The Asian-American community's sell-out in The Joy Luck Club I wish I could join in the universal praise for Amy Tan and her best-selling novel " the club of joy and luck." I wish I could find the latest Chinese-American literary fare as appetizing as the rest of the American public finds it. but I can't. Before Amy Tan came on the scene, the public image of Asian America had not developed since mid-century. the Asian-American male did not exist except as a Japanese barbarian or Viet Cong soldier. the Asian-American woman remained the pipe dream of teenager Suzy Wong, who she played with for a while and then abandoned. Amy Tan, a talented writer, had a chance to change those images, dispel public misconceptions, and forge a new Asian-American identity. instead, he renounced his obligations, meekly reinforcing every stereotype imaginable. If you believe that Tan's first novel, "The Joy and Luck Club," Asian America is some kind of mystical oddity, conforming to the vision of the mascot culture of thirtysomething white women that predominated in Tan is reading. San Francisco's Chinatown is full of hysterical Chinese women playing secret games of mah jong. China itself is a dreamscape, full of secrets and traditions, all exuding a delicate storybook aura. Chinese mothers are all one-dimensional, superstitious and ignorant. their Chinese phrases are delightful cursive with quaint meanings. of course, what Chinese comedy would be complete without a couple of confusing English words? when Tan was late for her Berkeley reading, her white husband ordered the audience to imitate his mother's funny syntax: "Why so late?" Rimshot.amy tan heroines are the white mother-in-law's dream come true. these porcelain dolls speak and have strong feminine sympathies. as one of Tan's heroines admits, "I pushed my eyes to the sides to make them rounder." useless self-denial, but, oh, isn't it nice? Tan's heroines gain identities by separating themselves from and despising their culture. when the heroine of "The Wife of the Kitchen God" learns of her great-aunt's "spiritual money", she sneers: her aunt's attempt to "bribe her into Chinese heaven" immediately suggests a negative contrast with the "truer "Western paradise. the same dichotomy is also used with men. Asian American men are inadequate: they are annoying brothers or unsuccessful lovers who lead to "apathetic boredom." Love with a white male, however, is different.