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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
I nearly gave up on this book but I stuck with it and am glad I did. It was a slow start for me and not sure why. However, once I got into it I thought it was a great story. A few unanswered questions at the end I would have liked to seen tied up but still a good read.
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Blood
A review from Newsweek called this book a "hologram," which accurately describes the experience I had with The Hundred Secret Senses. The story is layered in such a way that it seamlessly transitions between 1864 China and modern day San Francisco, until the climax brings the two worlds together. The action centers around the narrator Olivia, who was born in America, and her half-sister Kwan, who was adopted from China as a teenager. Kwan has yin-eyes, and claims to be able to see and speak to the dead, and know her own past lives as well. As a reader, it is tempting to try to figure out what in the book is "really happening" and what is just Kwan's imagination, as Olivia is always trying to do, but ultimately the book has a magical realism quality that makes it impossible to assign an objective truth to the events of the story.
The main character Olivia comes off like a bit of a whiner in the beginning, but she becomes more sympathetic through the lens of her past life, which was also intimately tied up with Kwan's. After the first couple of chapters, I was so interested to see what Kwan and her past life would do next that I didn't care if Olivia was being irritating. And as the book progresses, Olivia grows enough to see what is really important in her life, and becomes a more complete person.
The tragedies of this book have a habit of sneaking up on you. I had an eerie experience at one point, reading this book while waiting for a friend to pick me up to go hiking outside of Salt Lake City. Olivia is describing meeting her husband at Berkeley, and suddenly, before you know it, you're knee-deep in the heart-wrenching story of how his previous girlfriend died in an avalanche - in a canyon outside of Salt Lake City. I guess it's true that is real life nobody warns you with storm clouds and sad music before tragedy strikes, but the matter-of-fact-ness about death was just another remarkable quality in this story. So between immigrants searching for themselves in America and in their ancestral homeland, family tragedy spanning generations, and messages from beyond the grave, this book is jam-packed with deep themes. However, it (almost) never feels forced. By the end of the book, everyone fulfills their inevitable fate, but you get the impression that it took a lot of hard work to make sure that everything worked out the way it should.
The main character Olivia comes off like a bit of a whiner in the beginning, but she becomes more sympathetic through the lens of her past life, which was also intimately tied up with Kwan's. After the first couple of chapters, I was so interested to see what Kwan and her past life would do next that I didn't care if Olivia was being irritating. And as the book progresses, Olivia grows enough to see what is really important in her life, and becomes a more complete person.
The tragedies of this book have a habit of sneaking up on you. I had an eerie experience at one point, reading this book while waiting for a friend to pick me up to go hiking outside of Salt Lake City. Olivia is describing meeting her husband at Berkeley, and suddenly, before you know it, you're knee-deep in the heart-wrenching story of how his previous girlfriend died in an avalanche - in a canyon outside of Salt Lake City. I guess it's true that is real life nobody warns you with storm clouds and sad music before tragedy strikes, but the matter-of-fact-ness about death was just another remarkable quality in this story. So between immigrants searching for themselves in America and in their ancestral homeland, family tragedy spanning generations, and messages from beyond the grave, this book is jam-packed with deep themes. However, it (almost) never feels forced. By the end of the book, everyone fulfills their inevitable fate, but you get the impression that it took a lot of hard work to make sure that everything worked out the way it should.
I hadn't read any Amy Tan until this past year. I just happened to pick up a short story from one of the Amazon sales and I quite enjoyed it. I still haven't read any of her more famous novels, but I look forward to exploring them. This was a wonderful novel, funny and moving, with vivid characters. I've already passed it on for a friend to enjoy.
This was a charming story. Kwan’s heart is so big and she makes you laugh out loud many times. It tells of the many kinds of love and that faith in it can a carry one far. The quote on the final page took my breath away- I’ve gone back to reread it 4 times today since I finished the book:
“I think Kwan intended to show me the world is not a place but the vastness of the soul. And the soul is nothing more than love, limitless, endless, all that moves us towards knowing what is true. I once thought love was supposed to be nothing but bliss. I now know it is also worry and grief, hope and trust. And believing in ghosts-that’s believing love never dies. If people we love die, then they are only lost to our ordinary senses. If we remember, we can find them anytime with our hundred secret senses.”
Amy Tan
“I think Kwan intended to show me the world is not a place but the vastness of the soul. And the soul is nothing more than love, limitless, endless, all that moves us towards knowing what is true. I once thought love was supposed to be nothing but bliss. I now know it is also worry and grief, hope and trust. And believing in ghosts-that’s believing love never dies. If people we love die, then they are only lost to our ordinary senses. If we remember, we can find them anytime with our hundred secret senses.”
Amy Tan
As usual, I have no idea how to rate this.
This is a story of a half-Chinese American woman (Olivia) and her half sister Kwan (and the stories Kwan tells). In some ways this reminded me of The Great Gatsby because the first person narrator is much less interesting than the real main character. Yeah that's kind of mean to say, because I don't think the author wanted it to be that way. Olivia gets a lot of time to herself in the second half, and I just thought it was so boring. I don't care about Simon. Just get a divorce and move on. I really liked Kwan's sections though and that saved the book.
This is a story of a half-Chinese American woman (Olivia) and her half sister Kwan (and the stories Kwan tells). In some ways this reminded me of The Great Gatsby because the first person narrator is much less interesting than the real main character. Yeah that's kind of mean to say, because I don't think the author wanted it to be that way. Olivia gets a lot of time to herself in the second half, and I just thought it was so boring. I don't care about Simon. Just get a divorce and move on. I really liked Kwan's sections though and that saved the book.
Tan's writting just gets better and better, the lines between reality and fantasy blurr as a women and her half-sister journey through their lives, past, present and future.
Would recommend: Yes
I loved reading this book. Amy Tan created such full characters and steeped the plot with Chinese mythology in a way that is not at all alienating. She has that broken-English-Chinese-mother dialog nailed; that's exactly how it sounds.
I loved reading this book. Amy Tan created such full characters and steeped the plot with Chinese mythology in a way that is not at all alienating. She has that broken-English-Chinese-mother dialog nailed; that's exactly how it sounds.