The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
"The Hundred Secret Senses" is Amy Tan's third novel, exploring the complexities of Chinese and Chinese American identity through the lens of family dynamics. The story revolves around Olivia, a half-Caucasian, half-Chinese woman, who encounters her older half-sister Kwan at the age of six. Kwan, who claims to communicate with "yin people"—benevolent spirits from her past lives—becomes a pivotal figure in Olivia's journey of self-discovery and cultural understanding. Raised primarily by her American mother and stepfather after the death of their Chinese father, Olivia grapples with her connection to her Chinese heritage and the influence of Kwan's beliefs.
As Olivia navigates her tumultuous marriage to Simon, who is emotionally tied to a deceased former girlfriend, she embarks on a journey to China. This trip serves as a catalyst for her to confront her identity and cultural roots, ultimately allowing her to reconcile her past and present. The novel intricately weaves themes of family, identity, and the power of storytelling, highlighting the contrasts between Olivia's American upbringing and Kwan's deep-seated cultural traditions. Through their relationship, the novel illuminates the struggles of reconciling different cultural identities and the significance of understanding one's heritage.
On this Page
Subject Terms
The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
First published: 1995
The Work
The Hundred Secret Senses, Amy Tan’s third novel, continues her interest in Chinese and Chinese American culture, especially the strife between family members who are traditionally Chinese and those who are more Americanized. Half-Caucasian, half-Chinese Olivia meets, at age six, her eighteen-year-old Chinese half sister, Kwan, the daughter of her father’s first marriage. Kwan instigates Olivia’s struggle with her Chinese identity. Olivia is alternately embarrassed, annoyed, and mystified by this sister who claims that she has daily communication with “yin people”— helpful ghosts—many of whom are the spirits of friends from Kwan’s past lives. Despite her ambivalence, however, Olivia gains most of her awareness about her Chinese background from Kwan. The sisters’ Chinese father has died, and Olivia is being raised in the United States by a Caucasian mother and an Italian American stepfather. After Kwan’s arrival from China, the older girl is largely responsible for her sister’s care. Thus, Olivia resentfully learns Chinese and learns about her Chinese heritage, including knowledge about the ghosts who populate her sister’s world. Olivia is understandably skeptical about the presence of these yin people. In Olivia’s culture, such ghosts are the stuff of scary movies, while for Kwan, they are a part of everyday life. The title, then, refers to the hundred secret senses that, Kwan asserts, enable one to perceive the yin people. Kwan’s stories about a past life are the fairy tales with which Olivia grows up.
Later, Olivia marries a half-Hawaiian, half-Caucasian man, Simon, and as the novel opens, they are beginning divorce proceedings after a long marriage. Olivia begins these proceedings in part because she believes that Simon is still in love with a former girlfriend, who died shortly before Simon and Olivia met. Olivia must develop her own sense of personal and ethnic identity in order to release this ghost from her past. She must begin to believe that she is worthy of Simon’s love, and in order to discover her self-worth, she must travel to the tiny Chinese village where her sister grew up.
Although Olivia believes herself to be very American, once she, Simon, and Kwan arrive in China, she begins to feel much closer to her Chinese heritage, and in the storytelling tradition of all Tan’s novels, Olivia learns about her family’s past while talking to residents of the village in which Kwan grew up. Olivia also is able to confront her difficulties with Simon as a result of the trip.
Bibliography
Chicago Tribune. November 5, 1995, XIV, p. 1.
Far Eastern Economic Review. CLVIII, November 16, 1995, p. 74.
Kakutani, Michiko. Review of The Hundred Secret Senses, by Amy Tan. The New York Times, November 17, 1995, p. C29.
Los Angeles Times. October 30, 1995, p. E4.
Messud, Claire. Review of The Hundred Secret Senses, by Amy Tan. The New York Times Book Review, October 29, 1995, 11.
Ms. VI, November, 1995, p. 88.
Publishers Weekly. CCXLII, September 11, 1995, p. 73.
San Francisco Chronicle. October 15, 1995, p. REV1.
Shapiro, Laura. Review of The Hundred Secret Senses, by Amy Tan. Newsweek, November 6, 1995: 91-92.
USA Today. October 26, 1995, p. D4.
The Washington Post. October 23, 1995, p. D1.
Wilkinson, Joanne. Review of The Hundred Secret Senses, by Amy Tan. Booklist, September 15, 1992, 116.