Judy's Reviews > The Hundred Secret Senses

There is so much going on in Amy Tan’s third novel that I thought two things:
1. She was always a bit crazy in her fiction and perhaps only became more so as the years went by.
2. She is an insanely talented storyteller and writer.

Since I have only read her first three novels by now, I cannot yet say which is true. I suspect both are. I vaguely remember when her fifth novel, Saving Fish From Drowning, came out in 2005 it got some pretty bad reviews, though it still had fierce fans.

In The Hundred Secret Senses, Olivia is the daughter of a Chinese father and an American mother, living in America with a Chinese half-sister and a husband she has fallen out of love with. Quan, the half-sister, daughter of their Chinese father came into her life shortly after their father’s death. She has “yin eyes” that can see and communicate with the dead.

Olivia is the kind of female who cannot get enough love to fill her. She is also so annoying. But as the story went on, I grew close to every character, no matter how flawed. When Olivia, her husband and Quan go to Manchu, China, Quan’s life story and ancestors come into full play and the tale becomes darker, more treacherous, and I must say less realistic.

But the end of the story did away with any doubts about realism because it is so wondrous. Did I mention that bubbles of humor float up at just the right places. Both #1 and #2 above are true!