The Kitchen God's Wife (1991) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters edit see section history

• Winne Louie: Add a description of this character.
• Pearl Louie Brandt
• Wen Fu
• Helen/Hulan
• Jimmie Louie
• Hu Ian
• Danru
• Phil
• Jimmy Louie
• Jiaguo
• Mr. Ma
• Auntie Helen
• Auntie Du
• Cleo
• Tessa
• Little Yu
• Mimi
• Doug
• Miao
• Kuang An
• Zhang
• Samuel
• Henry
• Frank
• Winnie
• Jiang Sao-yen
• Roger
• Mrs. Hong
• Lin
• Yiku
• Kitchen God
• Edna Fong
• Jiang Weill
• Wen Chen

Quotes edit see section history

• “I've always found wreaths hideously sad, like decorative lifesavers thrown out too late.”

• “I don't know why so many students, writers, and artists liked to live here (Japanese section). Maybe they thought it was romantic--if you had no food, you could eat each other's ideas.”

• “Ying-gai was what my mother always said when she meant, I should have. Ying-gai meant she should have altered the direction of fate, she should have prevented disaster. To me, Ying-gai meant my mother lived a life of regrets that never faded with time.”

  Pearl

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• So I said, If you always tell him you are sorry now, you will always be sorry later.

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• I was like that wife of Kitchen God. Nobody worshipped her either. He got all the excuses. He got all the credit. She was forgotten.

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• How can you think everyone can be a hero, choosing death, when it is part of our nature to let go of brave thoughts at the last moment and cling to hope and life?

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• I think about a child’s capacity to hurt her mother in ways she cannot ever imagine.

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• “Don’t strike a flea on a tiger’s head.” Don’t settle one trouble only to make a bigger one.

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• Isn’t that how it is when you must decide with your heart? You are not just choosing one thing over another. You are choosing what you want. And you are also choosing what somebody else does not want, and all the consequences that follow. You can tell yourself, That’s not my problem, but those words do not wash the trouble away. Maybe it is no longer a problem in your life. But it is always a problem in your heart. And I can tell you, that afternoon, when I knew what I wanted, I cried, just like a child who cannot explain why she is crying.

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• I don’t know why everyone always thought Confucius was so good, so wise. He made everyone look down on someone else, women were the lowest!

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• Mostly I see my mother sitting one table away, and I feel as lonely as I imagine her to be. I think of the enormous distance that separates us and makes us unable to share the most important matters of our life. How did this happen?

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• She was tearing it away—my protective shell, my anger, my deepest fears, my despair. She was putting all this into her own heart, so that I could finally see what was left. Hope.

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• that common saying everyone in China was raised with: “If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.”

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Shanghai
• China
• San Ma
• Kunming
• Nanking Road
• New Aunt
• America
• Hangchow
• Kuomintang
• Tsungming Island
• Old Aunt
• New West
• San Francisco
• Harbin
• Yangchow
• Changsha
• Kweiyang
• United States
• Amitaba

First Sentence edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Amy Tan (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3570.A48 K58 1991
• Dewey: 813.54

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Family Saga
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary

More Books Like This edit see section history