 The New York Times described the book as "remarkable ... mesmerising ... compelling ... An entire world unfolds in a Tolstoyan tide of event and detail", and American author Mary Ellen Snodgrass called the book a "Chinese "Gone With the Wind"".Some critics, such as King-Kok Cheung, have criticised Tan for her characterization of Asian men as one-sided and the "epitome of deception and cruelty".Additionally, Frank Chin has described the book's central image of the forgotten wife as invented by Tan, given that the kitchen god is a regional deity and not a major figure in Chinese mythology, and that the wife is not ignored, but honored by being depicted in images next to the kitchen god.