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I have read all of Tan's books, usually within days of release, and this was a great way to "get to know her better". You can guess at a lot of her personal life just by reading her books, with the exception of Saving Fish from Drowning: A Novel, but it was still interesting to see just what was real and what was fiction.There was a lot of repetetiveness, but that was to be expected. It says right on the description that these are mostly personal essays and speeches written over a period of year...
This book was extraordinary. I originally stated this novel as part of a reading project where I was required to read a memoir, and after searching through my bookshelf, happened upon this very book. Tan provides insights on many different subjects she holds dear in her life, including the relationship she had with her mother and how much she cherishes the golden moments. Definitely a must read for any writer. Now I have to read her other works!
Despite the subtitle, I bought this book expecting it to be more of a memoir than it actually is. I think Amy Tan's main purpose in writing it was to set the record straight on a variety of topics, beginning with an inaccurate summary of her life that turned up in an edition of CliffsNotes. She does so in essays that directly address the points that need to be made, and also tosses in other writings that range from a college commencement address to an item she wrote for the newspaper when eight
Reading this book is like sitting down to lunch with someone you hardly know and making a new friend. I happen to love Amy Tan's novels. I also like to read about writers and how they got their breaks. This memior/musings/essay book held a lot of the magic that is found in Joy Luck Club/Kitchen God's Wife with a lot of reality and the daily suffering of a writer.I particularly enjoyed reading about Tan's mother (but of course it's the crazy/hard-lifed mothers that make Joy Luck and Kitchen God's...
I just read it because my mother recommended it to me. This book is clearly written for the author's fans. Since I had no idea who she was, I found it quite self exalting.The author describes her life and the events that inspired her novels, which were inspired by her mother and grandmother's struggles in China.A recurring topic throughout the book is the minority issues of being a chinese american and how she has been influenced by both cultures. Another important aspect of the book has to do w...
This book was a pleasure to read. I don't know whether it could technically be called a memoir; it's basically a collection of mostly autobiographical essays and musings. Whatever its classification, these essays were well-written (no surprise there), interesting, provocative, and often funny. Amy Tan had just the right degree of self-deprecating humor so that she came across as refreshingly humble but not neurotic -- someone I would probably enjoy being friends with, as opposed to many other au...
If you've ever read an Amy Tan book, this offers delightful insight on how she creates her characters, taking from a colorful, offtimes humorous, band of family members. It also offers a behind-the-scenes look at what writers experience in order to provide their readers with works worth investing the time to read.
I write stories because I have questions about life, not answers. I believe life is mysterious and not dissectable . . . . I can't paraphrase or give succinct morals about love and hope, pain and loss. I have to use a mental longhand, ponder and work it out in the form of a story that is revised again and again, twenty times, a hundred times, until it feels true. I write for very much the same reasons that I read: to startle my mind, to church my heart, to tingle my spine, to knock the blinders
This book started out well, but after awhile it became a little tiresome. This seems to be an almost random collection of essays written by Amy Tan for various reasons that get less and less interesting as I progressed. Some of them were really interesting, and I learned all kinds of things about Ms. Tan, but some of them were kind of similar to ones I'd already read, or were just long and not that interesting. Some of them were very very funny, though, and more than one were especially insightf...
I loved 'The Joy Luck Club' and 'The Kitchen God's Wife', so it was fascinating to read this collection of pieces which give a perspective to Amy Tan, the writer. Because it is a collection of essays, speeches and musings, it can be a little repetitive, but it is nonetheless an interesting read.She touches on her cultural background and the events in her life that make her the person she is. She also takes on the labelling of people by their perceived gender or cultural background, and also how
Amy Tan is one of the finest American writers we have. I am making it a point not to call her one of our finest women writers or Chinese-American writers or a writer of color, an issue which is explored in this memoir. This book may be a special taste -- you might need to be someone who loves her work and is interested in writing to fully appreciate it. Amy tells her stories with certainty and elegance and never overstates anything. I listened to this book which was all the better for having the...
Though bookstores and book clubs bill this as a memoir, it is really a collection of essays and speeches originally published for other purposes. Though I would love to read an actual autobiography written by Tan, this is an excellent anthology, and I cannot deny it the five stars it deserves.Tan writes about a wide range of experiences, from contracting Lyme disease to writing the screen play of The Joy Luck Club for Disney. It was nice to see somebody say something positive about Disney for on...
Delightful!****I discovered this book at one of my library's Friends of the Library booksales. Without hesitation, I paid the minimal amount to purchase a book written by one of my favorite authors, Amy Tan. It is difficult to classify the genre of her writings here, but the sub-title of A Book of Musings captures it well. Her spirit and humor that characterize her engaging novels, are observed in her tales of her life and how she escaped the encumbrances of her past to develop a future of her...
I have read a few of Amy Tan books, and I enjoy them immensely. I found this biography book by her, funny at times and enjoyable to read. Interesting to learn a bit how she comes up with the novels that she writes. And I certainly hope that she continues.
A good story! I didn't like it very much the first two times I read this, but with this third time, it's grown on me.
I highly recommend this book to all writers as well as those interested in the “evolution” of a writer. I truly enjoyed Amy Tan’s honest and insightful account of her “journey,” told through a series of essays and autobiographical sketches. I especially appreciated Tan’s essay, “Required Reading and Other Dangerous Subjects,” in which she rejects the widespread belief that writers come in colors – and those colors do not mix and match. It is a biting critique of those who would dictate who is qu...
After watching Amy Tan on American Masters, I decided to see if there were any I hadn't read and found this which I thoroughly enjoyed. Basically an autobiography, she describes her childhood and early life as well as exactly how she goes about writing her books and many details of her mother's life and experiences.
I really enjoyed this book. It was so different from the books I normally read. Amy Tan has led an interesting life! It was a little slow 3/4 of the way through, but I enjoyed reading about her life and relationship with her mother. Seeking the "American Dream" and the chinese culture of honoring and obeying your parents are so polar opposite. It's understandable that first generation kids grow up very confused.
First time I’ve heard of an author approving the movie version of their book. Explains the complicated process of turning a complete book into a movie. There are no words for certain emotions and concepts, added to cultural translation concepts between languages it is amazing humans learned to love and live together at all. Thank you Amy Tan.
After reading her memoir and finding out that so much in her books was based on her life, I empathized with Tan even more. I especially loved the stories about her mother's dementia, as it shows the true connection between mother and daughter. The answer to "When will you be home?" is not a specific time and date, but "We're almost home, because we love you so so much and can't wait to see you." Parts of the memoir were funny, parts were truly sad, but I also empathized with Tan's childhood (alt...