Reading 'The Kitchen God's Wife' felt like peeling layers off two lives — the two names you absolutely need to know are Winnie Louie and her daughter Pearl Louie Brandt. Winnie is the porous, tough woman whose life in China and painful marriage become the central confession of the book; Pearl narrates much of the novel in the present day and is the American-born daughter trying to understand her mother's past. There are a few other figures who count as main players: Wen Fu, Winnie's brutal first husband whose cruelty drives much of Winnie's tragedy; Jimmy (Jimmie/Jimmy) Louie, the kind man who becomes Pearl's father-figure and helps Winnie escape; and Phil Brandt, Pearl's husband in the American sections. Auntie Du and other relatives also shape the action, especially through objects like the little Kitchen God altar that set events in motion. The novel is as much about those relationships and secrets as it is about the two central women.