From English classes to book clubs, Amy Tan's bestseller The Joy Luck Club has become a staple of contemporary American fiction. Its heartrending and powerful stories speak volumes about the trials both of the immigrant experience in America and of mother-daughter relationships in any family. The Companion takes you inside this favorite: What are the Joy Luck Club daughters expected to do with the stories their mothers tell them? How autobiographical is Tan's novel? Which daughter did she base on herself? What role does the past play in the lives of immigrants and their children?