Pack the mixture down tightly using your palms. Cover and refrigerate 40 minutes.
Form the meat mixture into 4 large balls, and place them on an oiled plate to keep them from sticking. Heat 4–5 inches of oil, enough to cover the meatballs, to 400°F in a pot or deep fryer. When oil is hot, add meatballs and fry for 1 minute (if using a smaller pot for frying, fry the meatballs in batches). Remove meatballs and set aside.
To make the soup: Place 8–10 cups of water over the highest heat in a wok, large saucepan, or Dutch oven. (If your range does not have a very high heat source, use a bit less water, and adjust the soy sauce accordingly.) When the water is hot, add the oil, sugar, soy sauce, cabbage, mushrooms, and a single layer of the meatballs on top. Cover the pot and simmer over medium heat for 10–15 minutes. Add noodles, and simmer an additional 15 minutes until meatballs are cooked through and cabbage is very tender. Serve in bowls, giving each person 1 meatball and 1 mushroom.
Yield: 4 servings
Frieda Ling, a reference librarian at the Glendale Public Library in Arizona, formed the Sino-American Book Discussion Group to appreciate the works of notable Chinese authors. “I believe literature enhances intercultural understanding and helps bridge cultures,” says Ling.
Ling chose Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter to kick off her book discussion program. “Amy Tan was an ideal first author,” says Ling. “She is a popular Chinese-American author known for her intriguing plots, lively characterizations, and universal themes.”
Her group discusses both the uniqueness and universality of each title they read, says Ling, and although there are many themes common to all of Tan’s stories, “the author never fails to offer a twist that gives the familiar a sense of freshness.”
The abundance of universal themes in Tan’s work—family secrets, cultural clashes, the immigrant experience, the search for identity, intercultural marriage, and caring for the aged—kept conversation lively. “We had a special interest in the intergenerational conflict focused upon the mother-daughter relationship,” says Ling.
The exotic backdrop of the drama—an isolated village in postrevolutionary China—sparked the group’s interest. “The feudal tradition still had a strong hold on people’s mind-set and lives,” says Ling, “such as ink making and the revered art of calligraphy.” The group admired Tan’s gift with language. “Tan can be ornately descriptive with the most ordinary of objects,” says Ling, “or express the most profound thought in a few simple words.”
Guests of the Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Great Books Dinner and Discussion Series enjoyed a Chinese feast when they discussed The Bonesetter’s Daughter. The menu featured sweet-and-sour meatballs, Peking duck with vegetables, white rice, mandarin oranges on salad greens, and melon balls in coconut, with a fortune cookie for dessert.
“In the book, there was a search for Peking Man, so Peking duck seemed an appropriate choice,” said Susannah Locke, an MSOE humanities professor who facilitated the discussion.
For her group’s discussion of The Bonesetter’s Daughter, Tandy Seery of the LunaChics Literary Guild in Tallahassee, Florida, served homemade meat and vegetarian eggrolls, vegetable fried rice, and stir-fried tofu with Chinese vegetables. She topped the meal with her own special creation, homemade mango ice cream.
cup water
teaspoon ground white pepper
cup soy sauce