Amy Tan once again explores the relationship between mothers and daughters. “The Valley of Amazement” tells the story of Violet Minturn and her mother Lucia in reverse order. The setting is mainly Shanghai from 1905-1926. Lucia, an American, runs a courtesan house in the International Settlement in Shanghai. Her daughter, Violet, is Chinese-American. How San Franciscan born Lucia gets to China, gives birth to a mixed race child, and becomes part of the courtesan house culture is not revealed until the last chapters of the novel.
Part melodrama and part love story, “Valley of Amazement” is an interesting depiction of the lives of the women who live and work in these houses. Socially and culturally they do not identify with prostitutes or street walkers. Their beauty and social graces create for them privileged lives. Tan has done her research. Through her characters we learn a great deal, sometimes too much, about the “rules and practices” of the lives of these women.
The women are the strong characters in this story. The men, generally, are weak, dishonest, self-centered and sometimes brutal. If readers can persevere to the end, the book is almost 600 pages, they will find the book an interesting picture of Chinese life and society in the early twentieth century. But beware, this is definitely a soap-opera driven plot.