The Kitchen God's Wife

The Kitchen God's Wife is a novel by Amy Tan about a Chinese-American family, and the struggles that the women in the family have had and continue to endure. The book focuses on the relationship between Winnie Louie and Pearl, a mother and daughter who find it hard to understand each other and tell each other dark secrets because of the distant nature of their relationship. When Pearl is called by her Aunt Helen to attend an engagement party for her cousin and a funeral for her aunt, she is forced to reveal a secret to her mother, and in turn discovers many of her mother's secrets.

Pearl Louie Brandt, a Chinese-American woman born to a Chinese mother and Chinese-American father, lives in San Jose, California with her family. She receives a call from her mother, Winnie Louie, asking her to travel to San Francisco to attend a party for her cousin Bao-Bao's engagement. Pearl agrees, and a few moments later, her mother calls to tell her more news about the family; Pearl's Aunt Du has died, and Pearl has to attend the funeral, which will be held in San Francisco the day after the engagement party.

When she arrives in San Francisco, Pearl is commandeered by her Aunt Helen, who demands that Pearl reveal the secret she has been keeping from her mother. The rest of the family knows that Pearl has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but Pearl hasn't had the heart to tell her mother yet. Aunt Helen says that she has been diagnosed with a potentially fatal brain tumor and that it would break her heart to go to her grave without Winnie Louie knowing the truth about her daughter's health. Helen tells Pearl that if she doesn't reveal the truth to her mother, she will tell Winnie Louie for her. After talking to Pearl, Helen pesters Winnie Louie to tell her daughter the truth about her past, for the same reasons.

The narrative lens shifts to Winnie who pulls her daughter aside and tells her the story of her upbringing. Winnie reveals that abandoned by her own mother at a young age, she was taken in by her aunt and uncle, who never loved her as much as they loved their own daughter, Peanut. Winnie's mother had been a lesser wife of her prominent father, and Winnie never totally understood the nature of her mother's abandonment. Despite being the lesser of the two children in her adopted family, Winnie's aunt and uncle established a traditional arranged marriage for her, with a dowry donated by Winnie's estranged father.

Winnie is married to Wen Fu, who at first courted Peanut but changed his mind when he learned of Winnie's wealthy father. The marriage was immediately a mistake. Wen Fu was abusive, beating Winnie and causing her to lose many children. He also took credit for much of the work Winnie did; as a result, she felt like the wife in the Kitchen God fable, who never gets credit for the work she does. Winnie then meets Pearl's father, Jimmy Louie, at a military dance. The two fall in love and Jimmy helps Winnie escape her horrible marriage, promising her a new life and organizing the divorce, which was witnessed by Auntie Du and Aunt Helen. Wen Fu ripped up the first papers, and when Winnie came to him again to sign the document, he raped her. Winnie reveals she has never known whether Pearl was Jimmy or Wen Fu's biological daughter.

After hearing this story, Pearl better understands her mother, whom she grew distant from after the death of her father, Jimmy, when she was in high school. Pearl shares her diagnosis with Winnie and the two bond. The novel ends with the funeral and the wedding of Bao-Bao, and with news that Winnie, Pearl, and Helen have all planned a trip overseas together.

Amy Tan is a Chinese-American author of many novels that discuss the complex nature of the Chinese-American experience. Her books include The Joy Luck Club, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Kitchen God's Wife, and others, including two books for children and a memoir called Where the Past Begins. The Kitchen God's Wife was based in large part on Tan's relationship with her own mother, and stems from knowledge Tan has about her mother's troubled past in an abusive arranged marriage.