This book was slow at first, but it really picked up towards the middle and got so very good! Set in two time periods, WWII 1940s and 1986, this is a book that makes you think a lot. Having read two books about a similar topic - one about Chinese immigrants during McCarthyism in America, and one about Japanese immigrants interred in a concentration camp during WWII - it was so interesting to see the two combined. The other themes in the book were great, too: Two friends on opposing sides who don't care what their background is because they see themselves as American. A child rebelling against his parents. Prejudice towards foreign looking people as well as blacks. Misfits becoming friends. A love of the ultimate American music form, Jazz. 
 After I had finished the book, I went back and just read the 1986 portions. There aren't that many, but when you read them after knowing the 1945 story, they make so much more sense. I was told by an English teacher that the Joy Luck Club shouldn't be read in chapter order, but pair each mother and daughter's story together. I almost wonder if this book shouldn't be read chronologically instead of in the chapter order that the author decided.