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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/690866.The_Hundred_Secret_Senses?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Hundred Secret Senses" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1177275076m/690866.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/690866.The_Hundred_Secret_Senses?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Hundred Secret Senses</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5246.Amy_Tan">Amy Tan</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8339096?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>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 your cupboard have long been out of my fear arena. It seems silly to me now that i actually have been frightened by movies [King Kong especially, since there had been a time when i was so frightened that something might come along and take me out through the window like the little girl in King Kong] I was quickly drawn to this book. Seeing the link between the title and the contents of the book, i was then a little disappointed to know that it was not going to be much of a scary tale but of something more philosophical. In this book, two stories inter connect to form one long novel, one set in modern day San Fransisco and the other in contemporary China during the Taiping Rebellion. Olivia, upset by her divorce with ex husband Simon, was lost in her own world and starts to think about previous years spent with her step sister Kwan, a traditional Chinese, with Olivia and Simon being Chinese American, there had been language gaps between the two of them. I could relate to Olivia in the way she cannot quite communicate with her stepsister when she talks, as her stepsister speaks fluent Chinese and she does not. There is some sort of a language gap but when the story progresses, the language gap slowly closes up. When Kwan speaks of the supernatural, she always seems to be on good terms with the Nether people. This was something Olivia could not understand. I cannot understand that either. Im frightened but yet intrigued by what goes on in the world we cannot fully see, just like Olivia. Since young, i've always knew about the yin world and am always wanting to know more. Give me ghost stories anyday and i have tonnes of them to share too, with one being one of my personal encounters. But this story, Kwan has real life experiences, living in the time of the Taiping rebellion and being part of the supernatural world herself. As the book unfolds, you find out more and more about her through her yin stories. Are these for real, or are they a figment of a delusional mind? I would like to know her if she truly exists for she would be a very jolly companion. 
<br/>I disliked Olivia from the start. She was self-aggrandizing and had an uncanny way of blaming all the negatives in her life on someone else. When Kwan arrived, she became the perfect target for Olivia's sarcasm. Too immersed in her own world, Olivia was totally oblivious to Kwan's magnanimous, loving, and outgoing nature. When Olivia's marriage starts to fall apart, she reluctantly takes a trip to China with her estranged husband and Kwan. It is only then that she starts to grasp the meaning of Kwan's yin stories and the depth of Kwan's soul. It was only then did she start appreciating this stepsister of hers, but it was too late. The story ends with Kwan getting lost in a cave and never to be found again. I thought this very sad that a good person had to die in the story. She always has stories of the supernatural that sets me thinking of their existence. But what sets me truly thinking was a part in this books that twisted the character of Kwan a little. Was she truly Kwan or her neighbour Buncake? SInce both of them had been 'drowned' and supposedly 'Kwan' had survived but it was 'Buncake' who had survived but Kwan's face was on Buncake. Its all very twisted but it gives a special effect on the reader. 
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/175805?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Zhyune's review
rating:
bookshelves: amy-tan, ogle
recommended 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 your cupboard have long been out of my fear arena. It seems silly to me now that i actually have been frightened by movies [King Kong especially, since there had been a time when i was so frightened that something might come along and take me out through the window like the little girl in King Kong] I was quickly drawn to this book. Seeing the link between the title and the contents of the book, i was then a little disappointed to know that it was not going to be much of a scary tale but of someth...more 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 your cupboard have long been out of my fear arena. It seems silly to me now that i actually have been frightened by movies [King Kong especially, since there had been a time when i was so frightened that something might come along and take me out through the window like the little girl in King Kong] I was quickly drawn to this book. Seeing the link between the title and the contents of the book, i was then a little disappointed to know that it was not going to be much of a scary tale but of something more philosophical. In this book, two stories inter connect to form one long novel, one set in modern day San Fransisco and the other in contemporary China during the Taiping Rebellion. Olivia, upset by her divorce with ex husband Simon, was lost in her own world and starts to think about previous years spent with her step sister Kwan, a traditional Chinese, with Olivia and Simon being Chinese American, there had been language gaps between the two of them. I could relate to Olivia in the way she cannot quite communicate with her stepsister when she talks, as her stepsister speaks fluent Chinese and she does not. There is some sort of a language gap but when the story progresses, the language gap slowly closes up. When Kwan speaks of the supernatural, she always seems to be on good terms with the Nether people. This was something Olivia could not understand. I cannot understand that either. Im frightened but yet intrigued by what goes on in the world we cannot fully see, just like Olivia. Since young, i've always knew about the yin world and am always wanting to know more. Give me ghost stories anyday and i have tonnes of them to share too, with one being one of my personal encounters. But this story, Kwan has real life experiences, living in the time of the Taiping rebellion and being part of the supernatural world herself. As the book unfolds, you find out more and more about her through her yin stories. Are these for real, or are they a figment of a delusional mind? I would like to know her if she truly exists for she would be a very jolly companion.
I disliked Olivia from the start. She was self-aggrandizing and had an uncanny way of blaming all the negatives in her life on someone else. When Kwan arrived, she became the perfect target for Olivia's sarcasm. Too immersed in her own world, Olivia was totally oblivious to Kwan's magnanimous, loving, and outgoing nature. When Olivia's marriage starts to fall apart, she reluctantly takes a trip to China with her estranged husband and Kwan. It is only then that she starts to grasp the meaning of Kwan's yin stories and the depth of Kwan's soul. It was only then did she start appreciating this stepsister of hers, but it was too late. The story ends with Kwan getting lost in a cave and never to be found again. I thought this very sad that a good person had to die in the story. She always has stories of the supernatural that sets me thinking of their existence. But what sets me truly thinking was a part in this books that twisted the character of Kwan a little. Was she truly Kwan or her neighbour Buncake? SInce both of them had been 'drowned' and supposedly 'Kwan' had survived but it was 'Buncake' who had survived but Kwan's face was on Buncake. Its all very twisted but it gives a special effect on the reader. ...less

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