I’ve been re-reading Amy Tan’s incredible book The Joy Luck Club and just like the first time around, I can’t put it down.

If you haven’t yet read Tan’s masterpiece, I can’t recommend it enough. In essence, it details the relationships between Chinese-American women and their Chinese immigrant mothers and weaves together their respective histories in a way that’s…well, breathtaking. Very few books have touched me as deeply as The Joy Luck Club. I admire its style, the depth of its characters, the complexity of the circumstances and family histories laid bare, but more than anything I just simply love how Tan creates a story that’s authentic and yet universal enough so that anyone can see themselves in it.

In fact, it was The Joy Luck Club that first gave me a model (read: permission) for the kind of books I want to write. I strive to create a space in the literary canon for the Salvadoran diaspora and to showcase our stories to bring them into the conversation. I dream of the day when I can give my parents and nephews a copy of my book and say, “Here’s part of our history. Read it. Learn it. And never forget it.”

View this post on Instagram

Re-reading The Joy Luck Club by the incredible @amytanwriter and couldn’t resist contributing with a #bookface of my own. Tan masterfully weaves together such brilliant stories and characters, each of which lodges their way into your heart and memory. I’ve learned so much from this novel and would like to model a book of my own centered around #ElSalvador and the stories I heard growing up. Truly an inspiring read 📚 #AmyTan #joyluckclub

A post shared by C Adán Cabrera (@cadancabrera) on Aug 8, 2020 at 7:24am PDT