Particularize Books Supposing The Hundred Secret Senses
Original Title: | The Hundred Secret Senses |
ISBN: | 080411109X (ISBN13: 9780804111096) |
Edition Language: | English |
Literary Awards: | Orange Prize Nominee for Fiction Shortlist (1996), International Dublin Literary Award Nominee (1997) |

Amy Tan
Mass Market Paperback | Pages: 406 pages Rating: 3.99 | 39339 Users | 1642 Reviews
Be Specific About Containing Books The Hundred Secret Senses
Title | : | The Hundred Secret Senses |
Author | : | Amy Tan |
Book Format | : | Mass Market Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 406 pages |
Published | : | December 1st 1996 by Ivy Books (first published 1995) |
Categories | : | Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. Cultural. China. Asia |
Relation During Books The Hundred Secret Senses
The Hundred Secret Senses is an exultant novel about China and America, love and loyalty, the identities we invent and the true selves we discover along the way. Olivia Laguni is half-Chinese, but typically American in her uneasiness with her patchwork family. And no one in Olivia's family is more embarrassing to her than her half-sister, Kwan Li. For Kwan speaks mangled English, is cheerfully deaf to Olivia's sarcasm, and sees the dead with her "yin eyes." Even as Olivia details the particulars of her decades-long grudge against her sister (who, among other things, is a source of infuriatingly good advice), Kwan Li is telling her own story, one that sweeps us into the splendor, squalor, and violence of Manchu China. And out of the friction between her narrators, Amy Tan creates a work that illuminates both the present and the past sweetly, sadly, hilariously, with searing and vivid prose.Rating Containing Books The Hundred Secret Senses
Ratings: 3.99 From 39339 Users | 1642 ReviewsEvaluate Containing Books The Hundred Secret Senses
The Hundred Secret Senses is one of those novels that is hard to describe, but infinitely readable. Olivia is half-Chinese, raised by her Midwestern mother after her Chinese father passes away. Her older half-sister, Kwan, came to live with them when Kwan was 18, brought to America as a way to honor her late father's wishes. Kwan claims to have yin eyes, or the ability to speak to the spirits who reside in the Yin World. The novel is told from both Olivia's and Kwan's perspectives, althoughIt was a beautiful surprize for me this book. I think it's the first book of the author I've ever read. The thread following the story in the past with twists in the present, the karma (even though the word didn't come in the story), the way of how our souls could remember things from our past lives, the wonder of these ideas make from this one a very interesting reading. I recommend with all my heart this amaizing book.
The book constantly went from the present to the past. Because of a complicated plot, it was difficult for me to keep track of the characters.

What an odd book. This is one of those I never would have picked up had it not been for my book club, and another one of those reasons I'm glad I'm in a book club, and that I use it to help me read outside of my comfort zone. I'm still not entirely sure what this book was about, nor what I'm supposed to believe about it, but it was very human and intense. There was something, underneath all the talk of ghosts and past lives, very believable about this story...like something you know is there
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.The book starts, "My sister Kwan believes she has yin eyes. She sees those who have died and now dwell in the World of Yin, ghosts who leave the mists just to visit her kitchen on Balboa Street in San Francisco."
Let me start off by saying that I LOVE Kwan! Her voice and self-assurance makes her cool, "Oh Libby-ah! I tell you secret. Promise not tell?" And then later in the book she becomes even cooler! A fifty year old lady crawling through caves. I can picture her saying, "We hakka strong! Don't worry me Libby-ah. I be right back!" :) I think a movie would be great! It has suspense, mystery, romance, death, ghosts! Not to mention the amazing visuals detailed in the story.My only criticism is that
The Hundred Secret Senses is now one of my favorite Amy Tan novels, rivaled only by The Bonesetter's Daughter. Yes, I love The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife and Saving Fish From Drowning - I love any Tan story I come across - but The Hundred Secret Senses (along with TBD) really stand out. Olivia, the narrator, is the American-born daughter of a Chinese man and an American woman. When her father is on his deathbed, he reveals to his wife that he left behind a daughter in China, and asks
0 Comments