Saving Fish from Drowning: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Amazon.com

Amy Tan, who has an unerring eye for relationships between mothers and daughters, especially Chinese-American, has departed from her well-known genre in Saving Fish From Drowning. She would be well advised to revisit that theme which she writes about so well.

The title of the book is derived from the practice of Myanmar fishermen who "scoop up the fish and bring them to shore. They say they are saving the fish from drowning. Unfortunately... the fish do not recover," This kind of magical thinking or hypocrisy or mystical attitude or sheer stupidity is a fair metaphor for the entire book. It may be read as a satire, a political statement, a picaresque tale with several "picaros" or simply a story about a tour gone wrong.

Bibi Chen, San Francisco socialite and art vendor to the stars, plans to lead a trip for 12 friends: "My friends, those lovers of art, most of them rich, intelligent, and spoiled, would spend a week in China and arrive in Burma on Christmas Day." Unfortunately, Bibi dies, in very strange circumstances, before the tour begins. After wrangling about it, the group decides to go after all. The leader they choose is indecisive and epileptic, a dangerous combo. Bibi goes along as the disembodied voice-over.

Once in Myanmar, finally, they are noticed by a group of Karen tribesmen who decide that Rupert, the 15-year-old son of a bamboo grower is, in fact, Younger White Brother, or The Lord of the Nats. He can do card tricks and is carrying a Stephen King paperback. These are adjudged to be signs of his deity and ability to save them from marauding soldiers. The group is "kidnapped," although they think they are setting out for a Christmas Day surprise, and taken deep into the jungle where they languish, develop malaria, learn to eat slimy things and wait to be rescued. Nats are "believed to be the spirits of nature--the lake, the trees, the mountains, the snakes and birds. They were numberless ... They were everywhere, as were bad luck and the need to find reasons for it." Philosophy or cynicism? This elusive point of view is found throughout the novel--a bald statement is made and then Tan pulls her punches as if she is unwilling to make a statement that might set a more serious tone.

There are some goofy parts about Harry, the member of the group who is left behind, and his encounter with two newswomen from Global News Network, some slapstick sex scenes and a great deal of dog-loving dialogue. These all contribute to a novel that is silly but not really funny, could have an occasionally serious theme which suddenly disappears, and is about a group of stereotypical characters that it's hard to care about. It was time for Amy Tan to write another book; too bad this was it. --Valerie Ryan

Book Description

“A rollicking, adventure-filled story . . . packed [with] the human capacity for love.”
–USA Today

“A superbly executed, good-hearted farce that is part romance and part mystery . . . With Tan’s many talents on display, it’s her idiosyncratic wit and sly observations . . . that make this book pure pleasure.”
–San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco art patron Bibi Chen has planned a journey of the senses along the famed Burma Road for eleven lucky friends. But after her mysterious death, Bibi watches aghast from her ghostly perch as the travelers veer off her itinerary and embark on a trail paved with cultural gaffes and tribal curses, Buddhist illusions and romantic desires. On Christmas morning, the tourists cruise across a misty lake and disappear.

With picaresque characters and mesmerizing imagery, Saving Fish from Drowning gives us a voice as idiosyncratic, sharp, and affectionate as the mothers of The Joy Luck Club. Bibi is the observant eye of human nature–the witness of good intentions and bad outcomes, of desperate souls and those who wish to save them. In the end, Tan takes her readers to that place in their own heart where hope is found.

“Amy Tan is among our great storytellers.”
–The New York Times Book Review

“Amy Tan has created an almost magical adventure that, page by page, becomes a metaphor for human relationships.”
–Isabel Allende

“With humor, ruthlessness, and wild imagination, Tan has reaped [a] fantastic tale of human longings and (of course) their consequences.”
–Elle

“A book that’s easy to read and hard to forget.”
–Newsweek

Customer Reviews:

Beautifully Written..........2007-10-15

Don't miss this book because of negative opinions shared on reviews--this book is definitely worth reading! I have read all of Amy Tan's books and she is (in my eyes) a brilliant story-teller. I never go into her books expecting the exact same style--she is an evolving writer, always trying new techniques to help her grow.

Saving Fish from Drowning does have a lot of characters, but I had no problem distinguishing between them all. I found I was able to form some sort of connection (positive or not) with all of the characters and found it hard to put the book down. It is certainly a different route for Tan, but as we all know, different does not always equate to bad. If you are at all interested, give it a shot. It is a wonderful read and deserves more credit than it is being given. Good job Ms. Tan!

An engaging read.......2007-10-07

I can see that some Tan fans might not like this book: there are so many characters that the only one we can really onnect with is the narrator, but I found it to be a beautiful (if dispiriting) story. The pacing is strong, and I found it hard to put the book down. The suspense Tan creates is riviting, and I love that the narrator is a ghost. The only weakness was in the ending of the novel; we lose track of the characters we've been "living" with all along, and certainly the good guys don't win. I also thought the death of the narrator was explained in a kind of...em..silly way. However, I do like the way that Tan skewers the characters with their egos and "good intentions." Though some might think she's making fun of Americans (which she certainly does), Tan doesn't let others escape her observations: from TV personalities to Brits to Burmese. I think this is Tan's most political novel yet, so if you're searching for major character delevopment, be warned that the book is mostly plot-driven *unlike Joy Luck, Hundred Secret Senses and the like). Though it's a different direction, I think Tan does it well.

Amy Tan and Geoffrey Chaucer: Soulmates.......2007-10-03

Amy Tan bows to Geoffrey Chaucer by imitating Canterbury Tales both in structure and subject matter. Saving Fish from Drowning and Canterbury Tales probe the mystery of human life, the pain and joy, the humor and drama. Tan and Chaucer unravel complexity. Chaucer structures his work around a group of pilgrims traveling to Canterbury. He writes descriptive portraits of each pilgrim and lets them interact. Harry Balley, the tavern owner, challenges the pilgrims to a competition: who can tell the best story? The competitive tales are told with humor, drama, pain and vulgarity, a reflection of the human situation. Underneath the stories Chaucer examines major questions, the questions we still struggle with. What do men want? What do women want? How does gender affect life? How do humans deal with evil? What is the cause of evil in the world? How much control do humans have? Are we programmed by the gods, by biology, by the mysteries of our own inconsistencies? Canterbury Tales is relevant today, not because Chaucer answers these questions, but because he asks them. In 2007 Tan asks the same questions.

She puts her characters in a contemporary setting, but borrows Chaucer's structure and subject-matter. Tan leaves no doubt that she parallels Chaucer's structure when she creates a group of travelers on a trip to Asia. Just like Chaucer she writes a portrait of each traveler and sets them up to interact. If that is not enough to tip the reader Tan names one of her leading characters Harry Bailey. She changes the spelling, but still gives a big hint. She is a good student of English literature.

Like Chaucer Tan also explores ultimate human questions. She explains her title choice with a story and an epigram. The story describes Myanmar fishermen scooping up fish, bringing them to shore while saying they are saving fish from drowning. Sadly the fish die on shore, and all the fisherman can do is to sell them for profit. Tan copies an epigram from Albert Camus. "The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding." By giving the reader two thought provoking selections at the beginning of the novel she establishes a thesis. To Tan each human being has a limited perspective, and acts with multiple blind spots. Human limitation can make good intentions as destructive as pure evil. Beware of do-gooders.

Tan's edgy opinionated narrator Bibi Chen, who unfortunately died after arranging the trip with a group of her friends from San Francisco, comments on her friends from a broad Olympian view. This narrative technique works well for Tan because while stating her thesis--humans have limited perspective and often create chaos because of that--Tan allows Bibi to see the whole chaotic mess and serve it up to the reader. Bibi, like the rest of us, is powerless to effect change.

Saving Fish from Drowning and Canterbury Tales make Tan and Chaucer literary soul mates. They go after the same truths, are both fascinated by flawed human nature, and are able to see humor and pain without moralizing. They celebrate life; they leave the mystery in tact.

Excellent story teller.......2007-09-26

Amy Tan is an amazing storyteller. This book is so rich with detail for the setting and for her characters. Take a leap, read it!

Floundering.......2007-09-20

So many folks told our Book Club how much they enjoyed Amy Tan's other works such as The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God's Wife, that choosing Saving Fish from Drowning as our September 2007 read was an easy decision. We were ready for a good read. Certainly, the title was intriguing. What could it mean? How will it apply to the story? Tell us more. Writing from the perspective of a dead woman, Bibi Chen, Tan expertly began to reel us in with a quirky story set in odd places filled with unusual characters. It was exactly what you'd expect from a writer of her renown. For about a hundred pages we were hooked.
About halfway through the book, we began to have some doubts. For some, it started with her use of foreshadowing. Forget subtlety. Think Yogi Berra meets Burma Shave: When you come to a fork in the road, take it. For others, the problem was plot, or more accurately too many sub-plots and no main one. In the end, most of our readers didn't care a fig for any of the characters or the various stories. Mercifully, the book does have an ending. Even better, there is an Epilog. So if you really want to know if the tribe ever finds their lost God or if they end up massacred by the Myanmar military, or more important, if Harry gets Sally, Tan is there to wrap it all up for you. In Burma Shave lingo, we think her sermon says: Western do-gooders are like so many fishermen who spend their days saving fish from drowning.

Average customer rating:

Amy Tan has a gift with words.
Good novels bring inspirations to readers
A Book Remembered After 13 Years
Mothers and Daughters
Please enter a title for your review

The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Movie Tie-Ins | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Family Saga | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0804106304
Release Date: 1990-04-30

Amazon.com

Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's "saying" the stories. In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Rather than sink into tragedy, they choose to gather to raise their spirits and money. "To despair was to wish back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable." Forty years later the stories and history continue.

With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of their matriarchal ties. Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery.

Book Description

"Brilliant....Each story is a fascinating vignette, and together they they weave the reader through a world where the Moon Lady can grant any wish, where a child, promised in marriage at two and delivered at 12, can, with cunning, free herself; where a rich man's concubine secures her daughter's future by killing herself, and where a woman can live on, knowing she has lost her entire life."
WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
A stunning literary achievement, THE JOY LUCK CLUB explores the tender and tenacious bond between four daughters and their mothers. The daughters know one side of their mothers, but they don't know about their earlier never-spoken of lives in China. The mothers want love and obedience from their daughters, but they don't know the gifts that the daughters keep to themselves. Heartwarming and bittersweet, this is a novel for mother, daughters, and those that love them.

Customer Reviews:

Amy Tan has a gift with words........2007-06-23

I read this book a little over a year ago for my ap english 2 class. I really
liked how it displayed the Chinese culture and values. It is basically a book of mother-daughter relationships. There are four mothers and four daughters. The mothers are Chinese women who immigrated in the United States. The daughters are Chinese-American. It shows how people (like those in the United
States) tend to take their heritage for granted and just label themselves as Americans. When in reality your heritage will always be there and when you finally except wonderful relationships and things can come out of it.

thank you for your time,
Loran

Good novels bring inspirations to readers.......2007-05-28

I am a high school freshman in the United States. I was assigned to choose one of five novels and read it throughout this semester. This novel, The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan was my first choice because the story is about Chinese culture plus Mandarin is my native language. I believed that I would enjoy reading something that relates to my culture and actually I did. It is different from other novels since the whole story is separated into different little stories and put in different orders. Each little story represents a mother and daughter's marriage or family conflict.
In my opinion, the conflicts are caused because of mothers' and daughters' generation gaps and growing backgrounds. The mothers grow up in China where has many traditions and rules to follow. However, the daughters who grow up in San Francisco can choose their lives and want to be what they want to be. This makes the mothers think their daughters have lacks of consideration about their own lives. Therefore, the mothers want to control their daughters' lives since they used to follow those rules which tell them to do all the things considerable.
This novel has magic because every time I read this novel I would compare the way mothers treat their daughter in the book and the way my mother treats me. I would also ask questions to my self by saying "Does this mother use the same way to treat her daughter as the way my mom treats me?" The answer can be varied. Some of them are yes and some of them are absolutely no. For example, the way Suyuan's mother tells her that it's too late to change the reality that she is her mother makes me think it can be the way my mother tells me. For the reasons that, this statement makes sense that it's impossible to change the reality of a blood relationship so I would also accept this very logical sense. However, Lindo's mother left her in a rich family in order to gain some respects back makes me think it is not the way my mother would ever done to me. Since my mother sacrifices a lot in order to raise me up and lets me receive the best education, she wouldn't want to destroy the bitter that she has eaten and pave that she has built for me. Therefore, I recommend this book for teenagers to read because it is an inspired book that can make adolescences to think about their lives and observe their surroundings

A Book Remembered After 13 Years.......2007-04-06

The Joy Luck Club had stayed with me all these years even when I examine my own personal life in the current time. I had read the book when I was in the seventh grade and had a remarkable teacher. She was Mrs. Lattimer (and yes, she was white), a Harvard graduate teaching at an impoverished neighborhood from where I used to grow up. Sometimes, I wondered why she never taught at one of the more prestige middle schools even right now. Still, it was a book that we middle school students had to read and analyze. The class was actually an advance seminar class. Even to this day, I am surprised that we middle school students got a chance to watch a rated "R" movie. It was a "never" to watch a rated "R" movie. The only movies that I can remember watching that were rated "R" were movies in my former AP english literature class-Othello (which actually contained nudity). It's funny because from what I recall, I had couple of friends from the regular classes and they have never seen a rated "R" movie shown in an educational setting. Perhaps being in a gifted class really did come with all the special privileges(even though I was never identified as "gifted"; I was recommended). It just seemed that every book my classmates and I read in AP english could never resist incorporating some kind of sexual element. Indeed, the literary works were very great. And of course, sex is also shown in this movie.

Besides the entertainment value of the movie and the book, as well as the complex relationships between the mothers and the daughters, it was certainly a movie about survival. Presently, as I sit in my comfortable room, I could only relate to the need to survive and live a fulfilling life, a life that is so wonderful and full of bliss. Life is about survival. The word "survival" will always vibrate and echoe inside my ears and in my mind. It is a word that summarizes the very essence of life. When you're child or an adolescent, it is about surviving through school. Once you graduate from high school, a new level of survival comes into play; and that is to make a living. Let's face it. Life really does center around making a living. We all need and want to live a life free from having to live a low standard of living like poverty and shortages of healthy food and crapy material possessions. Virtually everyone desires to have a career and be financially stable. In times where the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer, insecure feelings arise and stays in tact somewhere in our minds. The desire to be married to wonderful wife or husband, the desire to feel safe living in a dream home, the desire to not feel frieghtened when you are heavily sick, the desire to give your children and your grandchildren the best possible life, and the list can go on forever...-Indeed, let's face it, MONEY MAY NOT BE EVERYTHING, BUT IT IS CERTAINLY SOMETHING WE ALL STRIVE TO OBTAIN IN ITS VARIOUS FORMS. Money does have its value contrary to the popular belief that you hear about how money isn't everything or how money can't buy love. Like the feather of the swan-This feather may look like any other feather and seem worthless, but "it comes from a far away distance and contains all of my good intentions."

Mothers and Daughters.......2007-04-05

Any mother or daughter will love reading this collection of interwoven stories of family relationships. Some parts are graphic, but it makes for an important novel.

Please enter a title for your review.......2007-04-03

the one brief section that felt forced (dwelling on the significance of the ink used to sign a check) helped emphasize what is so effectively authentic about the writing of this novel generally. the origins and implications of an event are both presented as having equal substance, it never seems like something is just a bridge to get to a meaningful predecided outcome. aside from an occasional flaunted apathy to animal rights it's a good book.

Average customer rating:

Very Complicated And Often Tedious.
Beyond Spectacular.
Book Review for "The Joy Luck Club"
'Uncle Tom' Author Perpetuates False Stereotypes
The Joy Luck Review

The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Family Saga | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0143038095

Customer Reviews:

Very Complicated And Often Tedious........2007-09-02

When I recieved my list of Summer 2007 reading assignments, I'll come right out admit that I chose to read Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club" for the simple reason that I actually heard of it. I went in not expecting much, and came out with my feelings confirmed.

I do understand that this book is often regarded as a classic, but I for the life of me can't say this book being anything more than merely average. Tracing the life of a group of Asian families whose head leader has passed on, leaving her daughter with the unpleasant task of filling her shoes, "The Joy Luck Club" deals with topics such as death, family, marriage, divorce and togetherness. All of which are intriguing at first, but ultimately amount to little.

The book overall lacks a cohesive flow. I found myself confused at many points in the book to the point where it was useless for me to even try to even pay attention to the book. Tan's writing style is also very simplistic, lacking any real originality and leaving very little to the imagination.

Overall, I can't for the life of me see why this book is as highly regarded as it is. Perhaps it's just not my type of book. Nonetheless, I am befuddled as to why it is a classic piece of literature.

Beyond Spectacular........2007-07-04

You know, it is funny, I have read Amy Tan's The Bonesetter's Daughter and The Hundred Secret Senses, adoring them both beyond words--why it took me this long to get to her first work is nothing short of inexcusable. Not unlike Louise Erdrich's first novel, Love Medicine, this debut of Tan's is absolutely spectacular (it boggles my mind that first time authors can produce such seemingly flawless, multi-voiced narratives). Given the fact that Amy Tan was so young when she wrote this book blows my mind simply because the wisdom and expertise inherent in her storytelling go far beyond her years. In fact, I think this is my new favorite Tan novel, and not only do I believe she is the best Chinese American novelist out there, but at the top of the list of all authors, period. True storytellers are few and far between. Tan straddles the line between academic literature and pleasure reading, which, unfortunately, is not often accomplished.
I have been a devoted student of literature for over six straight years now (specializing in American minority literatures), and the other day, I was talking with a fellow colleague and classmate about this book. When she told me, in her "yawny" way, that she felt it was boring, I realized for the first time, that regardless of "smarts," there are actually literature students out there without one iota of literary taste. What a shame.
This book is truly phenomenal and speaks volumes about what it means to be a woman, for better or worse. I cannot recommend this book, or this author enough.

Book Review for "The Joy Luck Club".......2007-06-08

Each and everyday, our generation continues to expand its range of different ethnicities and backgrounds as more families immigrant to the U.S. What Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club proves to show is the universal yet distinctive everyday conflicts of ethnic parents raising American children.
In this novel, readers begin a journey with four Chinese mothers and daughters through series of storytelling-including all woman taking a flashback to their childhood or some previous memory.
Moreover, the novel extracts how the American lifestyle that is somewhat different to the lifestyle the mother's were accustomed to creates a gap between the mother and daughters. The Joy Luck Club itself is a club where one mother, Suyuan Woo, created with three other Chinese woman in order to save and collect money as a group and bring up the spirits through the hard times of WWII. After Suyuan dies, her daughter, Jing-mei, has to fill her spot in the club as she finds out more about her mother than ever before, for example, Jing-mei discover she has two half-sisters. This novel creates a character that is able to grow with the reader as she finds out more about her mother's life and ultimately her own life as well. The discoveries allow not only Jing-mei but the readers as well to leave the book with hope as a closer bond with her mother is formed. Jing-mei creates closure with her mother's death as the readers and Jing-mei herself learn the sacrifices and loyalties of all for mothers when raising their daughters.
Since the novel is divided into four major parts, in which the mothers speak out in the first section, readers never seized to boredom, for there is a new exciting adventure that begins as each mother and daughter tells their own story. Even though the structure contributes to grasping the readers attention, readers may find it hard to collect and remember all the stories together.

'Uncle Tom' Author Perpetuates False Stereotypes.......2007-04-12

The author Amy Tan is an Asian female 'Uncle Tom' (look up the term) for her garbage called the 'Joy Luck Club'. It portrays all Asian men in a made-up, negative light, while causing her Asian female protagonists to marry White men, who even cheat on them in the movie, but that doesn't stop the Asian girls from staying with them.

Amy Tan is a self hating Asian female. She is like some Asian girls who grew up hating the fact that she looked so different from her classmates/peers, and fit in however way she could by acting White, and wanting only White men. Personally, she has been massively depressed most of her life (look it up), and has had a terrible marriage with a Caucasian. In her books, she tries to justify her life decisions by portraying White men as White knights, and Asian men as controlling and oppressive, when that couldn't be farther from the truth.

Amy Tan set Asian men and women back decades in this country. How come in Hollywood flicks we see mostly see Black-Black couples, or Latin-Latin couples, but the Asian women are always with a White guy? It seems like every TV show and movie in the past ten years pairs an Asian girl with a White guy romatically. Asian men are being completely suppressed in television and film. Amy Tan helped glamorize the exclusive Asian female/White male pairing that is everywhere on TV, movies, and commercials these days, at the complete suppression of Asian men.

These shows affect kids. Teens, especially girls, judge themselves on others' opinions, and are easily influenced. Young, insecure Asian girls are conditioned through social norms/media to 'act White' and want only White men, and young Asian American boys growing up in the US are conditioned to think they are unattractive.

Have you ever met any Asian families!? The Asian men are predominantly kind, quiet, giving, loving husbands, and providing fathers, and their WIVES make almost all the decisions (at least in Chinese culture). They direct the husband and kids, so to speak. I'm tired of hearing false oppression crap about Asian men from White people, and brain-washed Asian girls, just to make us unattractive in their minds. Also, here's a FACT, not a generalization - as a group, Asian men have the highest average education and income, combined with the lowest avg rates of murder, theft, infidelity, spousal abuse, rape, child molestation, divorce, and crime in this country.

The Joy Luck Review.......2006-10-24

The book opens with the story of a Chinese woman who bought a swan because she believed it was born a duck then stretched its neck to become more. The woman wished to do the same. To sail to America and make a better life for her and her children than she could have ever hoped for in China. When she arrived in America, however, they took her swan away amd she was left with nothing but a feather, and a few broken dreams.
Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club is the story of four women and their daughters. In a series of fladhbacks we see how each woman came to America, fleeing their Chinease past of opression and fear to build a better life for their children. Their strories are of war and ancestral pride, mariage and never losing hope. Theirs is the story of the women of China and how they rose above their place in the world, teaching their daughters to do likewise.

Tails of Devotion: A Look at the Bond Between People and Their Pets

Average customer rating:

Tails of Devotion: A Look at the Bond Between People and Their Pets
Thanks for Such a Great and Generous Show of Love for Animals
Essential Reading For Any Pet Owner
A Wonderful Gift Item
Our 'Book of the Year' Choice!

Tails of Devotion: A Look at the Bond Between People and Their Pets
Emily Scott Pottruck
Manufacturer: Tails of Devotion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Essays | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0977063704
Release Date: 2006-03-06

Book Description

TAILS OF DEVOTION A Look At The Bond Between People And Their Pets is a coffee table book of letters and photographs of 58 San Franciscan families and their beloved pets -- a visual and profound testimony to the very special relationship between pets and their families. The book presents an interesting dialogue between owner and pet, and vice-versa, through a series of letters that answer the question: "If you and your animals could communicate via paper, what would you say to each other?"

Amy Tan writes a very personal foreword detailing her relationship with her animals as well as an ode to our pets. Luminaries such as Robin Williams, Isabel Allende, Peter Coyote, Ronnie Lott, Mickey Hart, Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman, Orlando Cepeda, Michael Tilson Thomas and Stephan Jenkins open the doors to their home life because of their love of animals and desire to help others who care about the animals.

The humans may vary, the non-humans may vary, the handwritten notes may vary but the message is clear - we love our animals, they are members of our family.

And, outside of the family unit, we have found that these animals are uniters of people not dividers. Anyone who has ever had a family pet will find kindred spirits in the letters and photos.

100% of the gross proceeds from TAILS will go to The San Francisco SPCA, the Friends of San Francisco Animal Care and Control, PAWS (Pets are Wonderful Support), Pets Unlimited and Rocket Dog Rescue. Each of these non-profit organizations is profiled in the book with their mission and work.

Customer Reviews:

Tails of Devotion: A Look at the Bond Between People and Their Pets .......2007-09-24

It's a fun book to have - a coffeetable book. I purchased it as a holiday present. I may end of keeping it and purchase another for the holidays!

Thanks for Such a Great and Generous Show of Love for Animals.......2007-04-03

I just ordered this book after seeing Emily Scott Pottruck being interviewed on a local TV news program. I also ordered copies for two friends who I share a special bond with as we volunteered at the Michigan Humane Society together. I understand that some people think too much attention is given to animals when there is so much human suffering in the world. To them I would say that our pets give us unconditional love, which is a very rare gift. My 26 year old son died suddenly in June of '06 and I know I could not have made it this far without the companionship of my beloved beagle, Piccolo. She always senses my moods and is ready to give me extra cuddles whenever I need them. I think I am a kinder, stronger, and better person because of her.

Essential Reading For Any Pet Owner.......2007-01-30

Tails of Devotion is more than just a coffee table book. This book does what few books on animals manage to do, which is to attempt to raise the level of human consciousness about the necessity for relationships with companion animals and the sacredness of those bonds. At a time when companion animals are still largely regarded as "property" by many, this book will add to the growing understanding of the need to treat companion animals as valued members of our extended human family.

Karen Leslie, Executive Director, The Pet Fund

A Wonderful Gift Item.......2007-01-19

I gave this book as a gift to a friend who is a true animal lover. She absolutely fell in love with the book. Some beautiful stories of people and their love for their animals. Highly recommended!

Our 'Book of the Year' Choice!.......2006-12-21

Emily Scott Pottruck brings the unique relationship that exists between pets and their people to glorious life in this beautifully written and illustrated book. 'Tails of Devotion' proves that the love which is shared between people and their pets crosses all social boundaries, and unites us all in a way that few other loves could ever accomplish.

The life-affirming story of Elizabeth, a homeless woman living in the Bay Area along with her faithful companion, Hero, alone is worth the price of this lovely book!

In addition, Emily Scott Pottruck is generously donating 100% of the proceeds from 'Tails of Devotion' to non-profit animal welfare groups! So, along with receiving this beautiful book (which you will treasure for years to come!), you will also have the wonderful feeling that comes with knowing that your purchase has enabled animal welfare organizations to continue their work to help less fortunate animals.

'Tails of Devotion' will make a wonderful gift for anyone who has ever known the joy of loving ... and being loved by ... a beloved animal companion.

Mei Mei?Little Sister: Portraits from a Chinese Orphanage

Average customer rating:

Touching
Wonderful book!
Heartbreaking
From a parent
Beautiful & Touching

Mei Mei?Little Sister: Portraits from a Chinese Orphanage
Richard Bowen
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Photo Essays | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Portraits | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Adoption | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Parenting Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Travel Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Accessories:

ASIN: 0811847349

Book Description

The Chinese believe an unseen red thread joins those in this life who are destined to connect. For photographer Richard Bowen, that thread led him to China's state-run welfare institutions, where there are thousands of children, primarily girls, growing up without families to take care of them. Mei Mei presents a poignant glimpse of just a few of these remarkable children. Composed against neutral backgrounds, these portraits capture the girls inner lives, away from their often bleak surroundings. The images show an almost endless range of expressions: small faces filled with longing and hope, joy and sadness, humor and mischief, defiance and despair. Through the camera's eye these young children are no longer orphans, but individuals whose personalities are as vital, distinct, and beautiful as any mother's child. When that unique human being comes into focus, the connection is made and the red thread becomes visible. And once seen, the bond can never be broken.

Customer Reviews:

Touching.......2007-06-08

This book touches my soul every time I open it. I have adopted two girls from China and I see their reflections on every page.

Wonderful book!.......2007-01-25

We are in the process of adopting a baby from China, and this book just made my heart break. The images are so beautiful, and the children are so precious! In my mind, they seem to be simply be waiting... We can't wait to give one of them a home.

Heartbreaking.......2007-01-06

As an adoptive parent of a beautiful Chinese girl, I became extremely upset when I viewed these pictures. But by the grace of God, my daughter could have been featured in this book. That thought and the pictures of these children absolutely broke my heart. The pictures are beautiful but left me with a sense of helplessness because you can't save them all....although you want to. I returned the book because it was just too upsetting. I was torn between giving the book 5 stars because of the impact it has, but gave it 3 so someone might read this review and think twice about viewing it. It was not worth it for me.

From a parent.......2006-08-05

I purchased this book for my wife as we have adopted a baby girl from China. While these photos are from a different orphanage, the impact is the same. We did not get to see all the children at our daughter's orphanage, and they don't allow photos of the kids anyway. I recommend this book for any adoptive parents of children from China, or those looking into it. I will warn you, you will want to go back for more.

Beautiful & Touching.......2006-04-18

Words can't describe this beautiful little book, filled with beautiful little girls. I especially love the list of their names at the back, as they translate into English, things like Literary Excellence & Radiant Jade. The children do seem sad or at least suspicious of the photographer, and why not? It's probably not every day that some Westerner visits to take pictures. But there is mischief & hope in these little girls' faces, & just affirms my ambition for half my life to adopt from China.

The Bonesetter's Daughter: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Average customer rating:

Formulaic, yet addictive
The Bonesetter's Daughter
Learn Cantonese and write a book.
Difficult to finish; not one of Tan's best novels
A Tearjerker

The Bonesetter's Daughter: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Amy Tan
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0345457374
Release Date: 2003-02-04

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

At the beginning of Amy Tan's fourth novel, two packets of papers written in Chinese calligraphy fall into the hands of Ruth Young. One bundle is titled Things I Know Are True and the other, Things I Must Not Forget. The author? That would be the protagonist's mother, LuLing, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. In these documents the elderly matriarch, born in China in 1916, has set down a record of her birth and family history, determined to keep the facts from vanishing as her mind deteriorates.

A San Francisco career woman who makes her living by ghostwriting self-help books, Ruth has little idea of her mother's past or true identity. What's more, their relationship has tended to be an angry one. Still, Ruth recognizes the onset of LuLing's decline--along with her own remorse over past rancor--and hires a translator to decipher the packets. She also resolves to "ask her mother to tell her about her life. For once, she would ask. She would listen. She would sit down and not be in a hurry or have anything else to do."

Framed at either end by Ruth's chapters, the central portion of The Bonesetter's Daughter takes place in China in the remote, mountainous region where anthropologists discovered Peking Man in the 1920s. Here superstition and tradition rule over a succession of tiny villages. And here LuLing grows up under the watchful eye of her hideously scarred nursemaid, Precious Auntie. As she makes clear, it's not an enviable setting:

I noticed the ripe stench of a pig pasture, the pockmarked land dug up by dragon-bone dream-seekers, the holes in the walls, the mud by the wells, the dustiness of the unpaved roads. I saw how all the women we passed, young and old, had the same bland face, sleepy eyes that were mirrors of their sleepy minds.

Nor is rural isolation the worst of it. LuLing's family, a clan of ink makers, believes itself cursed by its connection to a local doctor, who cooks up his potions and remedies from human bones. And indeed, a great deal of bad luck befalls the narrator and her sister GaoLing before they can finally engineer their escape from China. Along the way, familial squabbles erupt around every corner, particularly among mothers, daughters, and sisters. And as she did in her earlier The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan uses these conflicts to explore the intricate dynamic that exists between first-generation Americans and their immigrant elders. --Victoria Jenkins

Book Description

“The Bonesetter’s Daughter dramatically chronicles the tortured, devoted relationship between LuLing Young and her daughter Ruth. . . . A strong novel, filled with idiosyncratic, sympathetic characters, haunting images, historical complexity, significant contemporary themes, and suspenseful mystery.”
–Los Angeles Times

“TAN AT HER BEST . . . Rich and hauntingly forlorn . . . The writing is so exacting and unique in its detail.”
–San Francisco Chronicle

“For Tan, the true keeper of memory is language, and so the novel is layered with stories that have been written down–by mothers for their daughters, passing along secrets that cannot be said out loud but must not be forgotten.”
–The New York Times Book Review

“AMY TAN [HAS] DONE IT AGAIN. . . . The Bonesetter’s Daughter tells a compelling tale of family relationships; it layers and stirs themes of secrets, ambiguous meanings, cultural complexity and self-identity; and it resonates with metaphor and symbol.”
–The Denver Post

From the Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

Formulaic, yet addictive .......2007-08-21

I almost feel bad criticizing this book for being overly formulaic when I actually enjoyed parts of it so much. Yes, this is typical Amy Tan fare, which includes mother-daughter angst, immigrant culture, and old Chinese family secrets dusted off and gradually exposed through some engrossing storytelling. The story shifts between present-day San Francisco where we follow Ruth Young and her struggles with her Chinese-born mother, LuLing, and pre-WW2 rural China where we are treated to sumptious descriptions of old customs and superstitions surrounding LuLing's family origins. As with Tan's other books, it is when she takes the reader back in time to China that the story really shines. When the plot returns to America, it almost feels like a complete let-down.

In present time, Ruth's mother, LuLing, suffers from dementia, and as a result she has written down her life story in Chinese for her daughter to read. Ruth, who is not fluent in written Mandarin, hires someone to translate the story, and it is through this translation we are treated to the memoirs of LuLing. The bonesetter is her grandfather, and the daughter actually refers to LuLing's real mother - or Precious Auntie as she is called. This tragic title character is at the center of the story both before and after her death, and the injustices done to her by her adversaries as well as her own family are heartwrenching. The dynamic between LuLing and her "sister" GaoLing is also well portrayed, and the sisterly jealousies as well as loyalties are well characterized. The family business aspects, caligraphy descriptions and the ink-producing process are fascinating to read.
All the superstitions and ghosts that envelope every character in China, however, are the most satisfying parts.

There are numerous subplots and transitory characters, both in China and in San Fransisco. There are the two American missionaries along with Sister Yu, who run the orphanage where LuLing spends several years both as student and teacher. There are the British mother and daughter and their talking parrot in Hong Kong where LiuLing as a maid learns English. There are the archeologists who are excavating the Peking Man - and the one who wins LuLing's heart. The subplot involving Dottie and Lance from Ruth's childhood, however, albeit interesting, seemed to fizzle out without a proper conclusion.
Finally, the main male characters in the story were quite one-dimensional (saintly or evil) - but this is rather typical in Tan's writing.

The end is too contrived in its desperate attempt to provide some sort of closure between everyone. Also, the translator's role becomes a bit too sentimental. You leave the book wishing to read more about China, which is actually a good feeling.

All in all, this is a comforting hammock read that entertains, engrosses and ultimately fades gently away.

NOTE: I just had to edit this review a bit because I just saw Ms Tan in a lecture where she talked quite extensively about her own life history as well as those of her mother and grandmother. It startled me to find out that so much of her books are based on real-life scenarioes including events in The Bonesetter's Daughter. One of the things in the book that I quite frankly thought was a bit over-the-top is the mysterious sandbox, in which the superstitious mother makes Ruth write messages because she believes Ruth is some sort of medium for her deceased mother. Furthermore, this ultimately leads the mother to ask about stock options and which investments to make, and although the daughter just pretends to write these messages, it quite predictably turns out to amass a small fortune in the end. Ms Tan told the audience that her mother was similarly obsessed with the quijja board during Ms Tan's childhood, and Ms Tan made the board move by her own whimsy. However, the same investment inquires (and thus Tan's "recommendations") also led her mother to invest in some lucrative deals in real life! It made me appreciate the story a bit more - just knowing that such a peculiar notion as the sandbox was inspired by real-life events...

The Bonesetter's Daughter.......2007-07-05

This is my favorite Amy Tan novel... The story begins with Ruth, an American born Chinese, who has struggles with her aging mother Lu Ling. As Lu Ling's mind begins to fail, truthful memories from the past come out and begin to intrigue Ruth. At the same time, she hires someone to translate a packet of Chinese notes that reveal her mother's background. The story of Precious Auntie and the upbringing of Lu Ling in a poor town in China are simply fascinating. The reader will easily get drawn into the story. As Ruth discovers the true spirit of her mother, she is able to make peace with some of the quirks and and superstitions that caused pain during her childhood.

Learn Cantonese and write a book. .......2007-07-02

You must trudge your way through the first of this book before you come upon anything worth reading about. Yet, that first section becomes important toward the end when the author brings you back to modern times. Had Tan spent the entire novel on the Mother's Chinese upbringing, this book would have been a much better read. Yet the other section did spark an interest in me to try to write down the story of my own family, or to at least write something. Keep at this book and it will be rewarding.

Difficult to finish; not one of Tan's best novels.......2007-06-21

This novel took a long time for me to finish. I know this may be unfair of me to say, since I'm not sure if Tan went through a lot of work for this novel, but I think it is just plain boring overall. I don't know whether it is the raw subject matter about a Chinese woman trying to take care of her mother who is going through dementia, or whether it's me. Maybe it is the subject matter--a bit too depressing and I didn't want more things bringing me down in life unless it reveals something noble or lends an insightful slant on the depressing subject (dementia, care for elderly parents, senior residential living places).

Tan gives realistic details about growing up Chinese-American, such as the protagonist, Ruth, being the English spokeswoman for her mother, the accents, which, by the way, the author always does a great job in all her books, and the funny ways the daughter deals with the mother (telling half-truths so that she doesn't have to deal with her mother's wishes or when she wants to do something simple like hire a housekeeper for the mother). The author included a subplot that went nowhere, the Dottie and Lance bit when Ruth was growing up. I guess that was just written as a taste of Ruth's childhood (?).

The part of the book that sort of picks up is whenever we read about the past life of the mother, LuLing, in China. This is a common thread in all the novels that I've read by Tan. When the story goes back in time, it gets interesting. When it flashes to the present, the story is dull. LuLing's history as the granddaughter of a bonesetter plays well, as do the parts about Precious Auntie and the tragedy behind her facial disfigurement and the American-run orphanage to which LuLing was left.

The element that could have "saved" this book in my eyes was the dragon bones hidden by Precious Auntie that may belong to the Peking man's bones. This thread in the story was just dropped, and nothing memorable came of it. I believe, if memory serves me correctly, the excavation work for these bones and the cave where the Precious Anutie hid the bones (Monkey's Jaw) were destroyed when the Japanese came in and after that no other mention of the bones. If the author wrote something to tie in the bones and how it fits with the story, I think I could have liked this novel more. For instance, Tan could've written that LuLing or Ruth went back at a later time to search out Monkey's Jaw and found a remnant of these bones that she has kept to this day. I would pass on this novel and read Tan's better works like The Kitchen God's Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, or The Joy Luck Club.

A Tearjerker.......2007-04-05

A moving story is set against a rich backdrop of culture and history. You may find yourself wiping away tears while you read this.

Average customer rating:

Superb characterization
Realistic or magical?
Immensely Believable
Touching and Beautiful
Chinese kisses

The Hundred Secret Senses
Amy Tan
Manufacturer: Ivy Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 080411109X
Release Date: 1996-10-30

Book Description

"THE WISEST AND MOST CAPTIVATING NOVEL TAN HAS WRITTEN."--The Boston Sunday Globe
"TRULY MAGICAL . . . UNFORGETTABLE . . . The first-person narrator is Olivia Laguni, and her unrelenting nemesis from childhood on is her half-sister, Kwan Li. . . . It is Kwan's haunting predictions, her implementation of the secret senses, and her linking of the present with the past that cause this novel to shimmer with meaning--and to leave it in the readers mind when the book has long been finished."
--The San Diego Tribune
"HER MOST POLISHED WORK . . . Tan is a wonderful storyteller, and the story's many strands--Olivia's childhood, her courtship and marriage, Kwan's ghost stories and village tales--propel the work to its climactic but bittersweet end." --USA Today
"TAN HAS ONCE MORE PRODUCED A NOVEL WONDERFULLY LIKE A HOLOGRAM: turn it this way and find Chinese-Americans shopping and arguing in San Francisco; turn it that way and the Chinese of Changmian village in 1864 are fleeing into the hills to hide from the rampaging Manchus. . . . THE HUNDRED SECRET SENSES doesn't simply return to a world but burrows more deeply into it, following new trails to fresh revelations.
--Newsweek

Customer Reviews:

Superb characterization.......2007-06-19

I've enjoyed all Amy Tan's books, but "The Hundred Secret Senses" kept me reading till dawn. The characterization alone is stunning...truly stunning.

Realistic or magical?.......2007-06-02

I love how I was kept guessing as to whether this book took place in a world where magic is possible or not. The main character doesn't WANT to believe in the supernatural, but it seems to creep into her life via her strange sister. How much of what happens is colored by her perception? What are we to believe? Beautifully crafted story.

Immensely Believable.......2007-04-05

Past meets present in this circular tale of spirituality. The Chinese culture is captivating and real. You'll feel like you're really there.

Touching and Beautiful.......2007-03-20

This book was great to read. I found it to be sad at times and very touching. Very much recommended.

Chinese kisses.......2007-02-25

The book was a wonderful read. Having spent some years in South East Asia and China and having relatives and loyal friends of Chinese decent I can attest that Amy Tan did a good job weaving the past and present into her circle tale. When I was small my relatives decribed themselves as "white/ yellow Russians" instead of Han,s. This was to escape the racism of the white australia policy of the day. The Hundred Secret Senses transported me back to past times and that solid generous gentle feeling which comes from sharing some of one's life with the Chinese. Just loved Tan's Kwan and I have known, lived and worked with a hundred Kwan's. The mannerisms, attitudes to life, work ethic, inescapable fate and the notion perserverence as a duty are all true. Tan,s book truely evoked a hundred secret memories and reconnected me with yin (and yang) ancestors.
Highly recommend this book.

The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life

Average customer rating:

That rare book I can recommend to any would-be writer
I had no idea.
Serendipity in Essay Form
Disbelief
Story of Serendipity

The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life
Amy Tan
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Chinese | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0142004898
Release Date: 2004-09-28

Amazon.com

Amy Tan begins The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings, a collection of essays that spans her literary career, on a humorous note; she is troubled that her life and novels have become the subject of a "Cliff's Notes" abridgement. Reading the little yellow booklet, she discovers that her work is seen as complex and rich with symbolism. However, Tan assures her readers that she has no lofty, literary intentions in writing her novels--she writes for herself, and insists that the recurring patterns and themes that critics find in them are entirely their own making. This self-deprecating stance, coupled with Tan's own clarification of her intentions, makes The Opposite of Fate feel like an extended, private conversation with the author.

Tan manages to find grace and frequent comedy in her sometimes painful life, and she takes great pleasure in being a celebrity. "Midlife Confidential" brings readers on tour with Tan and the rest of the leather-clad writers' rock band, the Rock-Bottom Remainders. And "Angst and the Second Book" is a brutally honest, frequently hysterical reflection on Tan's self-conscious attempts to follow the success of The Joy Luck Club.

In a collection so diverse and spanning such a long period of time, inevitably some of the pieces feel dated or repetitious. Yet, Tan comes off as a remarkably humble and sane woman, and the book works well both to fill in her biography and to clarify the boundaries between her life and her fiction. In her final, title essay, Tan juxtaposes her personal struggles against a persistent disease with the nation's struggles against terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11. She declares her transformative, artistic power over tragedy, reflecting: "As a storyteller, I know that if I don't like the ending, I can write a better one." --Patrick O'Kelley

Book Description

Amy Tan has touched millions of readers with haunting and sympathetic novels of cultural complexity and profound empathy. With the same spirit and humor that characterize her acclaimed novels, she now shares her insight into her own life and how she escaped the curses of her past to make a future of her own. She takes us on a journey from her childhood of tragedy and comedy to the present day and her arrival as one of the world's best-loved novelists. Whether recalling arguments with her mother in suburban California or introducing us to the ghosts that inhabit her computer, The Opposite of Fate offers vivid portraits of choices, attitudes, charms, and luck in action—a refreshing antidote to the world-weariness and uncertainties we all face today.

Customer Reviews:

That rare book I can recommend to any would-be writer.......2007-06-17

The first Amy Tan book I read was THE KITCHEN GOD'S WIFE, and it blew me away. It did what a really fine literary novel ought to do, in my opinion: it spoke the truth about human beings. While I enjoyed Tan's use of her own Chinese American background to give the book its setting, and her sharing of her heritage with its characters, I took those things as judicious use of the oldest and best advice given to fiction writers: "Write what you know." I was surprised, therefore, to read in this memoir about Tan's amazement when she began hearing herself declared a "minority" writer. A "writer of color," and so on. With each of those labels came a heavy load of expectations, of responsibilities (as perceived by those applying the label) to which she must rise. What didn't surprise me one bit, though, was the resentment that followed Tan's initial consternation. Labels that seem perfectly logical, and therefore helpful, to someone else can be limiting and hurtful to the person slapped with them. To put it another way, being pigeonholed pinches. And attempting to live up to the expectations of readers, reviewers, etc. as one writes a second novel after producing a wildly successful first book has got to be the most creativity-stifling exercise in this world.

I remember something else about THE KITCHEN GOD'S WIFE. I'd never heard of Amy Tan when I happened to pick it up, scan it, and decide to take it home. I sought out THE JOY LUCK CLUB, therefore, only after getting to know Tan's writing from her second book; and although I enjoyed her first, I thought (and still think) that her second novel is better by far. What I loved about both books was the universality of their themes, and of the characters I met in their pages. I'm not Chinese American (I'm a Down East Yankee, thank you very much, with Maine coastal roots three centuries deep). But I recognized the women she wrote about just the same! And despite cultural differences, I also recognized their joys and their sorrows; their dilemmas, and the ways in which they resolved them.

People are people everywhere, and writing is something writers do in order to stay sane. That's what Tan's work tells me. Both her novels, and this memoir that will be joining Stephen King's ON WRITING as that rare book I can recommend to any would-be writer. "Read this first, and then decide whether or not you're really cut out for this life," I can say. "This writer tells it like it is, and you need to know what you're getting into."

I had no idea........2007-05-14

I finised this book several weeks ago and still can't get it out of my mind. That last chapter was brutal. This book was also responsible for me hunting down a copy of "The Best American Short Stories - 1999". Thanks Amy, I've read all your (adult) books and have enjoyed them all.

Serendipity in Essay Form.......2007-04-05

Tan gives the reader a glimpse into her life with this collection of essays covering everything from a China trip with her mother to a childhood crush.

Disbelief.......2007-01-29

I enjoyed the style of Amy Tan's writing in this collection of essays, which span a broad range of topics: a China trip with her mother, a childhood crush, and the violent death of a friend, to name a few. I enjoyed the glimpse Tan was able to give the reader into her real life, and the contrasts between her reality and the fiction she writes. I liked reading about how she writes her novels, where her ideas originate and how she sometimes struggles to keep a book going when her inspiration seems to have failed her. Tan jumped off of the pages as a real, three-dimensional person, and one that I liked.

I was uncomfortable with one aspect of the book, though. Tan writes at one point that she realized as a child that memory was highly suggestible. She reveals that when she writes something, sometimes what she's written becomes confused with the actual truth. She presents two meetings with writer Vladimir Nabokov, then reveals that she never actually met him, that these were fictional constructions based on wishful thinking.

This seeming willingness to be foggy about the truth made me a bit suspicious about much of the book. Tan writes in many of her essays about the overwhelming string of coincidences she's noticed in her life. She writes of her friend predicting the circumstances of his death, which then come to pass almost exactly as he'd thought. She describes being worried about an unforseen bill for her cat's medical care, then being involved in a fender-bender with the man at fault offering to pay her, in cash, the exact amount of the worrisome bill. This focus on coincidences and also on proving the existence of ghosts or other friendly spirits that inhabit Tan's life, made me feel she was not a reliable narrator and perhaps I shouldn't take what she had written to heart.

Rather than simply appreciating her writing and the stories of her life, I found myself pulling back from Tan frequently with disbelief, which weakened my enjoyment of her book.

Story of Serendipity.......2006-12-13

Time and time again as children, we are told to do our best to accomplish our goals. We have it reinforced in us by parents, teachers, religious, and other community leaders. It's inbred in us that it is our greatest opportunity and privilege as citizens of the United States of America to do our best to accomplish our dreams. Some people do succeed, some don't, and sometimes people end up involved or doing something that they never thought or even considered being a part of or thought that they would get into. All things are possible, but sometimes our path in life takes unexpected turns for whatever reason because of the people we are close with.
Even before graduation, high school students typically decide in their senior year that they are going to college to further their education. Then somewhere along the line, they may end up doing something different: they may change a major, change universities or colleges, instead of college, they may decide that they should drop out to become a mechanic because it's a skilled trade, or maybe they decide that instead of art school they want to pursue a career in medicine. Maybe, like Bill Gates, they don't even finish high school and drop out to program computers that end up being the next big thing. There is the occasion that students stick with their original plans, and there are times where something happens to change it all.
Now imagine that you're in your senior year at Berkley at the University of California. You are on your way to getting your doctorates in linguistics and aren't really sure what you're going to do with the rest of you life after that point. Then something drastic happens. One of your good friends and roommates is murdered the night that he moves into his brand new apartment. In Amy Tan's case, the entire course of her life changed with the event of that friend's death and with influence of her mother upon her own life.
Throughout our lives we come across people who make a great impact upon us that later comes back to aide or hinder us somehow in the most difficult times we experience, like in a traumatic time as Amy experienced with the death of her friend, the trial of the murders of her friend, and the passing of her mother. The life of Amy Tan is a great example of how relationships can truly influence and change our fate, as she writes about her experiences in her book, The Opposite of Fate: Memoirs of a Writing Life. The book offers a look into her life as she deals with the struggles of so much tragedy and recalls each as an important step in her life as a writer. Chopped full of humor, touching moments, and sadness Opposite is an emotional journey that shows the human part behind the writer that typically is only revealed a little in her fiction. She writes for herself and to preserve her memories and the memories of others that were close to her. Tan has never forgotten her roots or those who influenced her life in such a way that made her become a writer. The Opposite of Fate gives evidence to readers that much of our fate is influenced upon the relationships we develop with others and the events that happen with those people in our lives
By taking a look at Tan's biography, we can also learn a little bit about her that will already be discussed in the book, although it isn't necessarily covered in the book itself. Amy was born on February 19th, 1952 in Oakland, California. She lived there with her mother, and her younger brother until 1966 when her mother uprooted them and insisted they move to Switzerland after both her father and second brother died from brain tumors. She went to high school in Switzerland and later came back to the United States to go to college. Tan went to five colleges: The Linfield College in Oregon, San Jose City College, San Jose State University, the University of California in Santa Cruz, and finally The University of California at Berkley. She became a freelance writer after she graduated college with her linguistics doctorate and became a language development consultant mainly working with children, although she never wanted anything to do with children except to be studied as subjects. She's written many books, her most popular novel that was published, The Joy Luck Club, was later turned into a movie. As for family life, Tan and her husband Lou DeMattei don't have any children but have been married since 1974. Tan does have two half sisters and an uncle who live in China, and an older brother who lives in Vancouver, Canada. Tan and her husband have two homes, one in New York and another in San Francisco. The house in San Francisco was close where her mother lived before she died in the year 2000 from a combination of old age and the later stages of Alzheimer's disease. Tan was her mother's care giver for a great deal of the rest of her mother's life and her mother, in turn was then revealed to be Tan's most influential ties according to Opposite.
As a child, Amy often listened to her mother lament over the tragedy of the same kind of death happening in the same family twice. Both Tan's brother and father died within a year of each other from brain tumors. As a teenager, like most, Amy dreaded hearing her mother's nagging. More than that, she despised hear her mother's hysterical ravings, suicidal threats, and the attempts that the entire family witnessed time and again from the time she was a little girl and even into her mother's old age. Although Tan has no real qualms about this happening now that she's older, as a teenager she would ignore her mother's suicide threats in the open, but deep down she was "terrified that one day my mother would carry out one of those empty threats" (Tan 130). She admits to having let her eyes glaze over and act as if the verbal threats were just dead noise then later would find herself staring into the bathroom mirror feeling ill and scared at the thought of her mother carrying out some plan to kill herself. Now as an older adult, she has come to accept the idea that if her mother had been completely happy and well adjusted earlier in her life, she would not have become the writer that she is today.
As many parents would have great hopes for their children, Amy's mother and father wanted Amy to become a doctor or a concert pianist even though she showed no interesting in actually playing the piano. As a little girl, the typical motherly anecdotes of "don't cross the street without looking," came as absolutes of impending death, "if you don't look, you get smashed" (Tan 33). However if her mother had been like most simply saying," it's alright honey, you don't have to practice, go outside and play," it's questionable whether or not Tan would have chosen the same path. Perhaps, if her and her mother had not had such tragic lives, she would have become the doctor or concert pianist that her parents wanted her to be. Instead, she went to college to get a doctorates in linguistics, then chose a different path because of a tragedy that hit very close to her with the death of a room mate that she and her husband had lived, worked, and studied with for the better half of a year or so.
Pete was an engineering student at Berkley and worked along side Amy and her husband at The Round Table pizza parlor in San Jose. They often shared late nights of political, religious, and philosophical discussions over drinks and became close friends, even enough to start renting a new apartment together. Unfortunately the celebration of their friendship and their new apartment together was cut short the night that they had moved into the new apartment. Pete was murdered in his sleep by two burglars who had hog-tied him and left him for dead on the floor. After that, Pete starts to come to Amy in her dreams and through the dreams Pete delivers advice as life became harder and more complicated with the start of the trial that would decide the fate of one of his syndicates. About a month before Pete died, Amy had been trying to decide what she was going to do with her degree after she graduated but couldn't think of anything. Pete suggested that she start working with children in language development. After his death, Amy took Pete's suggestion and ran with it, in a direction that before hand she had never really intended to get involved.
As the trial came to a close, Pete told Amy that she should talk to one of his friends who come help her later when she became a writer. Tan automatically dismissed the idea until later when she received a letter from Rose, Pete's friend, thanking her for telling her about Pete's death. At that point, her fate was set in motion to bring her to being the woman and the writer that she is today. Pete stopped visiting in dreams but a new relationship blossomed with Rose as a result. Rose and Amy kept in contact through letters and eventually Rose became Amy's first writing mentor.
During the time of her mother's death, Tan came to realize how much of an influence her mother actually had on her. After dementia set in, her mother was no longer the unhappy person she had seen before. Instead of bad memories, her mother became to remember the memories she shared with Amy, going on trips and the happier times in their lives. Her mother wasn't the same person that she had grown up with before. Tan came to the cruel realization that for most of their lives, she had not been approaching her mother's needs the right way. She had missed the concept that her mother wanted to be depended on before her mother became ill as much as after the illness struck. For example, instead of scowling at her mother as a teenager, she should have acknowledged and appreciated what her mother was trying to do for her, and then she would have been able to get away with doing different things as well. She began to think that she could have solve so many problems by learning this earlier in life, and they could have had happier lives if she had only realized this earlier. During the time of the illness, Amy became much closer with her other and after her mother's death, started writing a new book, The Bonesetter's Daughter with the renewed appreciation she had for her mother.
Whether it is a friend, a parent, sibling, husband, wife, boyfriend girlfriend or any other type of relationship, these entities set up our lives in such ways that create a domino effect to get us to the point we are at or the point which we wish to achieve. It is an act of conscious choice at which we decide who we are, whom we will be with, and what we wish to be. Our parents may effect us on some level as to instilling in us what types of values we wish to make a part of our lives, but our decisions are still solely our own. Every once in a while, we have someone who comes into our lives and after meeting them everything falls in place whether or not we admit it, remember it, or even think about it. After that point, whatever happens in our life that involves them may change what we decide to do.
The book, The Opposite of Fate: Memoirs of a Writing Life brings readers to believe that fate is not only left up to us as individuals, but to the influences of people around us who are important to us that impact our lives. Tan's humorous writing makes the book a quick read, and also helps the reader to stay interested, even though it isn't necessarily in chronological order. Tan slipped in a lot of very emotional memoirs in the book that are both happy and sad. The tone of Opposite in comparison to Tan's other work is far less serious than that of The Joy Luck Club, or The Kitchen God's Wife, but does have a lot of very serious memoirs in it dealing with loss and the role of hope in people's lives. Opposite is a wonderful book and an exceptional choice to read if a reader enjoys Tan's style, and remains to be enlightening, interesting, and causes the reader to think about fate and who and how it is effected by the people we know and care about.
Fate is not entirely dependent on the people we are around, those we hand around or those we are friends with, but that is just a slice of the pie of things that influence us. In Tan's life, many different played a part in her success as a writer, but only one event led to the point where she made the conscious decision to take a step towards becoming a writer. Her Success after that came from what inspiration she got mostly by spending time and caring for her mother, and other writers she was close to like Stephen King, or her editor Faith Sale, her mentors, and close friends like Pete. Without these influences, there may not have been a chance to read any of her work, including this book.

[...].

Average customer rating:

As usual, Amy Tan has won me over
Wonderful Book
Hope above all,
Cultural Dynamics
The kitchen God's wife

The Kitchen God's Wife
Amy Tan
Manufacturer: G. P. Putnam's Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Mothers & Children | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0399135782

Book Description

"Tan is one of the prime storytellers writing fiction today."
NEWSWEEK
Winnie and Helen have kept each other's worst secrets for more than fifty years. Now, because she believes she is dying, Helen wants to expose everything. And Winnie angrily determines that she must be the one to tell her daughter, Pearl, about the past--including the terible truth even Helen does not know. And so begins Winnie's story of her life on a small island outside Shanghai in the 1920s, and other places in China during World War II, and traces the happy and desperate events tha led to Winnie's coming to America in 1949.
"The kind of novel that can be read and reread with enormous pleasure."
CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Customer Reviews:

As usual, Amy Tan has won me over.......2007-09-29

Not my favorite Amy Tan book, but certainly one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Tan works her magic weaving an interesting story that makes for wonderful reading.

Wonderful Book.......2007-08-16

Amy Tan is such a talented author and her talent is very apparent in The Kitchen God's Wife. From the time I started reading till the end, I couldn't put it down. Amy Tan teaches you so much about the Chinese culture and the hardships that many woman went through. I loved this book and plan on reading it again!

Hope above all,.......2007-06-07

A capturing tale of hardships, hope, and love, "The Kitchen God's Wife" is a worthwhile read. Novelist Amy Tan trails her readers behind WeiWei, Winnie Louie, as she relives the tortures of her youth to share them with her American-can born daughter. When her mother disappears and she is sent to live in an unwelcoming house with unfamiliar relatives, young Winnie thinks she will never again live a happy life. When a fluke presents her with a marriage proposal, she thinks her future husband is too good to be true. Before their marriage has even fully set in, Winnie realizes her joy is short lived as Wen Fu turns her world into a nightmare. Amy Tan's heart-rending rendition of a Chinese woman's struggle in a world where she has no authority, speaks to all people who have ever felt trapped of helpless. She paints a model for all people who have ever felt like victims through Winnie as she suffers an abusive husband, the death of her children, the chaos of war, and the turmoils of emotional uncertainty. This novel is a touching read because to all people who have ever felt pain and it sends them a message of strive, understanding, survival, and most of all, hope.

Cultural Dynamics.......2007-04-05

Step into the world of war-torn China and enjoy the mother-daughter relationship set in the backdrop. Tan provides amazing insight into Chinese culture.

The kitchen God's wife.......2007-02-20

This was a GREAT book. Beautifully written. It has such GREAT insight into the Chinese culture and relates the experiences of war torn China from a very real, very raw, very personal perspective.

Average customer rating:

Both Wheat and Chaff....
Black sheep of the family
Did I miss something?
A fine collection
A diverse collection of voices and stories

The Best American Short Stories 1999

Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Anthologies | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

United States | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Anthologies | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 039592684X

Amazon.com

A great story gets its hooks into you right from the start; you know you're in the hands of a good writer when the very first sentence transports you wholly into another world. "Mother preferred Zulu servants." "It must be, Ruth thought, that she was going to die in the spring." "Who would have thought that a war of such proportions would bother to turn in its fury against the fools of Chelm?"

The 21 fictions featured in The Best American Short Stories 1999 have very little in common--but whether they're about ranchers or commuters, romantic seekers or New Age pilgrims, what they do share is a sense of urgency. In each of them, there's a kind of voice that announces its need to be heard. "I'm not a bad guy," pleads the narrator of "The Sun, the Moon, the Stars," and even though he cheats on his girlfriend, by the end of Junot Díaz's story you might be tempted to agree anyway. (Especially considering the charming way he turns Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener into a verb--as in, "A lot of the time she Bartlebys me, says, 'No, I'd rather not.'") "Real Estate," by that master of bittersweet comedy Lorrie Moore, starts by repeating "Ha! Ha! Ha!" for two solid pages but becomes a rueful take on marriage, house-hunting, and even death: "The body, hauling sadnesses, pursued the soul, hobbled after. The body was like a sweet dim dog trotting lamely toward the gate as you tried slowly to drive off, out the long driveway. Take me, take me too, barked the dog."

Other standouts in this collection include Alice Munro's "Save the Reaper," a kind of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" where no one is killed or saved; Rick Bass's haunting evocation of winter in the north country, "The Hermit's Story"; and Tim Gautreax's "The Piano Tuner," about a manic-depressive Creole princess playing cocktail piano in a motel lounge. (This is one tale that truly does end with a bang, not a whimper.) Taken together, they are ample evidence that the American short story is alive, well, and eminently able to--in the words of guest editor Amy Tan--"help us live interesting lives