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theglamourgranola 's review for:
The Hundred Secret Senses
by Amy Tan
I thought I loved Amy Tan. Then I read the Valley of Amazement, and was left disappointed. So I decided to reread an old favourite, The Hundred Secret Senses, and I didn't love it as much as I once did.
The protagonist, Olivia, comes across as mean spirited, selfish and cold. Her tantrums over food and a lack of indoor plumbing when she is visiting rural China reminds me of a bratty teenager. It was very hard to like her and therefore root for her throughout the novel.
Her sister Kwan is entertaining, but she seems to fall into the same stereotype that she creates for the mother/sister/aunt characters in her books, a comical lack of English, frugal, crafty.
The pacing of the book is good, the flashbacks to 1860s China are well placed, but the ending of the book, the trip to China felt rushed to me and the ending incredibly cliché.
All in all, a decent read, but not her best.
The protagonist, Olivia, comes across as mean spirited, selfish and cold. Her tantrums over food and a lack of indoor plumbing when she is visiting rural China reminds me of a bratty teenager. It was very hard to like her and therefore root for her throughout the novel.
Her sister Kwan is entertaining, but she seems to fall into the same stereotype that she creates for the mother/sister/aunt characters in her books, a comical lack of English, frugal, crafty.
The pacing of the book is good, the flashbacks to 1860s China are well placed, but the ending of the book, the trip to China felt rushed to me and the ending incredibly cliché.
All in all, a decent read, but not her best.