The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan (Del Rey)

真 - the kanji character for “TRUTH”. LuLing Liu Young has written this at the top of a sheet of paper followed by, “These are the things I know are true”. She then writes her name, the names of her two husbands, “both of them dead and our secrets gone with them”, and her daughter’s name Luyi. But there is one name she cannot remember. She only recalls being brought up by a nursemaid named Precious Auntie who once mentioned it. 

So begins Amy Tan’s tale of a Chinese-American woman and her immigrant mother in The Bonesetter’s Daughter. The first half of the book is told by the daughter, who has recently found a stack of papers she forgot about, clipped together in her bottom right desk drawer. The pages were all written in Chinese. Ruth recalls her mother saying, “Just some old things about my family. My story, begin little-girl time. I write for myself, but maybe you read, then you see how I grow up, come to this country.”  

Ruth felt guilty for neglecting it and decided she would try to translate one sentence a day. It took Ruth an hour to translate the first sentence which starts out as “These are the things I know are true.” The next evening Ruth translated another sentence, “My name is LuLing Liu Young”. This took her only five minutes. This was followed by the name of her two husbands. Ruth wasn’t aware that there was another man in her mother’s life. 

Ruth later finds another stack of papers all written in Chinese and written in the same style as the stack she found in her desk drawer. “HEART” was written at the top of the page in Chinese. It takes Ruth about ten minutes to translate the first sentence. “These are things I should not forget.” So begins the tale of her mother and the nursemaid called Precious Auntie. 

Precious Auntie’s often told LuLing about her father. She told LuLing that he was the Famous Bonesetter from the Mouth of the Mountain, and was the man who found dragon bones in a cave and used them to treat any type of ailment. LuLing remembers when she was about six, her nursemaid handed her a scrap of paper and said with her hands, “My family name. The name of all the bonesetters”. She told LuLing, “Never forget his name”. Unfortunately, it’s a name that LuLing can’t remember no matter how hard she tries and it still torments her now.

Luling writes in her notes, “Precious Auntie, what is our name? Come help me remember. I’m not a little girl anymore. I’m not afraid of ghosts. Are you still mad at me? Don’t you recognize me? I am LuLing, your daughter.”

The Bonesetter’s Daughter is as much a mystery as it is a human tale of the relationship between a mother and daughter. It is about family and family secrets and the immense power of love and what a mother will do to ensure the happiness of her child. What is the family secret? What is Precious Auntie’s real name? Amy Tan sets the tone and pace of the story that draws you in and keeps you there until all your questions are answered. ~Ernie Hoyt