The Lost Voice

"For nine hundred years, Precious Auntie's family had been bonesetters.  That was the tradition.  Her father's customers were mostly men and boys who were crushed in the coal mines and limestone quarries.  He treated other maladies when necessary, but bonesetting was his specialty.  He did not have to go to a special school to be a bone doctor.  He learned from watching his father, and his father learned from his father before him.  That was their inheritance.  They also passed along the secret location for finding the best dragon bones, a place called the Monkey's Jaw.  An ancestor from the time of the Sung Dynasty had found the cave in the deepest ravines of the dry riverbed.  Each generation dug deeper and deeper, with one soft crack in the cave leading to another farther in.  And the secret of the exact location was also a family heirloom, passed from generation to generation, father to son, and in Precious Auntie's time, father to daughter to me."

The Bonesetter's Daughter is a book that has definitely impacted my life.  Tan's book explores the complexity of the mother-daughter relationship across generations, showing that no matter how distant you may feel from each other, there is a connection between the two of you that can never be broken.  Ruth, the main character, and her mother show both a literal and figurative loss of voice in this novel, portraying the silence of the female voice.  

My junior honors English teacher recommended this book to me in high school.  While reading this novel, you are sent on an emotional roller-coaster, connecting you to the book's characters and conflicts on a deep and personal level.  This book has taught me many lessons such as to not judge others and to simply stop and just listen.  Not much can be said about what The Bonesetter's Daughter has taught me without giving too much away, but this book has changed my life.  This book is a favorite of mine, and I hope that it can touch the lives of future readers like it has touched me in my life.  

I am a lover of quotes.  The following are two of my favorite lines from this novel:

"Writing what you wish was the most dangerous form of wishful thinking."
— Amy Tan (The Bonesetter's Daughter)

"That was how dishonesty and betrayal started, not in big lies but in small secrets. "
— Amy Tan (The Bonesetter's Daughter)

Here is a link to a preview of this book.  If you get the chance to read The Bonesetter's Daughter, do not pass the opportunity up.