The Kitchen God's Wife: Difference between revisions

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The first few chapters follow Pearl Brandt, a Chinese-American in San Jose, California, as she describes her "family" - her American husband and two daughters, her mother Winnie, her overbearing Aunt Helen (who is supposedly Winnie's sister-in-law or ''something''; she and Winnie have kept each other's secrets for a ''long'' time), and the rest of Helen's family as they prepare for, first, the nth engagement party of Pearl's obnoxious cousin Bao-bao, and then the burial of her Great Aunt Du. Pearl and her family see these obligations as a chore, presumably because Pearl herself is immersed in her American identity. They go anyway, and it's revealed that Pearl has multiple sclerosis (something she has told Helen, but not her own mother). Helen tells her she has a brain tumor and that she refuses to die without Winnie knowing about Pearl's sickness.

At that point, the narrative switches to Winnie's point of view as she details her life to Pearl - her time as a daughter of a wealthy man's lesser wife, how she was sent to her uncle after her mother's disappearance, and the story of how she tried to survive both her first terrible marriage and [[World War II]].

 

* [[Affably Evil]]: Wen Fu, at first. Then he just becomes evil.

* [[Arranged Marriage]]: Winnie and Wen Fu.

* [[Locked Out of the Loop]]: The only person who doesn't know about Pearl's multiple sclerosis is her own mother Winnie (seeing as Pearl told Auntie Helen, who then told the whole Kwong family).

* [[Love At First Sight]]: Jimmy for Winnie.

* [[Luke, I Am Your Father]]: {{spoiler|Wen Fu is Pearl's father, not Jimmy.}}

* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: Wen Fu, exemplified when he manages to {{spoiler|obtain control of Winnie's father's estate by telling Winnie's dad that he can get him out of trouble with the Kuomintang.}}

 

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