SOURCE: "Pangs of an Abandoned Child," in New York Times Book Review, June 16, 1991, p. 9.

In the following review, Forman Dew points out a few problems with Tan's The Kitchen God's Wife, but concludes that the novel is "in the end, greatly satisfying."

Within the peculiar construction of Amy Tan's second novel is a harrowing, compelling and at times bitterly humorous tale in which an entire world unfolds in a Tolstoyan tide of event and detail. No doubt it was daunting to attempt a second book in the wake of the enormous success of The Joy Luck Club, but none of Ms. Tan's fans will be disappointed. The Kitchen God's Wife is a more ambitious effort and, in the end, greatly satisfying.

The novel gets off to a slow start, but Ms. Tan eventually relates the story of Jiang Weili (Weiwei) from the time she was 6 years old in...