The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan consists of stories from four Chinese-immigrant women and their American-born daughters. Each section explores the relationships of the mothers and daughters. Each women tells of her experiences and shares it with her daughter. The daughters, on the other hand, try to understand their mother's pasts and win their acceptance, because of their adaption to the American way of life.
The book opens with the death of Suyuan Woo, a Chinese women and the founder of the Joy Luck Club. Suyuan dies without fulfilling her wish, which is to be reunited with her twin daughters who she got separated from in China. Suyuan’s American-born daughter, Jing-mei (June) Woo, is then asked to replace her mother at the Joy Luck Club’s meetings.
At Jing-mei's first club meeting, she finds out that her half-sisters were found alive in China. The other members of the club give Jing-mei money to travel and meet her sisters. Although Jing-mei had the oppurtunity to fufill her mother's wish, she does not. Jing-mei feels as though she does not really know her mother and therefore could not tell her sisters about the mother they never knew.
The book then continues on to the other three members of the Joy Luck Club – Ying-ying, Lindo, and An-mei. They try to impart knowledge to their independent, American daughters. However, their daughters – Lena, Waverly, and Rose – all have their own views on life as Americans.
At the end of the book, Jing-mei finally decides to fly to China to meet her sisters. She is worried and stressed about meeting them. However, when they finally meet, the sisters instantly hug and cry. Jing-mei finally fufills her mother's wish while learning more about her mother and becoming closer to her at the same time.
