The Hundred Secret Senses

The Hundred Secret Senses is a novel by the Chinese-American writer Amy Tan, published in 1995. It is based on the experiences of Tan herself and on stories told by her mother.

The story turns on the relationship between Kwan, who was born in China, and her younger sister Olivia, who is Chinese-American and who narrates the book. Kwan comes to live with the family after their father dies, and Olivia is embarrassed by her: Kwan is unfamiliar with American customs and does not speak English well, she makes a fool of herself in public, and Olivia is teased at school for having a sister who seems backward. What Kwan offers in return is a body of Chinese tales and superstitions, and a conviction that she has yin eyes, which allow her to see ghosts; she converses with them at night, which frightens Olivia, and she speaks Chinese in private. The novel moves between the sisters in the present and the past that Kwan describes to her, and it follows Olivia to China and to the village her father came from.

Tan's novels return to families divided between China and the United States and to what is carried across the distance between them, and this one is built around a sister who tells stories rather than one who investigates the past.