02 Mar / The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan [in What Do I Read Next? Multicultural Literature]
At age 6, Olivia meets for the first time, her adult half-sister Kwan, just arrived from China. Kwan shares with a disbelieving Olivia her stories of the Yin people – people not of this world with whom Kwan is able to communicate. Thirty years later, fate brings Kwan, Olivia, and Simon, Olivia’s estranged husband, to Kwan’s native village in China. There Olivia finally comes to understand Kwan, especially Kwan’s unconditional love for and loyalty to her, even when Olivia did not always deserve it.
The title refers to the ability to use one’s “hundred secret senses,” to think and look beyond the everyday seven senses and to rely on all of one’s heart and soul to recognize the extraordinary. Kwan’s link to the “World of Yin” is due to her familiarity with her own hundred secret senses, a skill she is always reminding Olivia to rely on.
Review: “Asian American Titles,” What Do I Read Next? Multicultural Literature, Gale Research, 1997
Readers: Adult
Published: 1995