Early reviews of Tan's The Joy Luck Club, often mistakenly called a novel, were generally positive. Writing for the New York Times Book Review, Orville Schell praises Tan's grasp of the Chinese American experience and says that Tan "has a wonderful eye for what is telling, a fine ear for dialog, a deep empathy for her subject matter and a guilelessly straightforward way of writing." The stories, he claims, "sing with a rare fidelity and beauty."

In a review in Time magazine, John Skow maintains that "the author writes with both inside and outside knowing, and her novel rings clearly, like a fine porcelain bowl."

Some reviewers were less impressed with Tan's narrative structure, however. Writing in New York magazine, Rhoda Koenig finds the book "lively and bright but not terribly deep," and notes that "some of the stories resolve themselves too neatly and cozily." She...