The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan

A detailed Summary of The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan

This book is about two sisters, one named Olivia and the other Kwan. Olivia lived with her family (lived in San Francisco) and never knew about Kwan her half-sister which her father left behind in China (Changmian) until her father died (of kidney failure even thought he had four of them ~ which (I know I shouldn't) find amusing) when she was only four years old. Olivia's mom promised to bring Kwan to live with them in America which happened two years later. Kwan was now 18 and Olivia was six and her mother was marrying again. Being the stereotypical white woman Olivia's mom is (at the airport), she imagined Kwan to be a small, skinny, shy, and quiet girl. Instead she turns out to a vital and very loud coming up to greet them saying "haloo."

Kwan and Olivia developed a bond as her mom is too busy with marriage and divorce and is now back to dating again. They shared a room and Kawn would ask her too many questions. Soon students from Olivia's school would tease her for

Tan makes it credible by the broken English Kwan spoke to her sister (couldn't get even her name right, she calls her Libby-ah), even after 30 years, which is where the rest of the book takes place. By now Olivia (a photographer) is married to her soon to be ex-husband Simon.

Tan includes the spiritual world of ghosts and superstitions as she does with many of her other books. This was quite believable to me because in my family we still have a day to honor the dead. My parents would cook as feast and my sister and I would have to set the table with wine and many bowl as well as chairs as if we were having many guests over. We were also not allowed to eat the food (which one is very tempted to do). After the food was prepared, we would light candles and incense (which makes the neighbors complain) and then we all bowed and asked the spirits (mostly from one's own ancestry) to protect us. After the feast we would burn folded paper painted with silver to look like the m

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 658
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan

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