The Valley of Amazement

by Amy Tan

This is the first book by Tan that I have read.  Her books have been very popular so I had high expectations. 

The book is the story of Violet Minturn.  Violet's mother, an American, operates an exclusive courtesan house.  She observes how her mother handles the clients, teasing them, nurturing their egos.  As the politics in China change one of  Violet's mother\s clients makes arrangements for the two of them to leave China for San Francisco on a ship.  Violet's mother makes it onto the ship but Violet is detained and does not make it.  It appears this was deliberate on the part of her mother's client.  Violet later finds out that this man was likely her father.

Violet is taken in by another courtesan house and groomed to be a courtesan by a former employee of her mother's.  This woman not only coaches her on how to behave but looks after her as a surrogate mother.  Violet does not want to become a courtesan but she has no alternative.

The man who buys her "deflowering" is a man she likes, they have a loving but also tempestuous relationship while he has her contract.  She treats him very rudely and he decides not to renew his contract.  She then lives several years with a variety of clients.
Then she meets a client, an American.  They fall in love with her and he takes her away from the brothel and they live together as man and wife.  She has a baby girl.  They are very happy for a few years until the man dies.  Violet doesn't know what to do and decides to take on the name of the man's American wife, registering her daughter as his daughter.  He has left her his fortune in China so she should have been comfortable.  However, the man's American wife discovers what she has done, she is charged with a crime and the woman takes her daughter from her.

Violet is distraught by the loss of her daughter.  She returns to work in a brothel where she meets a man who claims to be a poet.  He woos her with tales of his family and with poetry and she agrees to marry him.  She and her surrogate mother travel a great distance and are shocked to discover that the man is not as wealthy as he claimed and he has two other wives.  She will be one of his concubines.  She is furious and plots how to escape but the location is very remote and escape seems impossible.  She does try to get away and her "husband" beats her savagely.  Then she and other of the concubines hear about a village you can reach by climbing a nearby mountain.

They set out but the man almost catches up with them, but he is killed by a rock fall.

Violet returns to her home city but is adamant she will no longer be a courtesan.  She goes to her first lover and insists he give her a job in his business.  He does so and her English language skills and ability make a valuable contribution to his company.  Initially they remain friends but not lovers.

Eventually Violet learns where her mother is and the circumstances under which she left.  She contacts her mother who tracks down her daughter.  Violet's mother makes friends with the girl and keeps an eye on her for Violet.  It is clear the girl does not like her adopted mother.  Violet's mother and her daughter travel to China to see her and invite her to return with  them to the U.S.  But she decides it would be better for her to stay and take care of her aging lover.

This was an interesting story, the portrait of the lives of the courtesans was interesting.  It was interesting to see the strong female characters trying to have some measure of control over their lives.  The story line of the mother's losing their daughters was poignant.  The woman were very strong willed.  The story was interesting with a lot of colourful characters.  However, I felt it was a bit too wordy at times.  The author spent a lot of time describing scenes and interactions but didn't give us much detail as to how Violet or her mother were feeling about the loss of their daughters.  Violet's mother, to be fair, had been told that her daughter had been killed, run over by a carriage, if I remember correctly.