The Hundred Secret Senses
Registered by geishabird of Toronto, Ontario Canada on 3/30/2004
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
3 journalers for this copy...
Started "accidentally" reading this the other day, and will release it when I'm done.
To be sent to mcbeth when finished.
A pretty good story handicapped by clunky dialogue and cardboard characters. Amy Tan seems to belong to the Expositionist school of writing, which seems to mandate a painstaking explanation for every single thing a character says or does. This is a big red warning flag for BAD WRITING. The character of Kwan and the "Yin World" plot and characters (past & present) were really the only good parts of the book. Everything else ached for serious editorial guidance. Skip past Olivia & Simon's painfully artificial characterization and just read the Kwan parts - that's my advice.
Mailed to BX'er mcbeth in Miami.
I am looking forward to reading this, having enjoyed both "The Joy Luck Club" and "The Kitchen God's Wife." I will journal again once I've read it and before releasing it again. Thank you so much, geishabird, for the RABCK!
I loved this book. The story relates the relationship of American-born Olivia in San Francisco and her half sister, Chinese-born, Kwan, who comes to live with the family after the deathbed request of their father. Kwan has an unusual ability to talk with ghosts but at first it is difficult to tell if this ability is real or she is just crazy. The story shifts between the present day lives of Olivia and Kwan and a dreamlike story Kwan recounts of her previous lifetime in China in the time of the last Emperor. I was fascinated throughout and Kwan's story reminds me a little of Gabriel Garcia Marquez' writing style. Thank you, geishabird, for sharing this book with me!
Mailing off to agschoolgrad tomorrow from a book relay. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Received from mcbeth via bookrelay
Journal Entry 9 by agschoolgrad at Neighborhood Health Care on Hwy 53 in Flowery Branch, Georgia USA on Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Released 17 yrs ago (4/14/2006 UTC) at Neighborhood Health Care on Hwy 53 in Flowery Branch, Georgia USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
Left in the magazine rack of one of the exam rooms
Left in the magazine rack of one of the exam rooms