The Hundred Secret Senses
by Amy Tan
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
PARANORMAL ADVENTURA
I've always been interested in the supernatural. Ghost movies are my favourites as they provided thrills to both sight and hearin. The supernatural in writing doesn't appeal as much to me but when i saw this book in a book store quite some time ago i was intrigued by its weird title. 'The Hundred Secret Senses' I was delighted when i flipped open the book and the very first line i saw was 'My sister Kwan believes she has yin eyes'. Vampires, boogiemen and all other creatures that climb out of yo...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
Anyone who likes good, deep characters and interesting stories.
It's become a tradition for me to read Amy Tan's books when flying. My recent trip to Las Vegas was no exception, since at the last minute, I pulled down Amy Tan's The Hundred Secret Senses - the Kindle version - and dived into it as soon as I could turn my electronic devices back on.
Where to start? On the face of it, on the first page, the very first line, it's easy to imagine that Tan saw the movie The Sixth Sense and it resonated strongly with her. I don't know. No details ...more
Where to start? On the face of it, on the first page, the very first line, it's easy to imagine that Tan saw the movie The Sixth Sense and it resonated strongly with her. I don't know. No details ...more
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Amy Tan is one of my all-time favorite authors ... and when I got to meet her, she was amazing in person too. Tan's books are usually about family, fate, cultures clashing and melding. Tan tells stories about women; mothers/daughters, sisters and friends. In "Hundred Secret Senses," there is also a theme of how self-involved, small viewpoints can evolve into a larger understanding and gratitude. Please enjoy the following beautiful parable that Tan includes as an introduction to th...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone who wonders about what happens after we die
This is a beautifully written and haunting story about a pair of sisters, past lives, ghosts, hope and friendship. Narrated by Olivia, the American born sister, readers are introduced to Kwan, the quirky Chinese born sister who claims to have "yin eyes," the ability to see and communicate with the dead. Kwan is an embarrassment to Olivia, presumably due to her relative foreignness and inability to fit in, and the little quirk of her claiming to see the dead. Kwan tells stories about...more
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Read in May, 2007
I like the writing style of Amy Tan. since most of her book is about generations gaps between the Chinese, it's kinda hard to follow things that you dont familiar with (Chinese's tradition for ex). but the way she writes it makes it easier for us to follow.
the book is about two half-sisters who grow up together in a very opposite way. the oldest come originally from China, was brought to America and spends all her life in Chinese mystical way. the youngest, the new generation of American-Chi...more
the book is about two half-sisters who grow up together in a very opposite way. the oldest come originally from China, was brought to America and spends all her life in Chinese mystical way. the youngest, the new generation of American-Chi...more
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Read in May, 2008
Despite what many others may write in their reviews (which I read before embarking into this one), I really enjoyed this novel. It's criticism from the forums seems to be that it's not "Amy Tan" enough, but I thoroughly disagree. It is classic Amy Tan...beautiful parallel stories of both past and present connected in a way that makes the past so important to the future, genuine characters whose struggle in life is both compelling and frustratingly real, and the overwhelming theme of ho...more
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Read in June, 2007
Amy Tan's tale of the relationship between two sisters is wonderfully told. Olivia is the half-Chinese daughter of a Chinese father and an American mother. Her father falls ill and dies while she is a young child but before he dies he reveals that he had a child in China before he came to America and asks Olivia's mother to bring the child to America.
Olivia's sister, Kwan, arrives and Olivia's life is never the same after that.
There's no way to describe the book without revealing spoiler...more
Olivia's sister, Kwan, arrives and Olivia's life is never the same after that.
There's no way to describe the book without revealing spoiler...more
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Read in December, 2007
This is Tan writing again about what she knows, the hearts and minds of immigrants and the children of immigrants, living with one foot in each culture -- sometimes grudgingly, sometimes willingly. In this caase, the story is of two half-sisters, one born in China and the other in the US, and their very different ways of seeing their world. When the very-American Olivia and her ex-husband go to China for a writing assignment and take the very Chinese Kwan with them as interpreter, Olivia sees ...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
other girls
This is the fourth book by Amy Tan that I have read, and I love them all. Her books, including this one, have two facets that I find really interesting: 1) they are educational on Asian culture, superstitions, outlooks, etc., especially from 2 or more generations ago... something which I do not have in my own history and find it extremely fascinating; and 2) they always have an emotional element... the story revolves around one or more relationships, typically involving women (mother-daughter, ...more
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Read in May, 2008
Olivia, the narrator of this story, was born to an American mother and a Chinese father. She meets her 18-year-old Chinese half sister, Kwan, for the first time shortly after their father's death. Kwan adores "Libby-ah" and tries to introduce her to her Chinese heritage through stories and memories.
It is an original, simple tale that (read by the author on book on tape) made my drive to work swift and interesting. I love the characters, but most especially Kwan. I loved the intrica...more
It is an original, simple tale that (read by the author on book on tape) made my drive to work swift and interesting. I love the characters, but most especially Kwan. I loved the intrica...more
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Read in January, 2004
I bought this book while waiting for my hubby-to-be back then at QB Plaza Semanggi.
As I love Amy Tan, I fell in love with the way she writes.
She described all the character so specific and in nice details, and she described it along the pages.
I never tempted to read her book in Indonesian, since I don't think the translation will be good -as usual-.
She made me understand some of the Chinese tradition and point of view.
And somehow enlighting.
The story is about Olivia, half chinese an...more
As I love Amy Tan, I fell in love with the way she writes.
She described all the character so specific and in nice details, and she described it along the pages.
I never tempted to read her book in Indonesian, since I don't think the translation will be good -as usual-.
She made me understand some of the Chinese tradition and point of view.
And somehow enlighting.
The story is about Olivia, half chinese an...more
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Read in May, 2008
Amy Tan gives us so many threads--love, faith, hope, folklore, sisterhood, reincarnation--but I was disappointed by the last 40 pages: the end simply doesn't balance the beginning, and doesn't earn the emotional poignancy it strives for. Tan's language--as always--is beautifully wrought (particularly in the raw, anatomical intimacy she gives to love, sex, marriage, and life), but the structure of the novel itself isn't always successful, as it awkwardly wavers between flashback and present, some...more
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Read in January, 1996
I've enjoyed this lovely novel at least twice now (not counting the great experience of hearing Amy Tan read selections before it was published). The story of the very strange girl from China taken in to become a sort of sibling for the narrator is, perhaps, a way of giving equal weight to the two very different cultures that pull on a Chinese-American. That is, instead of having a single character wrestle with it alone, Tan lets one be primarily American with all that entails (rational, skeptic...more
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As an ABC, and a writer, I always give Amy Tan much props for helping to open the doors for other Chinese American and Asian American writers with her commercial success.
However, I often find myself cringing when I read her work, and I don't think it's all sour grapes, although I admit, that's part of it.
There were parts of this book where the writing and characters and dialogue just made me cringe. Stereotypical characters and voices? Not enough depth? Yes. But to be fair, I was grippe...more
However, I often find myself cringing when I read her work, and I don't think it's all sour grapes, although I admit, that's part of it.
There were parts of this book where the writing and characters and dialogue just made me cringe. Stereotypical characters and voices? Not enough depth? Yes. But to be fair, I was grippe...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
hopeless romantics with high ability to suspend disbelief
So far, the Hakka people I meet in literature are tough, sweet, loyal and memorable. The protagonist's sister Kwan (eventually) recalls for me a favorite character from Michner's "Hawaii," Char Nyuk Tsin, who was also a practical, hardworking Hakka woman (mountain dwelling Chinese). I found this book compelling . . . I simply could not put it down for long yet, by the end, some of the more incredulous spots ended up rubbing a raw nerve. Otherwise, I would have given it a 5 star for i...more
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Read in August, 1999
I just love the heartwarming characters in this book. In typical Tan fashion, there is always more than meets the eye with them. As in the Joy Luck Club, and the Kitchen God's Wife, Tan illustrates how our pasts, and more importantly, the pasts of our family, make up so much more of ourselves than we care to acknowledge. It is the constant struggle of the first-generation American to reconsile the plight of who they will become, and what their past dictates they already are.
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to Kelly by:
desireerecommends it for: people who like quirky, Chinese-American-themed ghost stories
I enjoyed this book, though not as much as I'd hoped to. It's an unusual ghost story, and I guess I'm just not a huge fan of ghost stories. Although I found the story and the characters interesting, I just never could really get into the book. But one of the best parts of the book is the relationship between the two "sisters" Olivia (the younger) and Kwan (much older but completely foreign). It plays out in interesting ways. So I can say I'm glad I read it, but don't really know who I ...more
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Read in April, 2008
Amy Tan is such a gifted writer. I was so moved by The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter's Daughter. The Hundred Secret Senses was disappointing. While Ms. Tan is a fabulous storyteller, I felt The Hundred Secret Senses was over the top. The book/story held my attention for sure til the end; however, Kwan being the embodiment of someone else's soul from a Chinese flood experience was over the top for me. I'm not discounting the fact others may find that believeable and entertaining, I didn't...more
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Read in January, 1997
If you've read The Joy Luck Club then you have read this book also. The only difference is that The Joy Luck Club is one of the best books I've ever read and I know enough to realise this is a pale imitation from an author who seems unable to break away from themes she once illuminated so brilliantly. I empathise strongly with the immigrant experience, perhaps too strongly, but Amy Tan seems to be turning into a one-trick pony. It's too bad, hers is such a glorious writing style.
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