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caribbeangirlreading 's review for:
The Hundred Secret Senses
by Amy Tan
challenging
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Amy Tan writes beautiful prose, and is also an amazing narrator. It was her voice that kept me listening when I wanted to give up because I had no idea what the heck what was the point of all the ghost stories. The writing was very descriptive, so much so, that I felt that a story line must be important to take this much time, and then went nowhere. There is a lot going on - sisterhood, Chinese-American identity, Chinese history, marriage, etc. The blurb does make it seem like it's mostly a story about sisters, but in the end, to me, it was a story about how love (both romantic and between friends) transcends time and place. I think if I had read this back in the 90s I would have rated it higher, but some aspects of the story just did not age well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Blood, Grief, Colonisation
Moderate: Gun violence, Infertility, Car accident
Minor: Death of parent, Abandonment