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Xavier Guillaume's Reviews > The Hundred Secret Senses
The Hundred Secret Senses
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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 Olivia's character annoyed me several times. Especially when she is in China. "They don't have electricity?!? They don't have a bathroom inside the house?!? I have to eat that?!? They don't have something normal prepared for me I can eat?!?" That kind of thing. It's like she's saying, "This stuff might be good enough for you Chinese people, but you guys are crazy!" I understand that she learns from her China trip, and she grows out of her shell, but I feel like she should have known anyway. After all, she's been hearing Kwan's stories of China almost all her life. You think she would have learned by now that they don't have much to American standards. Also, her way of thinking is always about her, her, her. I don't think she stops once to think outside herself, what it must have been like for Kwan when she lived there, or what it must be like for her family that still lived there.
But getting over that fact, the story really is quite marvelous. :)
My only criticism is that Olivia's character annoyed me several times. Especially when she is in China. "They don't have electricity?!? They don't have a bathroom inside the house?!? I have to eat that?!? They don't have something normal prepared for me I can eat?!?" That kind of thing. It's like she's saying, "This stuff might be good enough for you Chinese people, but you guys are crazy!" I understand that she learns from her China trip, and she grows out of her shell, but I feel like she should have known anyway. After all, she's been hearing Kwan's stories of China almost all her life. You think she would have learned by now that they don't have much to American standards. Also, her way of thinking is always about her, her, her. I don't think she stops once to think outside herself, what it must have been like for Kwan when she lived there, or what it must be like for her family that still lived there.
But getting over that fact, the story really is quite marvelous. :)
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
March 25, 2011
–
Finished Reading
March 26, 2011
– Shelved
May 26, 2015
– Shelved as:
audio-book
Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)
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by
Kaye
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rated it 5 stars
Jan 31, 2016 02:03AM
Yea, Olivia is pretty annoying. I think that adds to the story though. It really makes that last 100 pages totally gut wrenching. There's so much character development there. But so true, up until that point Olivia is a total pain in the ass.
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I felt so sorry for Simon!
I'm only in chapter 5. Olivia seems like a total biotch, but maybe she's supposed tp be? It makes me sad
I liked Olivia. I could relate to her doubts about Simon, considering how obsessed he seemed with Elza. When he met Olivia, he kept talking about Elza as if she were still alive. That's weird. And then he started writing that novel about her. Who wouldn't think she was taking second place to her husband's dead lover?
YES!! I want to slap Olivia constantly through the book. She’s incredibly self-righteous and selfish. She wants Simon to bend to her every rule and that rule changes every second. She is mean to Kwan and doesn’t deserve her love. When Kwan is mourning, she orders HER favourite comfort food instead of Kwan - what the hell! It did make me wonder if Amy Tan deliberately wanted to paint American women as selfish by having both Olivia and her mother as entirely self-absorbed characters - it’s a bit reductionist.
