Amy Tan's fourth novel, "The Bonesetter's Daughter" weaves the reader through the life of an American-born daughter into the life and culture of her Chinese mother. Tan threads the reader from the struggles of the modern "ghostwriter" daughter, Ruth, and her live-in relationship, with its roots in her relationship with her mother. Years earlier, Ruth's mother, LuLing, chronicled her life in China for her daughter to read. After attempting to translate the journal herself, a frustrated Ruth arranges to have the journal, written in Chinese, translated. As the story unfolds, the pieces of a troubling puzzle slowly come together for Ruth. The translator and Ruth become engrossed in the events that shaped the very soul of her now ailing mother. Tan writes of LuLing's life with warmth and tenderness, transporting the reader through the history, culture, and beauty of China. LuLing's autobiography reflects the pride of a family practicing an ancient trade, romance of youth and circumstance, religion riddled with curses and superstition, and deceit for all of the right reasons. The story flows through treachery, suicide, war, dragon bones, "the Peking Man", and fortunes won and lost. Tan pulls the reader in and, by the end of the book, leaves us wanting more. "The Bonesetter's Daughter" improves on Tan's "Joy Luck Club" with fewer, stronger characters, more vivid settings, and just more Amy Tan.