What I meant by "不中不英的英文" is the colloquial language that they develope to portray the non-American born characters in their novels. I have read both "The Joy Luck Club" and (sort of) "The Kitchen God's wife". I have to admit that Amy Tan is a great writer, both as a female and as an Asian American one. But she uses this style of Chinese-like English so extensively that it's almost annoying. Yes, it is sometimes necessary when it comes to illustrating characters or explaining concepts and traditions that only chinese have, but I think she have overused it in some of her books. "Joy Luck Club" seems OK, but "The Kitchen God's Wife" is almost unbearable. I don't have the books with me now and I can't quote it. But just cast back and think. There are times (significantly more in "Kitchen's") she uses colloquial English as the first person narrative, as though the mother is talking to her daughter. Those are long passages, usually more than 50 pages long, and it's full of these incoherent and sometimes, grammatically incorrect sentences. Wouldn't it be better if she switches the style to something closer to how native speakers would talk/think? The style itself already discourages me from reading onward. I get the same feeling from reading Mark Twain's books or the early American literatures. It's really just a matter of taste. Other than that, the stories are exceptional and they deserve every awards and acclaims they have.

That's exactly what most Americans think! In general, people who speaks very limited English would prefer telling their stories in their native tongue. To reflect how they think, perfect English is fine. If they are like Amy Tan's characters, who speaks what I consider as moderate to fluent English, they would speak with an accent, and maybe in Amy Tan's style occasionally, but not all the time. Moreover, people tend to have better
verbal ability when they talk about things they are familiar with. It just doesn't seem right if the narrator's English is always so "imperfect" when she is telling her own story.

people tend to have better verbal ability when they talk about things they are familiar with. It just doesn't seem right if the narrator's English is always so "imperfect" when she is telling her own story.
Not if the things are --
(1) foreign (or should I say "Chinese" in this case?)
(2) never told before.
(3) what people usually think in their mother tongue.

For example, we're all familiar with Jin Yong's novels, but might find them difficult to talk about in English.

Amy Tan確是一位好作家，我同意昔人所言，她筆下
那些不中不英的英文，其實是為了更生動地描寫一
些老華僑的情態。至於是否用得太濫，則尚屬見仁
見智。我倒可以接受。

鄭念女士的Life and Death in Shanghai是當年令
我手不釋卷的好書。她年紀雖大，生活雖苦，可是
頭腦極清醒、神智極澄明，身在獄中，仍可從報紙
的片言隻語讀出當時波詭雲譎的政治氣候，實在令
人佩服。最記得她說被人查問，在蜆殼公司任職之
時，是否曾經簽署一些文件。雖然她明知承認了，
等如承認了「通敵賣國」，做洋人的走狗，可是她
還是認了，因為她「當時是負責人，確實簽署過文
件」（大意），令人肅然起敬。

The Wild Swan嘛，抱歉，慕名買了這本書，可是只
讀了三分之一，實在看不下去了。這本書好像是刻
意為了向外國人介紹中國某些很細微、很具體的生
活狀況而寫的，加上文筆不太簡潔，看著有點膩煩
。不過這只是我個人意見，這本書好評如潮，想必
有它的好處。

Jung Chang的是英國英文，看上去較婉轉。我覺得
有點像Jane Austin的小說，有點冗長，看時不很
暢快，但看慣了倒也沒什麼。

說英文是求方便，討論的又是英文書，用中文討論
蠻怪的嘛！